Karnataka men shock holders Uttarakhand in national basketball

Karnataka men caused a major upset, beating defending champion Uttarakhand 85-83 today in a nail-biting Group 'A' match in Level 1 of the 68th Senior National Basketball Championship here. Arvind led the way for Karnataka with 35 points while Yadwinder (33) did the bulk of the scoring for the holders. Karnataka trailed 17-24 in the first quarter before picking up steam in the next, to gain an eight-point advantage.

They nosed ahead with another good performance in the third quarter. The Uttarakhand team roared back in the final quarter and enjoyed the better of the proceedings but couldn't quite catch up with their rivals and went down by a mere two points. In another match, Rajasthan defeated Kerala 87-72 The Karnataka women didn't lag behind their male counterparts and produced a shock result of their own, stunning holders Kerala 70-67 in a close game in Group A. Priyanka was the top-scorer for the winning team, netting 20 points.

The strong Indian Railways women's team came up with a dominant performance to beat Maharashtra 98-47. In the first men's match of the day, West Bengal getting past Maharashtra 54-49. Results: Men: Level 1: Group 'A': Rajasthan 87 (Vinod 39, Sharad 15) beat Kerala 72 (Gineeb 17, Eudric 15). Karnataka 85 (Arvind 35) beat Uttarakhand 83 (Yadwinder 33). Level 2: Group C: Services 87 (Joginder Singh 15) beat Goa 26.

Chattisgarh 45 beat Sikkim 19. Group F: West Bengal 54 beat Maharashtra 49 Group D: Delhi 68 beat Andhra Pradesh 50. Women: Level 1: Group A: Karnataka 70 (Priyanka 20) beat Kerala 67 (Jeena 37). Group B: Indian Railways 98 (Anitha 16, Rajapriya 13) beat Maharashtra 47 (Mukda 10, Shireen 9). Level 2: Group C: Uttar Pradesh 59 beat Gujarat 30.