The Indian basketball team lifted the SABA Women’s Championship 2025 title after a comprehensive 107-32 victory over the Maldives in the final at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
India, which is 79th in the world FIBA ranking, remained unbeaten in the tournament having beaten Maldives twice and Nepal once in the four-day-long competition.
Notably, both Maldives and Nepal are still unranked in international women’s basketball.
India’s Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu grabbed a game-high 20 points in the final and was followed by Sanjana Ramesh with 19 points. Raifa Ibrahim was Maldives’ top-scorer with seven points.
The final of the SABA Women’s Championship 2025 began with Aneesha Cleetus winning the tipoff for India and Sanjana Ramesh scoring a layup soon after to get the scoreboard rolling.
Maldives responded immediately thanks to a Bari Aminath Shiura Abdul jump shot that made it all square at 2-2.
Aneesha Cleetus helped India regain the momentum later only and Maldives’ Raifa Ibrahim sunk a three-pointer.
Another three-pointer by Fathmath E Hau Shameem gave the visitors an 8-5 lead with a little over four minutes left in the quarter.
However, led by skipper Sreekala Rani scored a three-pointers to give India a 14-0 run helped the hosts regain the advantage.
The final points of the opening period were came in Maldives’ Aminath Israau Abdul Shukoor’s name but it was India who led 19-10.
Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu scored the first points of the second quarter as India began and take control of the match.
The hosts went on a 10-to-nothing run before Maldives score their first points of the second period in which India added 30 points to their total.
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It was India’s second-most productive quarter in the match and handed them a comfortable 49-17 lead, leaving the Maldives with a colossal task in the second half.
India continued to extend the lead in the third period and made it 76-22 at the end of the penultimate quarter.
The final quarter was also dominated by India who comfortably closed the match out to win the third edition of the SABA Women’s Championship.
