JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia (21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women): Now, are Japan and China the two best teams deserving to contest the gold medal at the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women? The answer is an emphatic yes. Will the better among the two be the one to emerge as the champion? The answer is an obvious yes.

So what is that one team which the other doesn’t that might tilt the scales one way or the other? That question can’t be answered in a monosyllable, or for that matter in a cut-and-dry manner.

China and Japan have contested the gold medal game five teams including the last three occasions. China have won four of them including the one at the previous edition at the 20th FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women at Surat Thani (Thailand) in 2010. But history may remember the current coach of the Japanese team was also the coach the girls from the Land of Rising Sun won their maiden gold medal at the 19th FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women at Medan (Indonesia) in 2008.

On show as the Saturday evening fever grips Stadium Bandaraya will be two teams who have shown amazing talent, absorbing temperament and an astounding ability to raise their game when push comes to shove. These were the ingredients that took China and Japan to win four out of five games in Level I, and took China to win their fifth against Japan.

China have relied to a large extent individual brilliance to spark a streak for their quest of an unprecedented 13th gold medal, while Japan have shown some remarkable team work in their attempt for only the second gold medal.

As such Isshiki carries a 18-2 record in three editions of this event, but both those defeats have come against the Chinese, the most recent in the Level I Prelim Round encounter here, when China clinched the issue 73-67 using their size and strength to counter Japanese speed.

“We learnt a lot of lessons from that defeat,” said Isshiki.

“We have had a consistent show so far. And we are getting well into our rhythm,” he added after Japan defeated Chinese Taipei 113-55 in the semifinals on Friday.

“We know what to expect,” countered China coach Li Xin after her team had scored an equally facile 72-46 triumph against Korea in the earlier semifinals.

“But we have improved a lot from the previous game against Japan,” added the member of the Chinese team that won the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Playmaker Yang Liwei has been lynchpin of the Chinese assault here. The youngster shone only in patches in the Prelim Round games – and all China’s wins came when she did – but the manner in which she struck a purple patch must surely be a cause for worry for Japan.

Zhang Liting and Hu Yaoming have been their usual selves strutting their size and strength with some solid inside play – although the latter’s penchant to run into foul trouble is a thorn in China’s flesh – and Gong Li has been as gangling as ever.

Countering this is Japan’s sublime style led by Miyuki Kawamura and Yunika Nakamura with some speedy support from the little Saori Miyazaki.

Nakamura, who was elected to the All Stars at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) only last month, where Japan finished an impressive fourth has been used very sparingly by Isshiki. But she has dazzled in the time she has got on court.

Kawamura on the other hand, has started most of the games and been the bulwark of the Japanese cause.

That said, there always is a surprise element that’s involved in any gold medal game, especially in one that involves the junior women’s team of Japan and Korea. That element is what will cause the explosion to the gold!

S Mageshwaran / FIBA Asia

Photo & Collage: Milad Payami / FIBA Asia