Nagpur: Playing a must-win game, India made a valiant attempt to break the long standing monopoly of the East Asian quartet in top four, but ran out of steam in the later part of the game to go down 67-99 to Chinese Taipei in the second Fiba Asia U-16 Basketball Championship for women on Wednesday.
The last time any team outside the East Asian quartet - China, Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei - made the semifinals of any FIBA Asia women's event was when Thailand made it to the last four at the 1984 edition of the Fiba U-18 Asia Championship at Seoul.
Indian cagers, led by Pune girl Shireen Limaye, might have counted their chances to create history, when they matched Chinese Taipei in pace and exchanges to even lead 43-42 at the breather.
The Times Of India