The women’s semifinal matches held the attention of one and all in the 67th senior National basketball championships here on Friday. Between the two exciting matches, it was the one between Telangana and Indian Railways that took the cake.
Playing only its third Nationals, Telangana played with a lot of heart to upstage the defending champion 74-56 and set up a clash with Kerala, which pipped Chhattisgarh 72-70.
In the men’s semifinals, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu scripted facile wins. While Uttarakhand dismantled Punjab’s defence in its 78-53 win, Tamil Nadu put Rajasthan in its place with a 108-77 victory.
Interestingly, it was learnt, Telangana’s Ramya, Anusha Anto and Gayathri were “unfairly ignored” for selection into the Railways’ team. And as one from the Telangana’s team stated, “Railways loss has been Telangana’s gain.”
Ramya, with her shooting prowess, has been a huge strength to Telangana, while Gayathri has been tireless with her drive-ins and lay-ups. And the two were the key to the victory over the 27-time champion.
This is only the second instance in last three decades that the Railways’ women’s team has not reached the final; the last time being the Bhilwara Nationals in 2014-15.
The other semifinal went to the wire. The Kerala girls were quicker and each one contributed in conversion of baskets. Chhattisgarh’s reliance on Poonam Chaturvedi came a cropper and though the 6’11” hoopster did her best, Kerala stymied her efforts.
Looking for its third title, the Uttarakhand men were never tested. With Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Trideep Rai scoring regularly and Amritpal Singh standing as a ‘tower' during offensive and defensive rebounds, the team sailed along smoothly.
Barring the first quarter which was close (17-14), Uttarakhand had a handy lead in the other three. Though Punjab’s Talwinderjit Singh scored with his drive-ins and lay-ups, he didn’t get support support from others.
It was veteran Pratham Singh’s brilliant performance in the first quarter that set the stage for Tamil Nadu’s win. His two-three pointers, followed by few drive-ins, gave the team a load of confidence. Vineeth Revi Mathew, Rikin Pethani and the youngsters also came up with laudable performances.
The results (semifinals):
Men: Uttarakhand 78 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 20, Trideep Rai 15, Amritpal Singh 12) bt Punjab 53 (Talwinderjit Singh Sahi 14).
Tamil Nadu 108 (Rikin Pethani 20, Jeevanantham 24, Vineet Revi Mathew 10, Pratham Singh 11, Muinbek 10) bt Rajasthan 77 (B. Singh 17, Sharath Dadich 21, V. Kumar 15).
Women: Telangana 74 (Gayathri 24, Ramya 17, Suganya 17) bt Indian Railways 56 (Sruthi Menon 14).
Kerala 72 (P.G. Anjana 20, P.S. Jeena 20, Pooja Mol 12) bt Chhattisgarh 70 (Poonam Chaturvedi 36, Aakansha Singh 15) .
