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Olympic Qualifying Tournament
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The format of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament will see the winner of each quarter-final match qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Basketball Tournament for women.
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Olympic Qualifying Tournament day 4, part 1 quarter-final picture gallery
Croatia 59-56 Canada
Czech Republic 53-47 Japan
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Olympic Qualifying Tournament Picture Gallery: quarter-final part 1
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Croatia's first qualification for the Olympic Games
Canada were electrifying and started the game with 6 unanswered points in the first 100 seconds of the game with Teresa Gabriele, Krista Phillips (left in picture) and Courtenay Pilypaitis all hitting the target.
Croatia used an early time-out to stop the bleeding and hit their 4 points of the game through Marija Vrsaljko.
Croatia went in front for the first time with Jelena Ivezic driving in for an uncontested lay-up (12-11) with 2:32 to play in the first quarter.
A trey by Shona Thorburn put an end to the 6-0 run by Croatia to tie the game at (14-14). Both teams finished the quarter playing man to man defense. Croatia edged the quarter (17-16) after Mirna Mazic split a pair from the charity stripe.
The second quarter was less hectic and more technical. Croatia scored the first 5 points of the quarter to take control of the game.
When Natalie Achonwa from Canada, who rolled her angle against France, made a brief appearance Canada were able score their first points of the quarter.
However Croatia put together a 9-0 run to open the first double-digit advantage of the game (33-22) before settling for a 7-point lead at the break (33-26).
Croatia hit 52% of their shots in the first quarter (15-of-29) but only 1-from-7 from beyond the arc.
Canada came out of the locker room fired up and outscored their opponents 9-3 during the first three minutes to make it a 1-point game (35-36).
Croatia started to lose their way on the court while Canada continued to battle away and regained the lead with an Alisha Tatham trade-mark baseline drive and lay-up (40-38).
The Croatian players started to lose their focus and questioned the officials calls, while Canada continued to play hard.
The result was that Canada led (46-41) at the end of the quarter.
The two-minute break cooled the Croatian team down and they went on a 7-0 run to regain the lead (48-46) with a three-ball from Ivezic with six minutes left to play.
Canada were very aggressive and basically bashed the Croatian players all over the court. As a result Croatia went into the last minute leading only by two points (54-52).
The end was untidy with Canada having to foul to gain time but Croatia held their nerve from the free-throw line to win (59-56).
Croatia are on their way to London while for Canada the Olympic Qualifying Tournament continues.
Croatia: Sandra Mandir 8, Andja Jelavic 6 (5 assists), Antonija Misura DNP, Lisa Ann Karcic 0, Emanuela Salopek 0, Marija Vrsaljko 10, Iva Ciglar 9, Ana Lelas 8, Iva Sliskovic 1, Mirna Mazic 3, Luca Ivankovic 2, Jelena Ivezic 12
Canada: Krista Phillips 6, Teresa Gabriele 9, Shona Thorburn 3, Courtnay Pilypaitis 11, Kimberley Smith 4, Miranda Joy Ayim 2, Alisha Tatham 4, Natalie Achonwa 7, Lizanne Murphy 6, Tamara Tatham 2, Chelsea Aubry 2, Michelle Plouffe DNP
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Czech Republic are celebrating
The Czech Republic were too quick for Japan at the start of the game and scored the first 13 points of the game.
Japan finally went on the score board after seven minutes to the delight of the Japanese fans with 2 points by Chie Kibayashi.
The Czech Republic dominated the first quarter (17-4) with Petra Kulichová scoring 6 points and collecting 8 rebounds.
Japan played much better in the second quarter with their aggressive player to player marking system and their long distance shooting. However their lack of height was a handicap against Eva Vitecková and Kulichová.
The Czech Republic went into the locker room leading (29-18) after Kulichová tapped in the buzzer for her 10th point of the game.
The match lost its intensity during the third quarter. Japan found a way of stopping the taller Czech girls from scoring inside. As a result the Czech Republic were forced to shoot from beyond the arc (3-of-4) to maintain their lead going into the final quarter (43-31).
Japan came to life in the final quarter as they out-hustled and out-rebounded their opponents 12-3 to reduce the deficit.
Basically Japan used their speed to pick ball after ball off the Czech Republic.
The only problem was that Japan committed too many fouls which allowed the Czech Republic free trips to the free-throw line.
As a consequence the Czech Republic were able to regain the advantage (48-43) with three minutes to play.
As in the previous quarter-final match the last minutes were played at the free-throw line with the Czech Republic winning (53-47).
For the second Olympic Qualifying Tournament in a row the Czech Republic have qualified for the Olympic Games while once again Japan will have to play in a semi-final.
Czech Republic: Jana Veselá 4, Michaela Zrustova DNP, Katerina Bartonova 0, Katerina Zohnová 0, Ilona Burgrová 8, Hana Horakova, 8 Alena Hanusová 3, Katerina Elhotova 6, Lenka Bartáková 0, Petra Kulichová 14 (15 rebounds), Tereza Peckova DNP, Eva Vitecková 10
Japan: Kumiko Oba DNP, Maki Takada 0, Yuka Mamiya 16, Ryoko Yano 2, Rika Tanaka 6, Emi Kudeken 8, Arisa Fujiwara 0, Chie Kibayashi 5, Asami Yoshida 2, Yuko Oga 5, Megumi Shinohara DNP, Kumiko Yamada DNP
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Olympic Qualifying Tournament picture credit:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
Date created: 29 June 2012
1 July 2012 Canada beat Japan to qualify for Olympic Games
30 June 2012 Argentina and Korea fall in semi-final
29 June 2012 France and Turkey: qualified for London 2012
29 June 2012 Czech Republic and Croatia are going to London 2012
29 June 2012 French players looking up to the sky before quarter-final
27 June 2012 The Olympic dream ends for Mali and Puerto Rico
26 June 2012 Mozambique and New Zealand eliminated on day 2
25 June 2012 No upsets on day 1
29 October 2011 France withdraws from bid to host OQT
12 October 2011 The road to London 2012 - Qualification jigsaw puzzle