The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Railways, Delhi women in title clash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 04, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Basketball

Railways, Delhi women in title clash

Kirti Patil

JAIPUR: A spirited Services men buried the demons that haunted them for 15 years and made it to the final with a 77-58 win against Punjab in the 57th National basketball championship at the Sawai Mansingh indoor stadium here on Wednesday.

Playmaker Sambhaji Kadam was all over the court feeding the shooters with relentless raids, while K. Vipin stunned Punjab, thrice scoring three pointers from awkward position to give Services the necessary edge.

Punjab, the last year's runners-up, kept a close vigil till the halftime, but then failed to keep up the momentum in the later stages. Mahesh Misra and Yadvinder Singh had Punjab in the hunt as it closed the first quarter 16-27 and then reduced the margin to be 31-38 at the halftime.

With seasoned Phool Singh playing a perfect foil and Kadam moving with electric speed and setting up the shooters, Punjab was left dumbfounded. After ending the third quarter at 56-46, Services decided to go for the kill. Services upped the pace of the match by many notches leaving Punjab gasping. Kadam, a regular feature in the national squad, had no match.

Great dribbling

His dribbling was contagious and passing mesmerising. Kadam's move realised at least half the points Services scored in the last quarter with Jairam Jat and Dalip Kumar providing the finishing touches. Jairam scored 17 points, while Vipin had 14 to his credit. For Punjab, Mahesh Misra and Jagdeep scored 10 points apiece while Yadvinder Singh top scored with 11 points.

Services will meet the winner of Uttaranchal and Kerala in the final on Thursday.

In the women's section, captain Manisha Dange led from the front to steer Railways into the final. It will meet Delhi in the summit clash for the fourth straight year. In 2003, Delhi rose from nowhere to shock Railways by winning the National title in Hyderabad. In the next two editions, Railways regained the title in Ludhiana and then retained it in Pune.

Delhi and Chhattisgarh, however, had much to offer in terms of quality and fare. Divya Singh and Shiba Maggon were on binge scoring 30 points each to help subdue a tough Chhattisgarh.

The match could have gone either way, but for Divya Singh's all-round display. Divya and her three sisters playing for Delhi propped up the scoring after Chhattisgarh had stayed close by till the end of the third quarter.

The results: Men: Semifinals: Services 77 (Jairam Jat 17, K. Vipin 14, Dalip Kumar 9, Sambhaji Kadam 6, Phool Singh 7) bt Punjab 58 (Mahesh Misra 10, Jagdeep Singh 10, Yadvinder Singh 11, Mandeep Singh 6).

Play-offs for 5-8 positions: Railways bt Karnataka 80-55; Tamil Nadu bt Rajasthan 73-48; Railways bt Tamil Nadu - spin of coin; Rajasthan bt Karnataka 66-41.

Loser's knockout (final): Uttar Pradesh bt Orissa 69-66.

Women: Semifinals: Railways 107 (Manisha Dange 19, Geetu Anna Jose 14, M. Adhirai 10, Seema Singh 14) bt Punjab 40 (Kiranjit Kaur 10, Kanwaljeet Kaur 7, Harminder Kaur 6, Jyoti Bala Sharma 6); Delhi 74 (Divya Singh 30, Shiba Maggon 30, Prashanti Singh 14) bt Chhattisgarh 59 (Navneet Kaur 15, Aakansha Singh 14, Bincy Philip 11).

Play-offs for 5-8 positions: Tamil Nadu bt Himachal Pradesh 65-35; Andhra Pradesh bt Maharashtra 72-67; Andhra Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 58-47; Maharashtra bt Himachal Pradesh 43-20.

Loser's knockout (final): Karnataka bt Chandigarh 57-39.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport