Karnataka eves lose cliffhanger against TN

Uttarakhand men crush Haryana for second win

The 66th Senior National Basketball Championships has been a case of ‘so close, yet so far’ for the Karnataka women’s team. If the matches against Punjab and Delhi were close, what panned out at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium here on Wednesday was a notch better.

In their third group game against Tamil Nadu, the hosts gave it their all. But it was not enough as Karnataka lost to Tamil Nadu 85-88 after a double overtime was called for in their third tie.

Though for a while it looked like Tamil Nadu would run away with the game — enjoying a 61-49 lead at the end of third quarter — Karnataka, led by their skipper Bhandavya HM (34 points, three rebounds and four steals), put up an impeccable show to force the game into overtime.

The two teams, tired but still high in spirit, put up another close fight for five more minutes. While Varshanandhini R led the Tamil Nadu challenge with her accurate shooting (32 points, eight rebounds), the hosts banked on their high-flying forward Lopamudra (19 points) and skipper Bhandavya as the game took another turn at the hooter.

Leading by three points, Tamil Nadu were on the cusp of victory when, with three seconds to go when Karnataka point guard Supritha CN let a three-pointer fly a feet away from the arch. The ball sunk into the basket, sending the crowd into delirium and forcing another overtime.

However, this time the travelers ensured that they defended their basket with intent as they edged past Karnataka after 50 excruciating minutes of basketball.

Earlier, champions Uttarakhand bounced back from their shock defeat on Monday to register an emphatic victory with an 83-55 drubbing of Haryana.

Starting on an aggressive note, the title-holders notched up a slender seven-point lead at the end of the opening quarter. Though Haryana showed some resistance as the game progressed, there was no coming back for the Praveen Kumar-coached side as their much fancied opponents heaped more misery on them in the following quarters.

Brought in the place of shooting guard Yadwinder Singh, who failed to recover from a minor niggle that he sustained during their tie against Punjab, Arjun Singh was a live wire on the court for Uttarakhand. The Varanasi-born player combined well with skipper Brighuvanshi as the duo displayed a stream of quality basketball.

In the women’s section, while Kerala continued their encouraging run to book their place in the quarterfinals, champions Chhattisgarh endured their second defeat. Indian international PS Jeena was the star performer for Kerala as they outplayed Maharashtra to record a convincing 65-35 win.

Earlier, last year’s MVP Poonam Chaturvedi’s mammoth 46 points were not enough to rescue her side as champions Chhattisgarh lost to a gritty Telengana side 72-79.


Results: Men: Level 1: Group A: Uttarakhand: 83 (Murali Krishna24, Arjun Singh 16, Trideep Rai 18) bt Haryana: 55 (Narendra N 16, Bijendra B 15); Punjab: 99 (Talwinder Singh 24, Ranbir Singh Virdi 17, Gagandeep Singh 16) bt Delhi: 89 (Parveen Dovan 27, Gopal Ram 27, Sachin Sharma 15).

Group B: Railways: 94 (Somvier S 21, Raj Kalbhor 15, Ajay Singh 14) bt Telangana: 53 (Harish N. 13, David Boon 12, Ambati Prudhvi Reddy 12); Services: 94 (Joginder Singh 26, Narendra Gerwal 18) bt Kerala: 68 (Albin Baby 17, Eudrick Pereira 13).

Level 2: Group C: Chhattisgarh: 90 (Dinesh Mishra 34, Rudrashk Pandey 16, Rajesh 14, Kiran 11) bt Chandigarh: 76 (Ravi 20, Bipin 19, Pulkit Sood 18, Gurinder Singh 15).

Group D: Bihar: 62 (Yogesh Kumar 16, Hemnath Hooda 15, Deepak Kumar 12) bt Himachal Pradesh: 43 (Deepak Thakur 14, Ashwani Kumar 14).

Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1): Gujarat: 75 (Dishant Shah 19, Vinay Kaushik 12, Harpal 11) bt Rajasthan: 56 (Kamran Khan 23, Saurabh Badaya 14).

Women: Level 1: Group A: Telangana: 79 (Divya P 23, Anusha Anto 19, Aishwarya Nataraj 18) bt Chhattisgarh: 72 (Poonam Chaturvedi 46, Saranjeet Kaur 18).

Group B: Railways: 83 (Appoorva Muralinath 20, Anitha Pauldurai 14, Sitamani Tudu 10) bt Delhi: 33 (Pratima Singh 9); Kerala: 65 (Jeena PS 25, Anjana PG 13, Stephy Nixon 11) bt Maharashtra: 35 (Manisha Dange 17, Shireen Limaye 13); Tamil Nadu: 88 (R Varshanandhini 32, Ranjini Peter 24, M Adhirai 12) bt Karnataka: 85 (Bhandavya HM 34, Savita S, Lopamudra 19) via double overtime.

Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1): Rajasthan: 77 (Nisha 29, Surya 13, Kumud 12) bt Uttar Pradesh: 67 (Vaishnavi Yadav 28, Shivani 12); West Bengal: 76 (Madhu Kumari 24, Anjana Dezy 17, Libin A 17) bt Odisha: 52 (Suvanki 18, Rajashree 12, Jayashree 12).