66th Senior National Basketball Championship: Indian Railways women, Services men return as national champions
Mysuru, 16th January 2016: The last day of the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship here in Mysuru saw the two best teams in each of the men’s and women’s categories compete for the coveted gold medal. The Indian Railways women and Services men captured the gold medal, with Kerala women and Uttarakhand men finishing runners up. Delhi women and Tamil Nadu men sealed third place, going home with bronze medals. The gold medal winning teams were awarded a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh each. Runners up were awarded Rs. 50,000 each and the third placed teams were awarded Rs. 25,000 each.
The final day was graced with the presence of ministers from the Government of Karnataka. Shri Dr. HC Mahadevappa, Minister for Public Works Department, Shri Mahadeva Prasad, Minister of Co-operation, Shri Dr HM Ambarish, Minister of Housing and Shri Abhay Chandra, Minister for Fisheries & Sports took in the finals action.
Navaneetha PU of the Indian Railways was awarded the Most Valuable Player in the women’s section, while Services point guard Joginder Singh was awarded the men’s Most Valuable Player. Each MVP was given a cash prize of Rs. 10,000.
Indian Railways stay perfect to clinch gold
The first final was the women’s game between Kerala and Indian Railways. Both teams entered the final with a perfect 6-0 record and were facing each other for the first time this tournament. Kerala began the game well, with Jeena Scaria (14 points) scoring a bulk of the first quarter points for her team. Kerala ended the first period with a 3-point lead in the game. Railways made a crucial change in their defensive strategy to begin the second quarter, with tight man marking on Jeena and double-teaming her whenever she got the ball. This forced the rest of the Kerala players to step up on the offensive end. But only Kerala centre Stephy Nixon (17 points) was up to the task with little contribution from the rest of her teammates. The Indian Railways teams had multiple weapons from inside the paint and outside, with four of their players ending up scoring in double digits. Veteran Railways point guard Anitha Paul-Durai connected on three 3-pointers on her way to 16 points. Railways centre Rajapriyadarshini had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Navaneeta was efficient off the bench for the Railways with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Coach Aparna Ghosh showcased the depth of the Railways team today with 28 points coming from their bench players. Railways blew the game wide open in the second half to cruise to a 72-55 victory, clinching the gold medal after a gap of two years.
Services topple defending champs
The men’s final between Services and Uttarakhand was expected to be a hard-fought battle for first place. Both teams came into the final on a 5-1 record, after knocking out the more favoured Punjab and Tamil Nadu teams in the semifinals. The defending champions started off well, with their star player and India captain Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi (20 points) leading the charge. Down by 2 points at the end of the first quarter, Services cranked up the heat with their point guard Joginder Singh shooting lights out from long distance. Joginder (26 points) nailed 6 threes in the game to give Services a double-digit lead over Uttarakhand. The backcourt due of Joginder and Narender Grewal (20 points) ensured that Services maintained a 10-plus point lead through the third quarter. But entering the fourth, Uttarakhand made a push for a comeback. Uttarakhand centre Murali Krishna (24 points) was big in the post scoring cruicial buckets down the stretch to cut down the Services lead. Bhrighuvanshi also fought valiantly to bring his team back in the game, but the Services players maintained their composure down the stretch to stave off the Uttarakhand comeback attempt. Services held on to a 6-point lead to end the game with a 73-67 victory and capture the gold medal after a gap of 9 years.
Tamil Nadu men and Delhi women capture third place
Earlier in the day, the Delhi women edged past Telangana 71-66 to capture third place. Raspreet Sidhu led the scoring for the Delhi side with 21 points, while sisters Pratima Singh and Prashanti Singh contributed with 19 and 16 points respectively. Telangana centre Anusha Anto had 24 points in the loss.
Tamil Nadu men bounced back from their disappointing semifinal loss against Uttarakhand yesterday to defeat Punjab and secure third place. Tamil Nadu dominated the game in the second half and ran away to an 82-68 victory. Tamil Nadu forward Aravind Annadurai scored a game-high 33 points in the contest.
Results from Day 8 (16th Jan)
Finals
Women:
Indian Railways (Anitha Paul-Durai 16, Navaneeta 14, Sitamani Tudu 12) bt Kerala (Stephy Nixon 17, Jeena PS 14, Anjana PG 14) 72-55 (12-15, 26-13, 19-13, 15-14)
Men:
Services (Joginder Singh 26, Narender Grewal 20, Setu SM 10) bt Uttarakhand (Murali Krishna 24, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 20, Trideep Rai 11) 73-67 (15-17, 25-14, 16-15, 17-21)
3rd place
Women:
Delhi (Raspreet Sidhu 21, Pratima Singh 19, Prashanti Singh 16) bt Telangana (Anusha Anto 24, Jincy Joseph 17, Ramya 10) 71-66 (21-21, 12-20, 15-11, 23-14)
Men:
Tamil Nadu (Aravind Annadurai 33, Rikin Pethani 18, Prasanna Venkatesh 13) bt Punjab (Gagandeep Singh 18, TJ Sahi 17, Rajveer Singh 13) 82-68 (17-17, 15-20, 30-19, 20-12)
5th and 6th place
Women:
Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 44, Bharti 18, Saranjeet Kaur 10) bt Tamil Nadu (Nishanti Masi 17, Srividhya 16, Shruti 16) 83-74 (19-31, 20-10, 17-16, 28-17)
Men:
Karnataka (Anil Kumar 29, Isaac I. 12, Karan K. 11) bt Indian Railways (Himanshu Sharma 19, Somvier S. 15, Palpreet Singh 11) 93-86 (22-14, 25-21, 25-24, 21-27)
7th and 8th place:
Women:
West Bengal (Madhu Kumari 21, Salma S. 21, Anjana Dezy 14, Libina 14) bt Punjab (S. Samriti 23, Nirmal Kaur 15, Gagandeep Kaur 12) 79-77 (30-19, 14-22, 18-18, 17-18)
Men:
Gujarat (Dishant Shah 16, Dhaval 16) bt Kerala (Abhijith 15) 64-58 (19-16, 19-12, 14-18, 12-12)
Final Standings
Women:
1. Indian Railways
2. Kerala
3. Delhi
4. Telangana
5. Chhattisgarh
6. Tamil Nadu
7. West Bengal
8. Punjab
9. Maharashtra
10. Rajasthan
Women’s MVP: Navaneetha PU
Men:
1. Services
2. Uttarakhand
3. Tamil Nadu
4. Punjab
5. Karnataka
6. Indian Railways
7. Gujarat
8. Kerala
9. Haryana
10. Chhattisgarh
Men’s MVP: Joginder Singh
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