The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Kadam stars in Services’ win

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Sport - Basketball

Kadam stars in Services’ win

K. Keerthivasan

Tamil Nadu puts it across last year’s finalist Punjab

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

INFLUENTIAL PRESENCE: Sambhaji Kadam (centre), the linchpin in the Services team, on his way to scoring against Kerala on Friday.

SURAT: Sambhaji Kadam can’t be reduced to mere numbers. More often than not, the star hoopster finds himself in the scorers’ list. There are days when he doesn’t shoot baskets as much as he would like to but he makes it up by prodding his teammates to perform and excel.

On Friday in a men’s Pool ‘A’ contest of the Karp-Jyoti 59th senior National basketball championships here, Kadam manned the defence exceptionally well and orchestrated some really wonderful moves to guide Services to a 77-53 win over Kerala.

Vital cog

A playmaker par excellence, Kadam shines in all roles and is a vital cog in the formidable Services wheel. His speed is matched by only a very few at the National level, his deception is second to none and his anticipation and the ease with which he runs with the ball, dribbles it and passes it, is a sight to behold and of course a nightmare for opponents.

Kerala was not overawed by Services’ strength. Though it took six minutes for Kerala to open the account through a two-pointer from Ullas Jose, it went from strength to strength as the match progressed.

As long as R. Manoj kept scoring regularly in the first two quarters — 13 in the first and nine in the second — Kerala remained in the hunt. At half-time, Kerala trailed by a mere three points (41-38). It was in the third quarter that Services proved why it is regarded as the best team. Kadam initiated moves like a general would for his soldiers. Jai Ram Jat and Subbaiah responded to Kadam’s ideas and scored 18 points between them to establish an impregnable 15-point lead by the end of the third quarter.

Splendid show

Once again, Tamil Nadu put up a splendid show to script a 79-74 victory over last year’s finalist Punjab in a men’s Pool ‘B’ match. While it was Dinesh who hogged the limelight along with Robinson against Railways, it was Abhilek Paul making his debut for Tamil Nadu, who did the star turn. Abhilek’s crucial conversions off rebounds at several pivotal moments of the contest helped TN tide over tough times.

Robinson was near his best converting whenever he could find an opportunity. Forward Chandrasekaran initially struggled with his passes and shooting but made a few baskets from difficult positions; a three-pointer in the dying seconds of the third quarter was a case in point.

Kerala women scripted a thrilling 101-97 win over Karnataka in the tie-breaker after the teams were locked 86-each in regulation time. Along with Kerala, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi from Pool ‘B’ and TN, Indian Railways and Punjab (Pool ‘A’) have virtually qualified for the knockout stage (quarterfinals) from Level I.

The results: Men: Pool ‘A’: Services 77 (Subbaiah 16, S.M. Settu 14, Jai Ram Jat 13) bt Kerala 53 (Manoj 29); ‘B’: TN 79 (Abhilek Paul 21, S. Robinson 21, C.V. Dinesh 12) bt Punjab 74 (Jagdeep Singh 34, Talwinderjit Singh 30); ‘D’: Gujarat 65 (Dishant Shah 12, Indra Vijay Sinh 28) bt J & K 38 (Kuldeep 11); ‘E’: Delhi 76 (Pramod 28, Navdeep 16, Gurvinder 11) bt MP 72 (Kamal Singh 27, Pramhans 17, Sukhant 11); West Bengal 57 (Satyender Singh 23, Prakash Rao 13) bt Jharkhand 54 (Balwinder Singh 14, Lumendra 14); Orissa 66 (S.K. Naik 20) bt Puducherry 40 (Harikrishna 14).

Women ‘A’: Indian Railways 92 (Geetu Anna Jose 21, Seema Singh 15) bt TN 64 (Kokila 19, Deepa 15); ‘B’: Kerala 101 (Somiya Joseph 35, Litty Mathew 17, Smija 13) bt Karnataka 97 (Kritika 22, Deepa Shankar 18, Nimisha 15, Smitha 15); Delhi 91 (Shiba Mongu 24, Akansha Singh 19, S. Pratima 14) bt Chhattisgarh 58 (Kavitha 14, Aruna Kindo 11); ‘D’: MP 67 (Vidushi 20, Nanda Jain 13, Prasanna 12) bt HP 31 (Poonam 12); Haryana 39 (Salma 16, Alka 11) bt Uttarakhand 31 (Garima 18); ‘E’: UP 69 (Ranjana Singh 24, Anamika 17, Reni 16) bt Chandigarh 43 (Kiran 11, Navneet 10).