JOIN USKarnataka fall to Delhi might
Karnataka’s chances of securing a berth in the quarterfinals of the 66th Senior National Basketball Championships was dealt a serious blow as they went down to Delhi 73-84 here on Monday.
Led by their experienced centre Gopal Ram (33 points and four rebounds), the Delhi side dismantled Karnataka with ease as the hosts had no reply to the former Services player’s attacking moves.
Adding more trouble to an already struggling Karnataka side, the hosts might now have to deal with the absence of their skipper Arvind A in the coming matches after he was withdrawn from the tie in the second quarter due to an injury to his right eyebrow. Arvind was hurt when Delhi’s Gopal miscued his tackle on his Karnataka counterpart and hit his eyebrow.
Earlier, Uttarakhand men were humbled by a determined Punjab side 65-57.The reigning champions started on a bright note with Indian internationals Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi and Riyazuddin M combining well upfront as they led the tie with a healthy margin in the opening half.
But Punjab ensured that their opponents didn’t run away with the game in the initial period. Their defence had the towering Uttarakhand forwards in check as points slowly dried out in the later half for the title holders, while Punjab mounted a stunning comeback.
Riding on his speed and deceptive dribbling, point guard Talwinder Singh was the hero for the Punjab side. The Ludhiana-born player set up his team-mates at will, while guarding his basket with intent. Talwinder ended the game with nine assists, two turnovers and two steals, apart from his tally of 11 points and three rebounds on the offence.
In the women’s section, favourites Railways maintained their clean record with a 96-71 win over Tamil Nadu in a one-sided affair.
Indian international Anitha Pauldurai and skipper Rajapriya D were the catalysts around which the Aparna Gosh-coached side built their game. Playing in a much withdrawn role than usual, Anitha brought all her experience into play, distributing the ball with ease.
Anitha also staying back to help sort out their defence while the likes of N Navneetha and Rajapriya ruled the paint with their accurate shooting. While Navneetha top scored with 20 points and seven rebounds, Rajapriya matched her team-mate with 16 points and two rebounds.
Though Tamil Nadu produced a few moments of brilliance with their senior most player Rajini Peter leading the charge (20 points and two rebounds), and point guard Rini CL creating trouble for the defenders, it was not enough to see them through the tie against the hot favourites who have won the title 11 times out of their last 13 attempts.
Meanwhile, defending champions Chhattisgarh also booked their place in the quarterfinals with a convincing 72-45 win over Maharashtra.
Results: Men: Level 1: Group A: Punjab: 65 (Gagandeep Singh 16, Gurvinder Gill 13) bt Uttarakhand: 57 (Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 18, Trideep Rai 12); Delhi: 84 (Gopal Ram 33, Pravin Dovan 22, Diwakar Sharma 10) bt Karnataka: 73 (Anil Kumar 24, Sashi Kuamr 13, Sashi S 12).
Group B: Tamil Nadu: 73 (Aravind A 22, Pratham Singh 16, Rikin Pethani 14) bt Kerala: 46 (Jishnu Niar 14, Jomon Jose 11).
Level 2: Group C: Chhattisgarh: 85 (Rajesh P 16, Shiv Kumar 16, Dinesh Mishra 11) bt Puducherry: 45 (Poovanan 14); Odisha: 72 (Sashi Kanta 14) bt Goa: 49 (Aaron G 13, Charles 10, Shawn 10); Chandigarh: 86 (Ravi Bhardwaj 27, G Gurinder 25, K Kuldip 17) bt Odisha: 70 (Sashikanta Mohanty 29, Ashok Kumar Nair 14, Sravan Kumar 13).
Group D: Rajasthan: 73 (Kamaram 16, Saurabh Badaya 12) bt Mizoram: 27 (Sonu Kumar 8); Bihar: 46 (Dhiraj 17) bt Tripura: 33 (Vikram 14); Rajasthan: 56 (Govind Khoiwal 17, Partha Sarathi 12, Saurabh Badaya 11) bt Bihar: 33 (Hemanth Yadav 19); Himachal Pradesh: 47 (Prashant 9) bt Mizoram: 18 (Kamant 10).
Group E: Uttar Pradesh: 65 (Bobby D 17, Abishek F 14) bt Jammu & Kashmir: 42 (Shalinder 13, Iqbal 10); Maharashtra: 71 (Umesh 13, Rohan 13, Anjinkya 12) bt Arunachal Pradesh: 29 (Ashish 9).
Group F: West Bengal: 74 (Joshi S 18, Kaswan M 17, Singh A 14) bt Jharkhand: 33 (Rounak 8); Madhya Pradesh: 88 (M Parkash 32, Mahendra 21) bt Andhra Pradesh: 66 (D Vikram 30).
Women: Level 1: Group A: Kerala: 57 (Jeena PS 16, Stephy Nixon 12) bt Madhya Pradesh: 31 (Rinchen Bhutia 9); Chhattisgarh: 72 (Poonam Chaturvedi 23, Saranjeet Kaur 17, Sangeeta Kaur 11) bt Maharashtra: 45 (Sangeeta 13, Shireen Limaye 10, Manisha Dange 10).
Group B: Railways: 96 (N Navneetha 20, Rajapriya D 16, Shruthi Menon 13) bt Tamil Nadu: 71 (Rajini Peter 19, Adhirai 13, Varshanandhini 16).
Level 2: Group C: Himachal Pradesh: 41 (Naina 9, Jyotiba 8) bt Jammu and Kashmir: 10.
Group D: Haryana: 42 (Garima 11) bt Tripura: 16; Odisha: 59 (Rajashree 18, Urbasi Malik 17, Suvanki 10) bt Andhra Pradesh: 33 (Bhavani 10).
Group E: Bihar: 65 (Sravanthi 35, Priyanka 12, Divya 10) bt Gujarat: 45 (Patel 13, Dubey 10); West Bengal: 66 (Madhu Kumari 22, Anjana Dezy 15) bt Puducherry: 22 (Manjula 8).
Group F: Chandigarh: 45 (Akshitha 17) bt Uttarakhand: 27 (Shailja Aswal 10); Rajasthan: 58 (Jyothi 14, Asha Nayak 13, Kumud Khatri 12) bt Goa: 11.