Nepal made a flying start to their first Saba Women’s Championship campaign with a crushing 92-26 victory over an inexperienced Bangladesh side on Tuesday.

Sneha Shrestha tossed in 25 points in Nepal’s convincing victory. Nepal  were playing their first competitive international tournament after more than two years. Nepal headed into the tournament following the disappointment in the 12th South Asian Games in India where basketball was kept out due to internal problems in the Basketball Federation of India. 

Nepal had headed for the Games following a five-month preparation, one of them was in Thailand. However, their fine touch  was only evident after the first quarter which they led 20-10. Coach Bikash Shahi was little worried about the early hiccups in the game. 

“We were not able to coordinate properly in the first half but managed to set the game thereafter. Our girls might have underestimated the opponents as well. We are yet to come up with our best offensive game,” said Shahi.

Nepal built a strong 27-point lead going into the second half of the game scoring another 20 in the second quarter and stopping Bangladesh on three. The match was virtually over when Nepal poured in a whopping 31 in the third quarter when Bangladesh could only add four to their total. 

The final period ended on 21-9. Natasha scored eight points for the losing side. Bangladesh coach Roanjit Chandra Das said they have taken the tournament only as a medium to gain exposure. “Our girls are inexperienced and most of them are University students who don’t play that often. We came here to gain experience. Nepal have a nice team and they have some good shooters,” said Das.

Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka underlined their title credentials hammering Maldives 105-39 with Silva Kumarin tossing in 25 points. 

On Wednesday, Nepal play Maldives and Sri Lanka are up against Bhutan. While Afghanistan have already opted to pull out from the South Asian Region, India and Pakistan are also not participating in the tournament due to internal problems.