TN look to continue momentum

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After registering four convincing wins on the trot, Tamil Nadu qualified for the quarterfinals of the 62nd senior national basketball championship in style. For the hosts, who have fielded seven new faces, topping Group A was a surprise outcome.

TN’s domination in the league stage was so complete that even the lowest victory margin was a double digit — 13 — against Indian Railways. The defending champions, Railways, may have been weakened by the departure of Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Brighuvanshi to Uttarakhand, but it would be unfair to take the credit away from the home team.

It’s a brilliant start, but the job is not done yet for Tamil Nadu. The real test awaits TN in the last-eight contest against Uttarakhand on Thursday.

Coach Mohd. Nazar made it clear that Tamil Nadu are not resting on their group stage laurels. “But we can take a lot of inspiration from our performance so far. Playing at home, the boys are really charged up and eager to make an impact,” he added.

Forward Pratham Singh remains the lynchpin for TN. He has been consistent with an impressive average of 15 points per game. The Chhattisgarh youngster, who was roped in by Indian Overseas Bank a couple of years ago, spent the majority of time on the bench against Uttar Pradesh in his team’s last match after bruising his left hand.

The coach, however, said Pratham is fit to play in the quarters. Skipper Saravana Rajan’s return to form after a shaky start has come as a relief for Nazar. While playmakers Vinoth Kumar and Praveen Kumar are playing their part well, Sidheek Razak has been impressive in collecting rebounds.

If there is one area where Tamil Nadu need to iron out glitches is defence and Nazar says it could be an issue against Uttarakhand. “We realised in our match against Uttar Pradesh that we were giving too may freebies. We need to tighten the screw. Since we have only one post player (Rikin Pethani), we are adopting man-to-man than the more effective zone defence.

Players are working on different strategies to stop Uttarakhand tall men Murali Krishna and M. Anoop from collecting rebounds. Trideep Rai is another player we have to keep at bay,” said Nazar, hoping that his young team will come up trumps against their experienced opponents.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu women have their task cut out in retaining their bronze medal. TN, who finished second in the Group B after suffering a heavy defeat against Delhi, will take on Maharashtra in quarterfinals on Thursday morning.

Should they win the match against the minnows, TN will run into formidable Railways in the semifinals. As usual, Delhi are expected to lock horns with Railways in the final, while TN are likely to fight it out for the final podium spot with Chhattisgarh like the previous edition.

Chhattisgarh who gave a good account of themselves against multiple champions Railways in the group stage are threatening to throw TN away from the podium.

TN women are the biggest victims of the factional feud in the state’s basketball administration. Their selectors haven’t justified the inclusion of over-the-hill Meena Latha and Sunitha Suren, who are in their early 30s. Veteran Meena needed trainer’s help to recover after limping out of the match against Delhi.

On the other hand, two talented youngsters from districts — Suganya and Gomathi — didn’t even figure among the probables. According to sources, the two girls are from the rival faction.