The second failure of the women's national team of Russia at the World Basketball Championship in Brazil cast doubt on her access to the playoffs. After the defeat with a difference of 10 points from the American women, the wards of Igor Grudin at the start of the second group tournament lost the French team with the same margin - 64:74.
Before the start of the championship, Grudin criticized the formula of the tournament, saying that the four strongest teams - the teams of the USA, Russia, Australia and Korea - at the first stage had to be divorced into different groups. Meanwhile, the Russians, holding the title of vice-world champion, were in the same group as the Americans. Their full-time meeting ended in a victory (90:80) of the star-striped, who arrived at the championship without their leader - center Lisa Leslie. Three times recognized as the most valuable female NBA player, Leslie, who, by the way, will now play in the Russian championship, refused to travel to Brazil for family reasons.
In principle, there was nothing terrible in this defeat. On the contrary, having won all the remaining group matches, the Russians could guarantee themselves the most successful deal - they would avoid a second meeting with the US team until the final. And the second place, that is, the repetition of the result of four years ago, was proclaimed the minimum task for the team.
It turned out, however, that with the favorites of the tournament Grudin did not guess. Korean girls consistently lost, and large, the national teams of Spain, Brazil and Argentina, and did not even get into the top 12. Yes, and the Russian team, judging by its current game, it would also be premature to record in the championship winners.
In their first match, the Russians pretty much tormented with a record outsider - Nigeria. The first quarter was played on an equal footing; by the big break, the advantage was only 8 points. It all ended happily - 84:50, but after the match Grudin had to justify the unconvincing game by the heavy acclimatization and cold of several basketball players who trained on the eve of the game in lightweight mode.
Against the background of the Russian team, the Americans showed just the same fantastic basketball - in a match with China. As for the Australian team, with an assessment of its capabilities, the experts had to wait a bit. Her first opponent to the game did not appear. The Lithuanian delegation did not take care of the mandatory vaccination of the athletes and, as a result, did not have time from the ship to the ball. As a result, the Baltic girls started only from the second round, already having a technical defeat in the liability.
The Chinese team turned out to be a serious rival for our team. Again, an advantage in the score was achieved only in the third quarter - by the efforts of Maria Stepanova, Olga Arteshina and Ilona Korstin. With an impressive final advantage of the Grudin team (86:66), the number of losses in the two teams turned out to be equal, and the Russians folded more often, and besides, the penalty kicks were worse.
The defeat from the US national team paradoxically inspired certain hopes for the Russian fans. Maria Stepanova played out, and team interactions were much more streamlined. Although it is unlikely that the Americans played one hundred percent of their capabilities, especially in defense.
What is competent defense, the Russians showed their next opponent - the French. In the second quarter, barely went to rest Stepanova, “tricolor” ran ahead by 14 points. After that, three times the wards of Grudin tried to get close to the rivals in the score, but each time they had a decent answer. “A stronger team spirit helped us win,” said another representative of the Russian championship Natalie Ledesma after the match, who attacked with a fantastic percentage of hits for women’s basketball (88%) and with 16 points she became the most productive in the French national team. A stunning mood of the latter was also noted by Grudin: “The French women fought for every ball, for every section of the court. They were noticeably better than us in rebounds on someone else’s shield, which became the key to victory.”
Now the place of the Russian national team in the group F table will be determined in matches against the Czech and Cuban national teams. Since the Czechs have already beaten the cubes, the cubes - the French, and the French - the Czechs, the layouts can be very diverse. Even the Chinese team has not lost the chance to get into the playoffs.
Mikhail Melnikov