66th Senior National Basketball Championship: Defending Champs Uttarakhand post first win; Karnataka women lose second straight close game

Railways women triumph while Tamil Nadu men remain undefeated

Tamil Nadu's Arvind rises for a block against Services

Mysuru, 10th January 2016: The morning of Day 2 of the championship witnessed some high-flying action. In the women’s section, one of the tournament favourites, Indian Railways registered an easy win against Punjab. Forward Rajapriyadarshini top scored for the Railways with 15 points in a balanced team scoring effort. In the men’s section, Kerala came up victorious with leading scorer R Manoj pouring in 19 points and his team taking an easy win against Telangana.

Favourites in the men section, Tamil Nadu made a huge statement in the tournament by overcoming the dangerous Services team. Aravind Annadurai, who is fast becoming a rising star in the Indian basketball circuit, led the team with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Services international player Narendar Grewal put up 16 points in a losing effort.

Later, defending champions Chhattisgarh held off the threat from Madhya Pradesh led by 2015 MVP Poonam Chaturvedi, who put up the highest individual score of the tournament thus far with 52 points. The undersized Madhya Pradesh team had no answer for the Chhattisgarh centre who was the true difference in the game. Sakshi Pandey put in 18 points in the Madhya Pradesh loss.

In the level 2 men’s section today, Maharashtra went head to head against Uttar Pradesh for a spot in the pre quarterfinals. Composed play from Maharashtra resulted in them being able to come back from behind to steal a victory against Uttar Pradesh. Edwin Irvin top scored with 18 points in the Maharashtra win. In other level 2 games, Chhattisgarh men handily defeated Odisha, while Rajasthan men got the better of Himachal Pradesh. In the women’s level 2 games, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal registered one-sided victories against Tripura and Gujarat respectively.

Post Lunch Session: Uttarakhand men & Telangana women win

A resurgent Telangana women have won two straight, this win coming over Maharashtra

In the level 1 men’s section the most awaited game for the evening was the one featuring Indian Captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, as he led his team to their first victory. Uttarakhand came from behind as Delhi led at the half. Ex-international Trideep Rai contributed with his typically high shooting percentage from behind the arc supported by clinical assists from Bhriguvanshi.

In women’s Level 1 games, Telangana women maintained their winning streak. Ramya led the team with 17 points and 9 rebounds to beat Karnataka. In women’s level 2, Uttar Pradesh played hard, fighting for their spot in the pre-quarter finals by defeating a young Himachal Pradesh Team. Vaishanavi led Uttar Pradesh with her fabulous 18 points.

In the men’s level 2 section, West Bengal was able to snatch a win by beating Andhra Pradesh. Sagar Joshi led the winning side by scoring 29 points. Chandigarh defeated Puducherry as Ravi led the team with his 18 points.

Karnataka women lose second straight close game

Unlike their previous game against Punjab, where Karnataka played catch up the whole time, this time, the hosts led 38-32 at halftime against the seasoned Delhi women. Karnataka centre Kruthika, who has represented India in the past, was virtually unstoppable in the paint, scoring at ease. Kruthika would end with 27 points.

For Delhi Pratima Singh led the fightback, supported ably by her sister Prashanti’s 23 points. Karnataka’s young leader Bhandavya had 16 in the losing effort.

India men's captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi playing for Uttarakhand, against Delhi

Results from Day 2 up to 6:30 pm

Level 1:

Women:

1. Indian Railways (R Raja Priya 15, Sitamani 13) bt Punjab (Indu Kumari 6) 72-26 [26-05, 20-4, 14-15, 12-2]

2. Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 52, Sangeeta 8) bt Madhya Pradesh (Sakshi Pandey 18, Ringhen 15, Nimdo Bhutia 10) 84-60 (19-14, 25-21, 22-18, 18-7)

3. Delhi (Pratima Singh 30, Prashanti Singh 25, Raspreet Sidhu 16) bt Karnataka (Kruthika 27, Bhandavya 16) 78-67 [22-21, 10-17, 20-19, 26-10]

4. Telangana (R Ramya 17, Anusha Anto 14 pts & 13 rbs) bt Maharashtra (Sangeeta Mandal 16 pts & 11 rbs, Manisha Dange 15) 66-53 [17-14, 4-12, 24-13, 21-14]

Men:

1. Kerala (R Manoj 19, Philip Basil 12, Pereira Eduric 12, Wilson Monish 11) bt Telangana (Boom M David 13, Yadav S Nihal 10, Reddy Ambati 8) 81-58 [19-14,24-16, 24-12, 14-16]

