Uttarakhand came up with a strong performance to outwit defending champion Tamil Nadu 72-63 in the men’s final of the 65th National basketball championship here on Monday.
With Amritpal Singh spearheading the attack with his fluent shots, Uttarakhand had little trouble in regaining the trophy it had won in the 63rd edition in Ludhiana.
Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who had helped the Railways win the trophy last time and had since shifted to ONGC and thus to Uttarakhand, played their part very well in supporting the team’s cause.
Uttarakhand controlled the match, leading 22-12 in the first quarter and 39-29 at half-time, and could afford to heed the popular demand for local star Mohit Bhandari.
Riyazuddin, Trideep Rai, Arjun Singh and M. Anoop also pulled their weight, even as Tamil Nadu threatened to make a match of it by bridging the gap to six points by the end of the third quarter.
With Amjyot Singh getting on the court only in the second half, owing to an injury, Tamil Nadu tended to rely a lot on Pratham Singh. He did rise to the challenge but that was not enough. P. Akilan, Raghu Ram, Jeevanathan and Prasanna Venkatesh tried hard, but Tamil Nadu was unable to get the scoring act right.
In the women’s section, Chhattisgarh recovered from a hesitant start to outclass Delhi 84-75 after leading 40-38 at half-time.
Chhattisgarh’s towering Poonam Chaturvedi collected 48 points, including 32 in the second half. At 7 feet, she just collected passes, turned and slotted in the baskets with ease.
Sharanjeet Kaur, Sangeeta Kaur, L. Deepa and Akanksha Singh combined strongly to steer Chhattisgarh towards the trophy, as the team jumped to a 66-49 lead by the end of the third quarter. Delhi scored a string of three points to keep its hopes alive, but ran out of steam, even as the seasoned Prashanti Singh hurt her leg and had to be carried out.
Amritpal Singh and Poonam Chaturvedi were adjudged ‘best players’ of the championship and were presented the Harish Sharma memorial trophy.
The results: Men (final): Uttarakhand 72 (Amritpal Singh 27, Yadwinder Singh 16, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 13) bt Tamil Nadu 63 (Pratham Singh 15, Amjyot Singh 11).
Third place: Services 87 (Narender Kumar Grewal 22, Joginder Singh 21, Y.P. Abhishey 15) bt Haryana 70 (Deepak Rathee 23, Himanshu Sharma 20, Hemant 13).
Women (final): Chhattisgarh 84 (Poonam Chaturvedi 48, Sharanjeet Kaur 19) bt Delhi 75 (Pratima Singh 17, Madhu Kumari 15, Raspreet Sidhu 11, Akanksha Singh 11).
Third place: Railways 81 (Raja Priyadarshini 16, Smruthi Radhakrishnan 16, Sitamani Tudu 14, Anju Lakra 12) bt Kerala 76 (K.S. Poojamol 18, P.S. Neenumol 16, P.S. Jeena 14, Stephy Nixon 11).
