Czech Republic – Mali 84:63, the battle for the World Cup began with an African scalp – Sport.cz

The match in front of a half-empty auditorium in the hall that hosted the volleyball tournament at the 1968 Olympics, the Czechs started a little nervous and had to find a way to counter the spontaneous play of the African bronze medal team finally, that was accompanied by great toughness supported by frequent shooting from three-point range.

Fortunately, Mali was not very successful from a distance, converting only two of thirteen attempts in the opening quarter hour. It wasn’t long until the national team got a confident lead 18:10 with a series of eight points. The opposition was unable to score a basket until the end of the first quarter, as they ran into a well-functioning Czech defense and had great difficulty stopping a quick attack.

The representatives’ advantage grew comfortably when they managed to get the ball under the basket to the pivot Reisingerová without limit and they got the comfort of a game with a high advantage on the rebound. The difference in shooting success was also clear, as the Czech shot was higher than fifty-five percent, while Mali’s was less than thirty.

In the 16th minute, it was already 39:19 for the representatives, who cleared the area well under their own basket, and the Czech representatives also entered the game. The African team showed an even more aggressive style against them than they did at the beginning, putting pressure on the ball and leveling the pace.

The same was true in the third quarter, when the national team’s game began to lose energy and Reisinger sprained her wrist, which put her on the bench for a while. Other agents were having trouble with fraud and the number of Czech losses was almost devastating, which had increased to 23 at the beginning of the last act.

Mali recovered from the game and started to bite, reducing the difference to ten points six minutes before the end (72:62). Fortunately, the national team returned in time to a precise defensive operation and simplicity in the game under the basket, thus breaking the resistance of the opponents from Africa.

Czech women will play their next match in Mexico City on Wednesday at 1:30 am our time against Korea, who started the pre-qualification tournament with an unexpected loss 78:84 against Venezuela. The top two teams in the group will advance to the semi-finals, where they will face opponents from the second group consisting of Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand and Mozambique. Only the winners of the competition will make it to the main qualifying level.