Chennai, Sep 17 - For all the pre-tournament hype, India were out of depth against defending champions South Korea who won the Level-1 game 102-46 in the Asian Basketball Championship for women here Thursday.

The Koreans were merciless and sustained their early momentum to virtually seal the issue by half-time leading 56-21.

The Korean sharpshooters were spot-on from the start and they also excelled in their rebound collections to leave the Indians a frustrated lot.

The heavy loss notwithstanding, coach J.B. Singh still believed that the Indians had a good chance of finishing in the top three and thus qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

'We are not going to give up our ambition of finishing in the top three just because we lost to Korea today,' he said.

Despite his bravado, the fact remained that the Indians were outclassed in every department of the game. Skipper Geetu Anna Jose, who led from the front for the host team, did strike a good combination with Anitha Pauldurai, but then, the Koreans gave little away under their board.

At the other end, the Indian defence was literally torn to shreds by the swift Koreans among whom Yeon Ha Beon and Sun Min Jung, stood out with their pacy forays.

Worse was to follow for the Indians as Jose had to be benched after committing four fouls and with her absence, the home team's hopes further ebbed.