The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Tamil Nadu on a roll

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Monday, Jan 05, 2009
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Sport - Basketball

Tamil Nadu on a roll

K. Keerthivasan

Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Cutting through: Vineeth Revi Mathew, who has been impressive, gets past a Rajasthan defender. —

SURAT: “When is Tamil Nadu playing. My father wants to know,” asked a seven-year-old local kid the other day. The fan following for Tamil Nadu men’s team has been growing from the first day in these parts.

A section of the stands at the Municipal Indoor Stadium here is packed whenever TN plays and the team hasn’t disappointed thus far, displaying exceptional team-work and individual brilliance in equal measure.

TN’s fourth straight win, a 80-50 verdict over Rajasthan on Sunday in the Karp-Jyoti 59th Senior National basketball championship was on expected lines, and the manner in which it approached the task indicated clearly its readiness for the future battles ahead.

S. Robinson is the star attraction and Surat being his birth place the crowd support for him is only understandable. However, younger and fitter players have made their presence felt quite strongly.

C.V. Dinesh and Abhilek Paul have proved invaluable. Their speed and shooting abilities have bailed TN out of tough situations many a times. Ball handlers Mohan Raj and S. Aravindh have lent able support throughout the Pool matches.

Vineeth Revi Mathew, an international, has showcased his wares manfully in all the matches. Whether it is scoring off rebounds, getting the defence organised, helping in assists or going for drive-ins, Against Rajasthan, Vineeth toyed with a hapless defence scoring 19 points.

Rajasthan, it seemed, would make a match of it going all out in the first two quarters catching a shaky TN defence napping. However, as the match progressed, TN rectified its mistakes and didn’t allow Rajasthan any further leeway.

Multiple National champion Indian Railways men experimented with its line-up bringing in full view its bench strength. The 83-64 victory over Uttar Pradesh was not entirely convincing, though.

The results:

Men: A: Services 83 (Dalip Kumar 21, S.M. Settu 21, S. Subbaiah 10, Jai Ram Jat 10) bt Uttarakhand 77 (Suresh Ranot 19, Murali Krishna 14, Anoop 13); B: Indian Railways 83 (Snehpal Singh 18, Gagandeep Singh 14, Birnder Singh 13, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 12) bt UP 64 (Abhinav Singh 18, Shadab Khan 17, Rajnish Singh 12); B: TN 80 (Vineeth Revi Mathew 19, Dinesh 16) bt Rajasthan 50 (Hirendra Singh 17, Mahipal Singh 12).

Loser’s knock-out (Level II quarterfinals):

Men: MP 80 (Kuldeep Handa 22, Sunny Raut 13, Paramhans 13) bt Haryana 37 (Khushvinder 12); Orissa 93 (Asok Kumar Behra 26, Sanjeev Kumar Behra 16, Nigel Peter Oberin 14) bt J&K 60 (Iqbal Singh 11, Vikas Mahajan 10); HP 73 (Asok Kumar 20, Surjeet Singh 16, Virendar Kumar 11) bt West Bengal 67 (T.S. Prakash Rao 19, Dhanesh Kumar 19); Maharashtra 88 (Sanjay Solanke 22, Arjun Mehta 20, Arjun Shelva 13, Amit Ambedkar 10) bt Chandigarh 63 (Balraj Singh 21, Baldev Singh 15).

Women: Chandigarh 67 (Reena Shital 25, Kiran 13) bt Jharkhand 39 (Raina Tirkey 12, Sarojini 11); Rajasthan 69 (Kavita Saini 24, Ankita Yadav 10, Shilpa Gehlot 10) bt Uttarakhand 51 (Kiran Nainval C 12, Gariima Singh 12, Aakansha Pandey 11); Orissa 66 (Acharya Senapati 22, Jhuma Samal 16, Beranika Barla 14, Suchitra Sahoo 10) bt J&K 40 (Sarabjeet Kaur 10, Nisha Sharma 10, Natasha Zutsha 10); Haryana 59 (Salma 32, Alka 15, Monika 10) bt Pondicherry 53 (Manjula 12, Shanti 12, Sasikala 11).

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