Defending champion Tamil Nadu did not sweat much on its way to an 85-44 win over host Gujarat in a men’s Group A clash of the 69th senior National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports complex courts here on Sunday.
Coach C.V. Sunny, who decided not to experiment with his defensive patterns, tested his bench strength from the first quarter and the players did not not disappoint.
The host scored the first point of the match — off a free throw — but it was Tamil Nadu all the way after that. It finished the first quarter 23-6. The crowd cheered every point Gujarat scored but watched in stunned silence as Sivabalan, Justin Gnanaraj and Hariram found the target from difficult angles.
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Gujarat performed a shade better in the second quarter and even managed to double its tally, but that did not bother Tamil Nadu which went full throttle in the final two quarters to race to a 85-44 victory.
In another clash, hot favourite Punjab came from behind to overcome a fighting Rajasthan 101-80.
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Men: Group A: Tamil Nadu 85 (G. Sivabalan 15, R. Hariram 13, Justin Gnanaraj 11, Muin Bek 10) bt Gujarat 44 (Vinay Kaushik 14, Vivek Goti 14).
Punjab 101 (Amritpal 31, Arshpreet 17, Gaurav Patwal 12, Jagdeep 10) bt Rajasthan 80 (Sharad Dadhich 25, Abbas Ali 20, Kamran Khan 19).
Group C: Telangana 75 bt Mizoram 57; Delhi 78 bt Goa 44.
Group D: Andhra Pradesh 59 bt HP 47; Chhattisgarh 60 bt Nagaland 34.
Group E: Haryana 82 bt Maharashtra 80; West Bengal 64 bt Bihar 48; J&K 62 bt Puducherry 41.
Group F: UP 60 bt MP 42; Odisha 97 bt Tripura 32 (L. Singh 10); Assam 75 bt Jharkhand 46.
Women: Group A: Indian Railways 109 (Sruthi Aravind 24, Madhukumari 19, Sitamani Tudu 12, Renjini Peter 11, Ramya 11, Gulbhashaali 11) bt West Bengal 63 (Anjanna Daisy Ekka 26, Nivyaraj 19).
Karnataka 77 (K.B. Harshita 20, Ujjanai Desirazu 12, T. Lopamudra 12) bt Delhi 65 (Bharati Singh 27, Tavleen Kaur 14).
Group B: Chhattisgarh 83 (Poonam Chaturvedi 41, Aakansha Singh 15, Seema Singh13) bt Uttar Pradesh 63 (Preeti Kumari 26, Minnu George 13, Pushpa Nishad 11); Telangana 60 bt Maharashtra 59.
Group C: Gujarat 52 bt Uttarakhand 17; Group E: Madhya Pradesh 75 bt Himachal Pradesh 65.