Haiyang, China: The 3rd Asian Beach Games in Haiyang was supposed to be only a stepping stone on the road to the 17th Asian Games in 2014 for India’s women’s basketball team – but they will happily settle for the gold medals. At a packed stadium on Fengxiang Beach on Tuesday afternoon, India beat China 17-14 in the 3 x 3 beach basketball final to collect the country’s first gold medal of the Games.

“Their training and preparation is for the next Asian Games in Korea in 2014, and we only came here to give the players international exposure and experience,” said India’s Chef de Mission, K. Jagadishwer Yadav.

“Now we can look forward to the Asian Games with confidence. We are going to win that also.”
Beating China at home, even in the abbreviated form of the game, is a feather in the cap for the Indian team, whose four players were Anitha Paul Durai, Geethu Anna Jose, Kiranjit Kaur and Shireen Vijay Limaye.

The captain, Dorai, combines basketball with working as a deputy chief ticket inspector on the railways. “We won the gold medal because of our spirit,” she said. “This is the first time we have got the gold medal in an OCA event and the first time we have beaten China. “We are getting more exposure, and now we need more junior players.”