National basketball championship: Flying start for TN

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Pratham Singh and Mihir Pandey were the architects of Tamil Nadu’s emphatic 83-45 win over Kerala in a group match of the 62nd senior national basketball championship at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Pratham netted 20 points including four shots from outside the arc, while seasoned Mihir was a bundle of energy in his 19-point show as hosts avenged the defeat they had suffered at the hands of Kerala in the quarterfinals of the national championship last year.

Former champions Services avoided embarrassment as they limped past a spirited Chhattisgarh 70-66.

Chhattisgarh had been on course for the biggest upset of the tournament when they were leading 37-25 and 49-36 towards the end of the third quarter before they let Services stage a stunning comeback.

Services dug deep into their experience to ward off the challenge posed by the young guns of Chhattisgarh. Narender Kumar, who spent most of the first half on the bench after making four fouls, returned to action with a bang.

His crucial eight points at the business end of the third quarter bailed out Services as they restored parity at 49-49.

With only 30 seconds left on the clock, Chhattisgarh led 66-65 but Services pivot Gopal Ram converted two free-throws to snatch lead (67-66). The experienced side then played it smart by making use of the 24-second clock before Sharan sealed the match with a brilliant long-ranger.

Defending champions Indian Railways posted convincing wins in both the categories. Gagandeep Singh was the topscorer in Railway men’s 99-70 win over Uttar Pradesh, while their women’s side crushed Punjab 103-27 even after resting their star player Geethu Anna Jose.

Results
Men: Indian Railways 99 (Gagandeep Singh 26, Dilwar Singh 17, Prakash Mishra 14) bt Uttar Pradesh 70 (Rudra Pratap Singh 24, Veerendra Kumar 14). Services 70 (Narender Kumar 18, K. Vipin 18, Dalip Kumar 12) bt Chhattisgarh 66 (Kiran Pal Singh 21, Bobby Singh 11). Tamil Nadu 83 (Pratham Singh 20, Mihir Pandey 19) bt Kerala 45 (Ajeeth Sugunan 13, R. Manoj 13).

Women: Chhattisgarh 74 (Deepa 11, Kavitha 18, Poonam 10) bt Maharashtra 44 (Shirin 15, Trisha 7). Indian Railways 103 (S. Kokila 22, Harjit Kaur 14, Anita 12) bt Punjab 37 (Kiranjit Kaur 13). Tamil Nadu 87 (Appoorva Muralinath 22, Alagu Tamil Mozhi 10) bt Rajasthan 33.