China thrashes Thailand for opening win in Asia Women's Basketball Championship

Title contender China handed Thailand a 113-34 win to open their campaign at the 26th FIBA Asia Women's Basketball Championship here on Saturday.

Six Chinese players had double-digit points. Gao Song scored game-high 16 points. Wu Di, Shao Ting and Huang Sijing had 12 apiece.

"Basically we didn't have many mistakes tonight. We gave our opponents much respect, and everyone in the team did their best. We showed consistency in our defense," said Thomas Maher, head coach of China.

The hosts had two "big" girls, Sun Mengran and Huang Hongpin, in the starting line-up to strengthen their offense from the post.

After Chen Xiaojia hit a three-pointer to open the scoring account, Shao Ting's layup and Sun Mengran's basket earned a double-figure lead for the hosts. China had a 19-point lead as the first quarter ran out.

After building a huge advantage, the Chinese team had more players in rotation. 40 points after the first half, 49 points into the last period, Chinese girls extended their margin little by little, and got an overwhelming 79-point win at the final whistle.

"We did well in our offense, and made good preparation for the upcoming crucial games against South Korea and Japan," said Shao Ting, who made her debut on Asian Championship court.

In a face-to-face competition between China's two main challengers, Japan beat South Korea 59-53.

With 39.4 seconds to go, Sanae Motokawa made two free throws to build a six-point lead for Japan. After South Korea suffered a offensive turnover, Japan sealed the win.

China are in level 1 with Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

In another level 1 match, Chinese Taipei beat India 92-61.

In level 2 matches, Kazakhstan crushed over Hong Kong, China 99-48, Malaysia upset Philippines 71-64, and DPR Korea hammered Sri Lanka 82-35.

China will face South Korea on Sunday. Endi