Arise Steel 42nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship: Defending champions Kerala girls knocked out; Boys’ defending champs MP advance to semis along with Chhattisgarh teams

Madhya Pradesh player (in dark blue) drives in against Kerala (in red)

Puducherry, 6^th February 2016: The knockout stages have arrived at the Arise Steel 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship taking place at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry. The early morning session witnessed pre-quarterfinal matchups with teams battling it out for a berth in the quarterfinals. Uttar Pradesh girls were the first team to advance to the quarterfinals defeating the Rajasthan girls by a 20-point margin (53-33). UP girls will now face the strong Tamil Nadu girls team in the quarterfinals today evening. The Haryana girls also booked a spot in the quarterfinals with a 55-52 victory over Telangana. Haryana relied on teamwork and contributions from multiple players to clinch the close victory. Haryana will face last year’s runners-up Chhattisgarh in their quarterfinal matchup later in the evening.

In the boys’ pre-quarterfinals, Andhra Pradesh pulled off a huge victory against Karnataka with the final score at 79-32 in favour of AP, who were led by their most consistent scorers Md. Ghouse Mohiddin (26 points) and A. Sai Pawan Kumar (22 points). AP will face defending champions Madhya Pradesh today evening in what is expected to be a cracker of a contest. Maharashtra boys also dominated their game against Kerala, defeating them 81-54, led by Raza Shaikh’s 21 points, to set up a quarterfinal clash against Chhattisgarh boys.

Later in the morning, the quarterfinals began with two strong boys’ team, Rajasthan and Haryana facing each other for a semifinal spot. Rajasthan began the game well and maintained their lead that grew to double digits at the end of the 3^rd quarter. In the final quarter, Haryana attempted a late comeback, but Rajasthan held on to register an 8-point victory 64-56. Rajasthan’s Mohammad put up 16 points. Uttar Pradesh boys also booked a place in the semifinals edging past Odisha in a high-scoring, tight contest. Led by Aniket’s 20 points and Priyanshu’s 19 points, Uttar Pradesh pulled away from Odisha in the final minutes to close out on a 6-point win.

Uttar Pradesh player (in white) attempts a jumpshot against Odisha (in orange).

The first girls’ quarterfinal saw defending champions Kerala girls take on an upstart Madhya Pradesh side. The game was neck-and-neck throughout. Kerala took the early lead, but Madhya Pradesh fought back, with the score tied at the end of the 2^nd as well as the 3^rd period. In the fourth quarter, Madhya Pradesh put their foot on the gas and ran away with the game, outscoring Kerala by 10 points and pulling off a 43-33 victory. Madhya Pradesh’s Shweta Verma scored a game-high 14 points.

Maharashtra girls continued their good run of form, making their way to the semifinals as well, with a win against the Karnataka girls today. Maharashtra’s most consistent player and top scorer of the tournament so far, Shruti Bhosale top scored again with a game-high 26 points to lead her side to a 77-62 victory. Last year’s runners up Chhattisgarh girls faced the Haryana girls team later in the day and completely outplayed their opponent. Haryana seemed overwhelmed by the seasoned Chhattisgarh side, coached by veteran Rajesh Patel. Elijabet Ekka poured in 30 points for Chhattisgarh as they cruised to a 76-32 win. This ends the Haryana girls’ run in the tournament and Chhattisgarh girls have advanced to the semifinals again this year.

The Chhattisgarh boys also advanced to the semifinals defeating the Maharashtra side, who fell to a 88-60 loss. Chhattisgarh dominated in the second half to clinch the win and advance to the semifinal stage for a third straight year. The last semi-finalist in the boys’ category is defending champions Madhya Pradesh, who showed their class against the Andhra Pradesh side, coming from behind to register an 80-59 victory. Despite conceding a lead in the first half, Madhya Pradesh had a strong third quarter where they outscored Andhra Pradesh 34-13. Jeet Kharwar and Manish Prasad scored 21 points apiece for Madhya Pradesh.

