The Hindu : IOB cruises into final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

Sport

Sport - Basketball

IOB cruises into final

GIDHARBAHA (PUNJAB) FEB. 25. With its stars striking telling blows, Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai, cruised into the final of the fourth Raja Porus all-India basketball tournament with an 89-66 victory over Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi, in the semifinals at the Baba Gangaram Stadium here on Tuesday evening.

It was a clinical performance by the Chennai team, which seemed to have taken it easy in the second half, allowing the Varanasi team to match it at 36-37.

IOB will take on the winner of the other semifinal between favourite Punjab Police and South Central Railway.

Though it was a team effort, as IOB marshalled its resources very well in the absence of Chandrasekaran and Gopinath who were unwell, it was the flair and firepower of S. Robinson and Shabbir Ahmed that won the crowd for the team, and made it an one-sided affair.

Both Robinson and Shabbir, not only did the bulk of the scoring for the team, but came up with two dunks each in the second half to entertain the crowd, though IOB did not press hard after taking a 79-53 lead by the end of the third quarter.

The Chennai team had started off on a bright note with a three-pointer from Harihara Sudan. IOB excelled in the defensive rebounds and Robinson played a key role both in defence and attack to help the Chennai team take a 31-17 lead by the first quarter.

The DLW, with its limited resources, reorganised itself in the second quarter with man to man marking, which cut down the scoring rate of IOB. However, the variety in the Chennai team's attack was such that the team could still assert itself by halftime, with a commanding 52-30 lead.

In the women's section, South Central Railway, Secunderabad, defeated Chattisgarh 51-49 to set up a title clash with Western Railway, Mumbai.

The results:

Men (semifinals): IOB, Chennai 89 (S. Robinson 30, Shabbir Ahmed 20, S. Sridhar 17, Harihara Sudan 11, Sundar 11) bt DLW, Varanasi, 66 (Mihir Pandey 22, Sudhir Hooda 19, Raju Yadav 13).

Women (league): South Central Railway 51 (Jetty Jose 21, Gemini 12, Sophi Sam 10) bt Chattisgarh 49 (Anju Lakra 15, Poonam Singh 12).

Western Railway 73 (Ivy Cherian 21, Sheeja Mathew 21, Arnika Gujar 11) bt Kerala State Electricity Board 39 (Ambili Thomas 12, Deepa George 11).

South Central Railway 60 (Sophi Sam 26, Jetty Jose 22) bt Kerala State Electricity Board 56 (Deepa George 16, Lajitha 14).

Western Railway 50 (Lincy Joseph 15, Arnika Gujar 15, Shanthi 10) bt Chattisgarh 48 (Seema Singh 12, Anju Lakra 12, J. Venu 12, Poonam Singh 10).

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