In 2011, Punjab had won the men’s National title in Chennai. Barring veteran point guard Talwinderjit Singh Sahi and a couple of others, the team now wears a fresh look.
Reaching the Union Territory after a long train journey, Punjab struggled in the group matches of the ongoing 67th Senior National basketball championship, losing to Karnataka and Kerala, while defeating Haryana.
Impressive
In the quarterfinals against Indian Railways, Punjab showed its potential for an impressive 101-83 win. In the semifinals, it will take on two-time champion Uttarakhand, which drubbed Haryana 60-35 in the last-eight clash.
In a rather one-sided contest, Tamil Nadu ousted Kerala 72-52 to book a place in the last-four, where it will take on surprise semifinalist Rajasthan. Coming through Level-II, Rajasthan pulled off an upset 83-70 win over Karnataka to reach the semifinals after 25 years.
Punjab’s star player Talwinderjit found his touch in the last-eight match against Railways on Thursday.
With a two-point deficit in the first, Punjab attacked and defended with gusto.
Talwinderjit helped the side take the lead with his drive-ins, lay-ups and quick passing, with Rajveery Singh Aujla providing excellent support with timely two and three-pointers. Gurwinder Singh Gill also chipped in whenever the team required.
This ensured Punjab was always ahead from the midway stage of the second quarter. However, Gaganjeet Singh and Bijender Kumar ensured Railways remained in the contest till the third quarter. But, Punjab held the upper hand and progressed to the last four.
Tamil Nadu tested its bench strength and was successful in its campaign against Kerala.
With pivot Vineeth Revi Mathew and centre Rikin Pethani not in prime form, youngsters Jeevanantham and Sivabalan took up the responsibility without buckling under pressure.
Rajasthan deserved all the accolades as it outfoxed Karnataka in every department, scoring at regular intervals. Karnataka was perplexed by the passing pattern of Rajasthan even as Bharajdeep Singh (23) and Vinod Kumar (17) made a mess of Karnataka’s full-court press.
The results (quarterfinals):
Men: Punjab 101 (Talwinderjit Singh Sahi 27, Rajveer Singh 27, Arshpreet Bhullar 22, Gurwinder Singh 20) bt Indian Railways 83 (Gagandeep Singh 25, Himanshu Sharma 20, Vijender Kumar 13, Palpreet Singh 10); Tamil Nadu 72 (P. Jeevanantham 17, G. Siva Balan 11) bt Kerala 52 (Alvin Baby 19, Ajeeth Sugunan 10); Rajasthan 83 (Bharajdeep Singh 23, Vinod Kumar 17, Loon Singh 13, Sharad Dadhich 13, Mod Singh 12) bt Karnataka 70 (Anil Kumar 21, Arvind Arumugam 19, Navin 12); Uttarakhand 60 (Trideep Rai 20, Amritpal Singh 10) bt Haryana 35 (Pradeep Chouhan 10).
Women: Chhattisgarh 99 (Poonam Chaturvedi 60) bt Delhi 67 (Raspreet Sidhu 27, Sushantika 23, Vinti 12); Telangana 81 (R. Ramya 34, M. Gayatri 24) bt Tamil Nadu 70 (R. Varshanandini 29, V. Srividhya 11, K.K. Sruthi 11); Indian Railways 95 (Sruthi Menon 17, Madhu Kumari 13, Anjana Daisy Ekka 12) bt MP 46 (Nima Doma Bhutia 19, Namrata Huda 17); Kerala 73 (P.S. Jeena 22, Poojamol 12, P.G. Anjana 11) bt Maharashtra 30 (Sakshi Arora 10).
Semifinal line-up: Men: TN vs Rajasthan; Uttarakhand vs Punjab.
Women: Indian Railways vs Telangana; Chhattisgarh vs Kerala .