Results from Day 5 (6-2-16)

Girls:

Quarterfinals:

1. Madhya Pradesh (Shweta Verma 14, Anam Abbas 11) bt Kerala (Haleema Jan 12, Krishna Priya 11) 43-33 (8-11, 8-5, 8-8, 19-9)

2. Maharashtra (Shruti Govind Bhosale 26, Siva Shreesa Deodhar 12) bt Karnataka (Maya Manoj Krishna 17, Pavitra Jalapur 7) 77-62 (19-14, 17-18, 21-13, 20-17)

3. Chhattisgarh (Elijabet Ekka 30, Poonam Nayak 11, Sanskriti Singh 11) bt Haryana (Ritika 23) 76-32 (10-9, 35-2, 18-15, 13-6)

Pre-quarterfinals:

1. Uttar Pradesh (Muskan M. 14, Anushka S. 10) bt Rajasthan (Simran B. 14) 53-33 (17-7, 16-5, 10-8, 10-13)

2. Haryana (Anjali 12, Neeru 8) bt Telangana (Lasya ST 13, Dhathi ND 12) 55-52 (9-18, 14-6, 16-18, 16-10)

Loser Knockout Semifinals:

1. Chandigarh (Gurleen Kaur 28, Prachi Bhatia 12) bt Andhra Pradesh (V. Venkata 19) 52-50 (13-12, 11-9, 8-10, 20-19)

2. Punjab (Sukhmandeep Kaur 19, Subpreet 10) bt Gujarat (Tisha J. 6) 55-19 (29-4, 4-4, 8-5, 14-6)

Level 1 to Level 2 (for next year):

1. Delhi (Bharti 11, Kritika Dhingra 9) bt West Bengal (Aishani Das 7) 44-27 (15-8, 13-7, 7-4, 9-8)

Boys:

Quarterfinals:

1. Rajasthan (Mohammad 16, Jaiveer 14) bt Haryana (Hardeep 16, Vikash 12) 64-56 (16-10, 7-6, 25-20, 16-20)

2. Uttar Pradesh (Aniket 20, Priyanshu 19) bt Odisha (Saurav Sahoo 20, Tulu Patra 20) 79-73 (18-11, 18-17, 16-20, 27-25)

3. Madhya Pradesh (Jeet Kharwar 21, Manish Prasad 21) bt Andhra Pradesh (A. Sai Pawan Kumar 36) 80-59 (15-15, 5-12, 34-13, 14-19)

4. Chhattisgarh (Sandeep 30, Rishab 17) bt Maharashtra (Raza Shaikh 15, S. Mudassir 14) 88-60 (15-11, 20-19, 21-10, 22-20)

Pre-quarterfinals:

1. Maharashtra (Raza Shaikh 21, Saad Shaikh 16) bt Kerala (Jerom Prince George 25, Yajurdas TD 11) 81-54 (20-14, 16-14, 25-11, 20-15)

2. Andhra Pradesh (Md. Ghouse Mohiddin 26, A. Sai Pawan Kumar 22, V. Sai Ganesh 14) bt Karnataka (Akshan Rao 12, Aniket Sahoo 7) 79-32 (26-11, 22-7, 21-2, 10-12)

Loser Knockout Semifinals:

1. Punjab (Eknoor Singh 27, Rajbeer 18) bt Telangana (Yaswanth 20, Shoaib 18) 86-66 (19-16, 14-14, 25-21, 28-14)

2. West Bengal (Rohit 15) bt Bihar (Dharmendra 19) 45-39 (10-5, 12-4, 5-11, 18-19)

About the 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship

The 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship is being organised in Puducherry from the 2^nd to the 8^th of February 2016 at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. There are two indoor courts inside the complex, named Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, along with one outdoor court in the complex dedicated to the tournament. This year’s event is being organised by the Puducherry Basketball Association under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India. The Sub-Junior Nationals is an annual national tournament for U-14 boys’ and girls’ teams from states across India. This year’s tournament is witnessing the participation of 23 boys’ teams and 21 girls’ teams. Arise Steel is the main sponsor for the tournament.

The 41^st Sub-Junior Nationals were conducted in Nashik, Maharashtra, where the Kerala girls and the Madhya Pradesh boys emerged victorious clinching the gold medals. Chhattisgarh girls and boys were the second placed teams. The 2013 version tournament was conducted in Patna, Bihar. The Chhattisgarh teams won both the boys and the girls category last year, while the Madhya Pradesh boys and the Tamil Nadu girls finished runners-up respectively.