The Hungarian squad beat Taiwan and Argentina smoothly in the group stage, but were knocked out by the Russians, then in the eighth final on Wednesday they beat Italy 54-48 at the Emre Hados Events Hall. The Czechs also finished the group stage with a balance of 2/1 – Mali, who arrived later, could not stand them, so the match was written 20-0 in their favour – then the Brazilian team was defeated 74-64 two days ago.
Ahead of Friday’s third quarter-final, a pair of semi-finalists were already formed on the other leg as the Australians defeated Canada and Mali to Russia with a big upset.
László coach Cziczás started with a 7-2, then led with eight points (24-16), mainly via Júlia Boros. The Czechs, who were building a silver under-16 team in 2018, had four points, but in the 17th minute they were already at 38-28 in the big hour. The home team scored only four points in six minutes, but the opponent did not shine either, so the score was 40-35 during the big break.
After half of the exchange, the Hungarians maintained their advantage by five to six points, at which time Eszter Madár and Réka Dombai also excelled, until the difference faded to one point in the 28th minute (47-46). In the final, starting at 57-52, Zsuzsanna Sitku and then Boros overtook the Chixa guard again by ten points, and only six came from the other side in six minutes. From here, the host team, encouraged by about five hundred fans, no longer left the game in their hands and reached the top four with its fourth victory in its fifth World Cup match.
The most successful Hungarian player was Julia Poros with 23 points.
In their first ever World Basketball Championships in Hungary, the hosts will meet American favorites in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Quarter-final results:
United States – Spain 98-64
Previously:
Hungary and the Czech Republic 78-71
Australia and Canada 72-61
Mali and Russia 69-47
(MTI)
