India outclass Bangla to retain title

Bhriguvanshi shines as hosts down visitors in lopsided affair

India outclas­sed Bangladesh 95-35 to retain the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) championship at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Friday.

The hosts, unbeaten in all their three matches here, also booked their place in the FIBA Asian Challenge to be held in Teheran, Iran from September 9 to 18.

Maldives, who lost to Nepal 54-62 in the day’s first game, finished second, on superior points difference. The Himalayan nation came third while Ban­gladesh finished fourth.
Guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi top-scored for India with 16 points. Annadurai and Amritpal contributed 15 and 14 points each.

India’s head coach Sebastian PJ was thrilled with the performance of the team, especially the youngsters. “I wanted the youngsters to get more involved in the game. The strategy was to move fast and defend aggressively.”

Excited with the prospect of having a full strength side to choose from this year, Sebastian hoped to improve on last year’s performance at the Asian Challenge.
“We have a good bench strength and we will perform better than we did last year.”  India pegged Bangladesh back, with skipper Amritpal Singh (6 rebounds, 1 assist), centres Arvind Annadurai (7 rebounds, 1 assist) and Rikin Pethani (5 rebounds, 1 assist) keeping their rivals on a leash.

Spearheaded by Amritpal, India wrested control, racing to a 16-2 lead in no time. The hosts ended the first quarter 36-13.

The second quarter was no different as the Indian hoopsters used their height advantage to the fullest to end the first half at 60-21.

The visitors could only watch as the hosts extended their dominance, with Vishesh and Annadurai helping India score 19 points in the third quarter to lead 79-29.

There was no stopping India after that as they romped through the fourth quarter. Meanwhile in a feisty encounter earlier, Nepal prevailed over Maldives 54-62.
DH News Service

Results: India: 95 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 16, Aravind Annadurai 15, Amritpal Singh 14) bt Bangladesh: 35 (Mithun Kumar 8); Nepal: 62 (Ashim Shrestha 15, Ayush Singh 15, Sadish Pradhan 12, Bikram Joshi 12) bt Maldives: 54 (Abdul Latheef 10, Mohammad Zilaal 10).