Maldives kicks off South Asian Basketball Association’s (SABA) Women's Championship 2022 with a victory over last year's runner-up Nepal. The Maldives team defeated Nepal for the first time after scoring 51 points to their opponent's 47.
In the first quarter, the teams engaged in a competitive game, with the Nepali team matching the enthusiasm. Maldives was awarded a free throw at the last minutes of the first quarter , but Aminath Shiura unfortunately missed to shoot.
Aminath Israu made a shot from the center of the court to give the Maldives team the lead with two points. Nepali captain Shrestha, demonstrated her abilities and played brilliantly, scoring multiple points for her team.
The first three minutes of the second quarter went by neither teams scoring. Shiura scored the first point of the quarter after Rishma's free throw bounced off the hooks.
The Maldives team made various attempts at scoring but couldn’t make the shots, and the quarter ended with a competitive score of 24-25 with Maldives in the lead.
The Nepal team showed a different strategy in the third quarter, finishing off the quarter of the series by taking the lead 36-34. Israu from the Maldives team played a key role in scoring major points for the team while also shooting on the free throws.
The game was briefly stopped during the final quarter due to a technical issue with the Social Centre's electronic scoreboard. Prior to the interval, the Nepal team was ahead of the Maldives squad by a score of 40 to 36.
Shiura, a well-seasoned player, had to leave the match in the last quarter due to an injury to her knee. However, the rest of the team showed tremendous effort and teamwork with experienced player Rishma, paving the way for most of the shots.
Tonight's match will see reigning champion Sri Lanka going against Bhutan at 8.30 p.m.
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