Coimbatore: Defending champion ONGC (Uttarakhand) was forced to sweat on its way to a 55-52 win over a fighting Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) in the men’s final of the 31st Federation Cup basketball championship at the PSG Tech Indoor Sports Complex courts here on Sunday.
IOB went down to ONGC by a good 20-point margin in the league stages.
But the former played brilliantly, much to the surprise of the latter. It was a clear indication that the team had done its homework well.
The IOB men took full charge of the court in the first quarter. Rikin Pethani and Prasanna Venkatesh were in full flight. They breached the rival defence time and again for a layup or two. And, with its men guarding the fort like never before, IOB gained a crucial seven-point edge (12-5) before ONGC trimmed it down to 11-12 at the whistle.
The second quarter was pretty intense right through. Both teams were quick on the floor and converted whatever dollies and difficult chances that floated in the air. But IOB managed to hang on to its slender lead.
ONGC looked a shade better in the third. Its forwards chose to operate from the flanks, while IOB planned its move from the centre. But it worked one better for ONGC which inched to a two-point lead at 39-37.
A royal battle ensued between the teams in the fourth. IOB hurried its baskets while ONGC chose to play cool. And that did IOB in at the hooter.
IOB coach Azeez Ahmed agreed it was a costly mistake while Amit Kumar and Dinesh Kumar, the ONGC coaches, were elated. “We did not expect it to be this close. The 20-point defeat in the league stages was probably there on their mind,” said Amit.
“We tried freelance basketball and got stuck in the middle. IOB played a brilliant game and managed to defend well,” added Dinesh.
Chhattisgarh women win
Chhattisgarh played a brilliant last two quarters to oust Southern Railway 77-67 for the women‘s crown.
Poonam Chaturvedi (28 points), easily the best player of the tournament, rescued the team with an all-important basket in the dying seconds against West Bengal and put the team in the final the other day. She scored 57 points of the team’s 99. And, the lanky point guard did the job once again for the team today.
Rajapriyadarshini was handed the task to screen her right through but Poonam still managed to score heavily. After the latter’s early assault, Railways fought back through Alagu Tamil Mozhi and Neena Sandeep to stay close to Chhattisgarh at 20-21 in the first quarter.
Some fine rebound collections and sensible attack from the flanks by
Rajapriyadarshini, Anitha Paul Durai and M. Adhirai saw Railways gain a two-point edge (44-42) in the second quarter.
Chhattisgarh did likewise in the third with Poonam and Sharanjeet Kaur (27 points) combining well to put the team marginally ahead.
With a five-point deficit and hardly any bench to support, Railways upped the pace in the fourth. It desperately tried to shoot from the outside as the rival defence looked solid and tight. It missed quite a few which proved costly.
Vishesh Bhrigunvanshi (ONGC) and Poonam Chaturvedi (Chhattisgarh) were
declared the best players in the respective categories.
The results:
Men, final: ONGC (Uttarakhand) 55 (Amritpal Singh 17, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 17) bt IOB 52 (Prasanna Venkatesh 14, Pratham Singh 13). Third place: Indian Air Force 85 (Joginder Singh 33, Narender Grewal 30) bt Army Service Corps (Karnataka) 79 (Issac T. Thomas 26, Jeethandar Singh 20).
Women, final: Chhattisgarh 77 (Poonam Chaturvedi 28, Sharanjeet Kaur 27) bt Southern Railway 67 (Anitha Paul 23, Neena Sandeep 17). Third place: West Bengal 81 (Salma Devi 22, Madhu Kumari 20) bt Tamil Nadu 52 (Varshanandhini 13, Srividhya S. Shekar 12).
