It was seven days of action and excitement at the 27th youth national basketball championship, which concluded on Tuesday.
Organised by the Tamil Nadu Basketball Association at the CARE School of Engineering here, the tournament saw participation of boys' teams from 23 States and girls' teams from 22 States.
The tourney had a good patronage and the atmosphere during the matches involving host teams was electric.
The Tamil Nadu boys and girls' teams got off to a flying start in the tournament, but lost in the semifinals much to the disappointment of the local crowd.
“We were hopeful that Tamil Nadu would emerge winner in both the categories. Their loss has certainly upset us; still we are happy that they gave their best in the tournament,” said L. Sameer Ali, a college student and basketball enthusiast.
Tamil Nadu boys, who began the tournament in the level II category, qualified for the knockout stage after a series of impressive performance, before finishing fourth.
In the final, Punjab boys and Kerala girls registered comprehensive victories over Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh respectively to win the title.
“The tournament was a grand success. We have plans to bring at least one tournament of bigger magnitude to Tiruchi a year,” said K. N. Ramajayam, president, Tamil Nadu Basketball Association.
At the valediction, I. Periyasamy, Revenue Minister, gave away the prizes in the presence of K.N. Nehru, Transport Minister, and Harish Sharma, Secretary-General, Basketball Federation of India.
