Tamil Nadu women hold nerve in double OT thriller against Karnataka last evening
Lopa Mudra crosses over her defenders
Mysuru, 13th January 2016: With back-to-back victories, including a double overtime thriller against hosts Karnataka and a 57-37 win today morning against Punjab, the Tamil Nadu women have sealed a berth in the quarterfinals to begin tomorrow at the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship in Mysuru. The other women’s teams that have secured a spot in the quarters thus far are the undefeated Indian Railways and Kerala women, along with defending champions Chhattisgarh, 2015 runners up Delhi and the surprise of the tournament, Telangana.
Jeena went up and under to make this one go
Kerala women remained undefeated as they overpowered the top spot contenders Telangana, handing them their first loss of the tournament. Jeena PS once again made it look easy as she scored 20 points and grab 12 rebounds to help her team advance to the quarterfinals of the championship.
Ajay Pratab Singh from Indian Railways lays in an easy two
The remaining 2 quarterfinal spots are still up for grabs to be decided through the pre-quarterfinal results. The Punjab women have sneaked through to the pre-quarterfinals knocking out hosts Karnataka on the basis of the head-to-head record between the two teams. Karnataka women have been winless in the tournament so far after losing their final group game to the Indian Railways team 68-49 today afternoon. Centre Rajapriyadarshini top scored for the Railways team with 19 points. Maharashtra women are also through to the pre-quarterfinals with a win against Madhya Pradesh today morning, led by heir experienced guard and captain, Manisha Dange, who scored 22 points. West Bengal and Rajasthan women will also be playing in the pre-quarterfinals for a spot in the quarters.
TJ Sahi lift off against Haryana defence
In the men’s section, the undefeated Tamil Nadu and Punjab teams have qualified to the quarterfinals along with the Services team. Tamil Nadu maintained their spotless record today with a 95-29 blowout victory against Telangana. Punjab also remained unbeaten with a comfortable 83-66 victory against Haryana led by their centre Gagandeep Singh putting up a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds.
The Indian Railways men’s team sealed a quarterfinal place with an 84-70 victory today against Kerala, led by centre Somvier’s 28 points and 13 rebounds. The Kerala men are fighting to stay alive in the tournament, as they will now battle it out in the pre-quarterfinals.
Karnataka men lost their final group game today against Uttarakhand 65-58. But Karnataka’s point differential compared to the Delhi and Haryana teams ensured Karnataka’s qualification to the quarterfinals where they will play Services. Uttarakhand will face the Indian Railways in their quarterfinal match. Delhi have been knocked out of the tournament, while Haryana will have another chance in their pre-quarterfinal game.
Dishant of Gujarat fakes and makes an easy two count
In the qualifying matches among the pre-quarterfinalists for the level 2 teams, West Bengal women beat Rajasthan and they have decided to play Maharashtra in the pre-quarterfinal, while Rajasthan will face Punjab. Gujarat men defeated Chhattisgarh in their decider match, as they will face Haryana in their pre-quarterfinal, while Kerala men will face Chhattisgarh.
