Punjab, Tamil Nadu take home basketball crowns

 While the Punjab men crushed a hapless Uttarakhand 97-57 with a wonderful exhibition of pace and control, the Tamil Nadu women reworked their strategy in quick time to outclass Chhattisgarh 79-48 at the Haribansh Tana Bhagat indoor stadium.

The star for Punjab was their point guard Talwinder Singh, who scored a match-high 28 points, including two picture perfect slam dunks that sent the packed house into raptures.

Results: Men, final: Punjab: 97 (Gagandeep Singh 13, Jagdeep Singh 20, Talwinder Singh 28, Yadwinder Singh 19, Arjun Singh 15) bt Uttarakhand: 57 (Murali Krishna R 19, Riyazudeen 10). HT: 54-33.

Third place play-off: Services: 81 bt Tamil Nadu: 68. HT: 36-38.
Women, final: Tamil Nadu: 79 (Geethu Anna Jose 34, Renjini Peter 21, P Anitha 11) bt Chhattisgarh: 48 (Anju Larka 25). HT: 47-19.

Third place play-off: Delhi: 79 bt Maharashtra: 59. HT: 33-23.

Karnataka in final

Karnataka men edged out Kerala 16-15 in a thrilling semifinal match of the kho-kho competition.

In the title clash on Wednesday, Karnataka will lock horns with Maharashtra, who beat Andhra Pradesh 11-4.

In the women’s semifinals, Maharashtra set themselves up for a possible double after scraping past West Bengal 9-8 while Kerala trounced Delhi 11-4.

Results, all semis: Men: Karnataka: 16 bt Kerala: 15; Maharashtra: 11 bt Andhra Pradesh: 4.

Women: Maharashtra: 9 bt West Bengal: 8; Kerala: 11 bt Delhi: 4.

Sharvana shines

Sharvana Kumar scored 11 goals to power Karnataka to 48-25 victory over Assam that kept their semifinals hopes alive in the handball competition.

Leading the attack, Sharvana showed good pace and accuracy that proved too hot for Assam. In the final group game on Wednesday where a victory is important, Karnataka will clash with hosts Jharkhand.

Sandhya surprised

Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Sandhya Rani Devi finished a surprising third in the women’s 48 kg category as the weightlifting programme kicked off in Jamshedpur.

Uttar Pradesh’s Soniya Chanu Ngangbam lifted a total of 157kg (68+89) to bag the gold while Manipur’s Sanjita Chanu took silver after lifting 154. Sandhya, representing Jharkhand, was able to only muster 151.

Results: Men: 62kg: Sunil Kumar N (Tamil Nadu) 262 (121+141) 1; Deva Kumar Shanmugham 260 (122+138) 2; Sibi Yukar (Arunachal Pradesh) 251 (108+143) 3.
56kg: Srinivasa Rao (Services) 226 (100+126) 1; Mayur Sinhasane (Maharashtra) 225 (103+122) 2; Tamilselvan Mahadevan 205 (95+110) 3.

Women: 53kg: Devi Saya (Manipur) 170 (75+95) 1; Piyainu Chanu (Assam) 168 (73+95) 2; Minati Sethi (Orissa) 161 (71+90).

48kg: Soniya Chanu Ngangbam (Uttar Pradesh) 157 (68+89) 1; Sanjita Chanu (Manipur) 154 (67+87) 2; Sandhya Rani Devi (Jharkhand) 151 (65+86) 3.