×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

India stay on course with third victory

Basketball South Asian meet : Lankans remain close on heels of the hosts
Last Updated 04 July 2015, 19:31 IST

 India and Sri Lanka remained on course for a clash for the title as they maintained their winning run in the South Asian Basketball Championship at the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium here on Saturday.

India, who had beaten Nepal and Bangladesh in their first two matches, drubbed Bhutan 119-52 for their third win. Sri Lanka, who started with a victory over Bhutan on Friday, defeated Maldives 92-66 before sailing past Bangladesh 80-63 to be level with the hosts on points.

Both India and Sri Lanka have six points each and their clash on Sunday evening is expected to decide the title -- that is if they come through their morning matches unscathed.

The Indians were aggressive from the start as they notched up a commanding 22-2 lead in the opening five minutes of the game. Though Bhutan showed some resistance in the later period, there was no coming back for the men from the Himalayan Kingdom as the hosts raced away.
India made one change to their starting line-up with A Arvind, their top performer on the opening day, getting his first start of the tournament. Playing in an advanced role, the Karnataka player combined well with Narender Grewal to give India a flying start. The duo displayed some quality attacking basketball while skipper Rikin Pethani and point guard Joginder Singh held things tight at the back.

Arvind ended with individual figures of 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Grewal, meanwhile, managed 14 points, one rebound and three assists. Pethani netted 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Joginder kept the Indian attackers busy with his smart setups as he stacked up 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. But towering above all was the 6’7’’ Gurvinder Singh Gill. Brought in the second and the fourth quarters, Gill’s pace and agility put the Bhutan defence in trouble as the Punjab player strolled past them to notch points. The forward also executed dunks to perfection as he combined well with Venkatesh Prasanna. Gill top scored with 20 points, eight rebounds and an assist.

Bhutan, though unable to make a big impact, did put in a fight in the second and third quarters against their much superior opponents. Led by Rinchen Dorji, Bhutan, who trailed 6-39 at the end of the first quarter, crawled back to reduce the deficit to 42-92 by the end of the third. Dorji top scored for his side with 14 points, five rebounds and one assist.

Lanka up the heat

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankans overcame a stiff Bangladesh resistance to win 80-63. The Lankans were led by forwards Praneeth Udumalagala and Thimothi Thineshkanth as the duo powered in a total of 47 points. Udumalagala ended with the figures of 26 points, six rebounds and two assists, while Thineshkanth pocketed 21 points seven rebounds and three assists.

Results: Sri Lanka: 92 (Praneeth Udumalagala 28, Chamath 11) bt Maldives: 66 (Ahmed Aushan 16, Mohamed Zilal 13); Nepal: 87 (Sadish Pradhan 17, Ashim 14) bt Bangladesh: 74 (Mithun kumar 24, Mithun Sarkan 22); India: 119 (Gurvinder Singh 20, A. Arvind 19) bt Bhutan: 52 (Rinchen Dorji 14); Sri Lanka: 80 (Praneeth Udumalagala 26, Thuimothi Thineshkanth 21) bt Bangladesh: 63 (Mithunkumar Biswas 20, Mithun Sarkan 18); Maldives: 72 (Ibrahim Rashwaan 20, Ahmed Rashad 11) bt Nepal: 68 (Sadish Pradhan 26).

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 04 July 2015, 19:31 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT