India stamped their superiority yet again at the Middle Asia Qualifying tournament for the 26th FIBA Asia Championship as they slammed Bangladesh 120-26 to enter the final here on Thursday. New coach Kenny Natt had reasons to be satisfied. Not only are his boys just a step away from qualifying for the September event in Hubei, China, but also youngsters like Amrit Pal Singh, Amjyot Singh shone bright in the match at the Thyagraj Stadium. Amrit Pal finished as the joint top-scorer along with Vishesh Bhriguvanshi scoring 18 points each. India's defence was rock solid as they hardly let the Bangladeshi forwards make their chances count. In the title match India will face Sri Lanka, who the hosts defeated earlier, on Friday. Sri Lanka defeated Nepal 65-44 in the other semi-final. The hosts dominated right from the word go with Trideep Rai opening the account. Bangladesh had no answer for the fast counter attacks as India surged ahead by 27-8 at the end of the first quarter. Sambhaji Kadam was the fulcrum of India's attacks. Though, he scored only two points, he ended up with 12 assists. His passes were duly converted by Bhriguvanshi and Amrit Pal. Bhriguvanshi's scoring accuracy was at its peak as he converted four of the seven attempted three- pointers. Another senior, Jagdeep Singh entertained the spectators with his dunks and finished with 14 points. If the first quarter was any indication of what was to follow, in the second India cemented their position taking a 63-17 lead.

Even young Satnam Singh, who is grabbing attention with his height, played a clean game and scored three baskets from five attempts. The 15-year-old used his reach well as he had four defensive rebounds. The third quarter continued with the same flow with India giving little space as they went up 86-25. The visitor's Md. Mahmudul Hasan Shawan was able to break past India's defence on a number of occasions but his teammates failed to support him.

In the last quarter, India's defence was at its best with Bangladesh being able to score just one point as India finished the match 120-26. After the match, Natt said he was satisfied with the way his young players came up. "The youngsters have performed to my expectation and they are being helped by the veteran players," he said. "Here, the competition is less so as the level of challenge rises we will be able to ascertain how far we have progressed." Yadwinder, a senior player, echoed Natt's view. "We are taking this competition as practice as India is the strongest team in this region. We need to improve our game if we are to do well in the main event," he said. Natt said he was going to employ the defensive techniques more. "From here on we would concentrate more on the defence. If we are able to consolidate that part the offensive moves will bear results automatically," he said.