Punjab boys sail into quarters
The final day of the league stage of the 68th junior national basketball championship threw no major surprises at the Shiv Nadar University courts in Noida on Thursday. Punjab’s boys continued to dominate as they outclassed defending champions Tamil Nadu 68-45. Mandeep Singh (20 points) and Gurwinder Singh (18 points) stepped up to lead the charge for Punjab. While giant Punjab centre Princepal Singh held the fort in the middle and put up 12 points.
Despite Tamil Nadu staying within reach for the first three quarters, the fourth period was one-sided with Punjab outscoring TN 32 to 7 on their way to a quarter-final berth.
The Rajasthan boys handed Chhattisgarh their fourth straight loss, knocking them out of the tournament. Chhattisgarh’s Salim Ali fought hard with his 25 points, but he had little support. Rajasthan’s Rajeev led all scorers with 28 points and helped to cement his team’s place in the quarterfinals.
The Punjab girls pulled off a close win over Rajasthan, who fell to a 69-71 defeat. Forward Rajandeep was on fire with 30 points and was ably supported by Punjab centre Aakarshan who put up 14 points. Despite Rajasthan’s 31-point fourth quarter, Punjab held on to a slim lead to clinch victory, placing them in the last eight.
Late on Wednesday evening, the Chandigarh boys picked up another win, this time against Delhi (61-54). Former youth international Amit top scored once again for Chandigarh with 24 points.
RESULTS
Men’s Level 1: Punjab (Mandeep Singh 20, Gurwinder Singh 18, Princepal Singh 12) bt TamilNadu (Shanmugam M. 15, Arvind Kumar 10) 68-45 (12-6, 9-17, 15-15, 32-7), Rajasthan (Rajeev 28, Ataol 16, Ashish 12) bt Chhattisgarh (Salim Ali 25, Jatin Kumar 14) 68-52 (16-8, 24-15, 11-16, 1713), West Bengal (Binod 20, Saddam 16, Aditya 13) bt Himachal Pradesh (Jatin 20, Gurkaran 12) 75-54 (15-19, 26-14, 23-15, 11-6), Gujarat (Karan 17, Harsh 15, Krishna Pal 7) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Sumit 18, Abhinav 11) 68-44 (32-9, 8-8, 15-17, 13-10) Women’s Level 1: Punjab (Rajandeep 30, Aakarshan 14) bt Rajasthan (Ishika 21, Yashvani 16, Yashika 11, Kanika 11) 71-69 (19-20, 15-10, 13-8, 24-31), Odisha (Lipramayee 33) bt Telangana (Nashita 15, BS Rivani 10) 53-39 (17-8, 6-12, 14-7, 16-12), Chandigarh (Amrit 18, Nisha 16) bt Himachal Pradesh (Arunima 4) 61-12 (27-4, 11-2, 9-2, 144)