Quarterfinal Line-up
Women:
Tamil Nadu v. Telangana
Chhattisgarh v. Delhi
Kerala v. [Punjab/ Rajasthan]
Indian Railways v. [Maharashtra/ West Bengal]
Men:
Karnataka v. Services
Indian Railways v. Uttarakhand
Punjab v. [Kerala/ Chhattisgarh]
Tamil Nadu v. [Haryana/ Gujarat]
Results
Level 1:
Women:
Tamil Nadu (R Varshanandhini 32 pts & 17 rbs, Ranjini Peter 24 pts & 15 rbs, M Adhirai 12 pts) bt Karnataka (Bhandavya HM 34 pts, Savita S 21 pts, Lopa Mudra 19 pts & 11 rbs) 88-85 [18-19, 23-16, 20-14, 13-25, 7-7 (1OT), 7-4 (2OT)]
Maharashtra (Manisha Dange 22, Shireen Limaye 18, Sangeeta Mandal 18) bt Madhya Pradesh (Sakshi Pandey 18, Anubha Thakur 9) 73-56 [19-13, 22-12, 19-19, 13-12]
Tamil Nadu (R Varshanandhini 20, K Prithi 11, Rejini Peter 10) bt Punjab (Harpreet Kaur 13, Indu Kumari 11) 57-37 [19-12, 16-10, 16-6, 6-9]
Kerala (Jeena PS 20, Stephy Nixon 14, Neenu Mol PS 13) bt Telangana (Divya P 13) 72-46 [26-10, 15-11, 17-18, 14-7]
Indian Railways (Rajapriyadarshini 19, Anitha Paul-Durai 12, Sruthi Menon 10) bt Karnataka (Bhandavya Mahesha 13, Savita S. 10, Lopamudra L. 10) 68-49 (25-8, 20-6, 10-13, 13-22)
Men:
Indian Railways (Somvier S. 28, Palpreet Singh 21, Himanshu Sharma 12) bt Kerala (Eudrick Periera 16, Ashwin Xavier Philip 15, Monish Wilson 14) 84-70 (26-31, 23-16, 13-16, 22-7)
Tamil Nadu (Prasanna Venkatesh 18, Jeevanatham P. 12, Raghuram MA 12) bt Telangana (Ambathi Reddy 9) 95-29 (35-14, 11-2, 17-5, 32-8)
Punjab (Gagandeep Singh 20, TJ Sahi 18, Rajveer Singh 13) bt Haryana (Virendra V. 23, Satyajeet S. 12) 83-66 (20-16, 18-20, 29-9, 16-21)
Uttarakhand (Trideep Rai 24, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 20) bt Karnataka (Sashi S. 11, Anil Kumar 10) 65-58 (22-11, 14-18, 13-11, 16-18)
Level 2:
Qualifying matches (winner decides who they play in pre-quarterfinal):
Women:
West Bengal (Anjana Dezy 25, Madhu Kumari 17, Libina 16) bt Rajasthan (Nisha 27, Kumud Khatri 11) 74-54 (22-8, 17-21, 17-7, 18-18)
Men:
Gujarat (Shafiq 19, Vinay Kaushik 18) bt Chhattisgarh (Dinesh Mishra 20, Kiranpal Singh 12) 72-61 (22-17, 15-16, 23-11, 12-15)
Loser Knockout Semifinals:
Women:
Bihar (Sravanthi 33, Priyanka 15) bt Haryana (Garima 10) 64-38 (11-15, 19-10, 18-6, 16-7)
Andhra Pradesh (Bhavani 25, Nagadurga 16) bt Himachal Pradesh (Jyotika 16, Naina Devi 12) 54-53 (13-14, 17-12, 10-8, 13-20)
Men:
West Bengal (Sagar Joshi 27, Satrendra Singh 16) bt Chandigarh (Pulkit Sood 18, Ravi Bhardwaj 13, Abhishek Rathi 12) 69-55 (18-12, 17-19, 25-10, 9-14)
Maharashtra (Loveneet Atwal 25, Aquib Mohd. 14, Ajinkya Mane 12) bt Andhra Pradesh (Shiv Kumar 11, Naveen Kumar 10, Kumar Varma 10) 97-52 (23-13, 26-13, 29-19, 19-7)
About the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship
The 66th Senior National Basketball Championship is being organised in Mysuru, Karnataka by the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA). The tournament is being held at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium from 9 to 16 January 2016. The Punjab Basketball Association is the organising body for the tournament under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India. Matches are being held simultaneously on two indoor (at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium) and two outdoor (at Mysuru University) courts.
Last year’s Senior National Championship was held in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, with Uttarakhand men and Chhattisgarh women crowned champions This year’s tournament is witnessing a high participation of 29 men’s teams and 25 women’s teams. The last time a senior national level basketball championship was held in Mysuru was the 39th edition way back in 1987.
About Basketball Federation of India
The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honour of Arjuna Awards. Earlier in June 2015, 19-year-old Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian national to be drafted by an NBA team, when he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks. More information atwww.basketballfederationindia.org