2. Tamil Nadu (Aravind A 24, Rikin 15, Pratham Singh 11, Prasanna 11) bt Services (Narendar 16, Setu SM 14, Ashutosh Rai 10) 83-59 [20-10, 18-21, 30-14, 15-14]

3. Uttarakhand (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 18, Trideep Rai 17, Murli Krishna 12) bt Delhi (Sachin 19, Ramesh Kumar 9, Gopal Ram 9) 76-65 [15-25, 12-06, 31-20, 18-14]

4. Karnataka (Arvind A 33, Anil Kumar 23, Sashi S 13, Sashi Kumar 13)bt Haryana (Deepak 29, Bijender 18) 92-73 [24-15, 38-27, 12-13, 18-18]

Level 2:

Women:

1. Andhra Pradesh (Nikita 10) bt Tripura (Chesta 6) 32-12 (22-3, 6-2, 1-3, 3-4)

2. Bihar (Shravanthi 32, Kritika 8) bt Puducherry (Manjula 7) 47-29 (11-10, 17-9, 16-8, 3-2)

3. West Bengal (Anjana 16, Salma Devi 15) bt Gujarat (Ria Dubey 4, Nidhi 4) 64-12 (13-10, 21-0, 15-2, 15-0)

4. Uttar Pradesh (Vaishanavi 18, Anjana 11) bt Himachal Pradesh (Naina 8) 62-23 [25-13, 20-4, 9-2, 8-4]

5. Odisha (Jayashree 11, Urbasi Malik 6) bt Haryana (Sanju 6) 37-27 [14-2, 8-6, 10-11, 5-8]

6. Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 25, Surbhi S Nair 10) bt Chandigarh (Neha 9) 53-27 [21-7, 12-8, 13-12, 7-0]

7. Uttarakhand (Siwani N 9, Mehar Sanou 7) bt Goa (Rachel La Posa 10, Shaheen Rebello 8) 27-25 [11-4, 4-9, 6-7, 6-5]

Men:

1. Gujarat (Vinay 19, Harpal 10) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Shubam 13) 66-43 [24-16, 16-11, 13-08, 13-08]

2. Maharastra (Edwin Irvin 18, Loveneet Ajwal 16, Pradeep Chavan 16) bt Uttar Pradesh (Ankur Anand Singh 27, Ashutosh Ku Singh 15, Bobby Singh 14) 88-80 [16-20, 25-19, 22-16, 25-25]

3. Madhya Pradesh (Harindra 10) bt Jharkhand (Alen 13) 51-38 (18-2, 19-12, 11-14, 3-10)

4. Puducherry (Vinod 32, Harikrishna 11) bt Goa (Shawn Soares 19, Charles D’Souza 8) 71-64 (22-16, 20-5, 11-28, 18-15)

5. Chhattisgarh (Kiran 23, Dinesh 12) bt Odisha (Sahid Khan 10) 73-48 (30-16, 20-15, 13-10, 10-7)

6. Rajasthan (Kamran 20, Dinesh 17, Govind 13) bt Himachal Pradesh (Deepak 21, Anoop 16, Ashwani 9) 84-59 (26-10, 20-14, 17-27, 21-8)

7. Bihar (Yogesh Kumar 18, Hemant Hooda 16) bt Mizoram (Vishesh 11) 69-38 (23-5, 12-11, 18-11, 16-11)

8. West Bengal (Sagar Joshi 29, Amar Singh 10) bt Andhra Pradesh (Kumar Naveen 18, Kumar 12) 82-64 [26-15, 19-11, 21-16, 16-22]

9. Chandigarh (Ravi 18, Kuldeep Singh 16, Sartat Singh 14) bt Puducherry (Vinod 16) 88-59 [20-18, 31-09, 23-21, 14-11]

10. Jammu & Kashmir (Robal 12, Shubham S 9) bt Arunachal Pradesh (Ankit 7) 59-13 [20-0, 6-3, 8-6, 25-4]

11. Chandigarh (Ravi Bhardwaj 18, Kuldip Singh 16, Sartaj Sandhu 14) bt Puducherry (Vinod 16) 88-59 [20-18, 31-9, 23-21, 14-11]

12. Himachal Pradesh (Ashwani D. 14, Pankaj D. 13, Anoop D. 10) bt Tripura (Vikram S. 10) 63-38 (17-14, 12-6, 14-7, 20-11)

13. Gujarat (Kashi 28, Vinay 18) bt Maharashtra (Paras 15, Ajinkya Mane 14) 78-66 [19-17, 18-6, 16-23, 25-20]