Odisha and Rajasthan men qualify to Level 1

Puducherry, 11^th January 2017: On the morning of the penultimate day of the league stages at the 67^th Senior National Basketball Championship, the favourites in the women’s section lit up the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium with their offensive prowess. The Chhattisgarh women put up the highest score of the tournament thus far, hitting the century mark against Maharashtra. Poonam Chaturvedi (39 points) and Sharanjeet Kaur (24 points) were on fire in the first half as Chhattisgarh built a sizeable lead over Maharashtra to clinch a 102-65 win.

Indian Railways women remained undefeated with a thumping victory over Telangana. Railways had contributions from multiple players, led by Libina MJ’s 18 points. On the defensive end, they stifled Telangana – only one Telangana player managed to score in double digits. Railways women finished the league stages with all wins including this 84-38 blowout against Telangana.

The other Level 1 women’s games were also one-sided affairs as Delhi raced past West Bengal registering an 81-36 win. Tamil Nadu women also made easy work of Rajasthan (66-34). Both the Srividya’s of Tamil Nadu put up 13 points. Two women’s teams from the lower pool Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh won their qualifier matches today morning to move to the upper pool. Both teams are currently undefeated. Karnataka knocked out Odisha with a 48-24 win, while Madhya Pradesh pulled away from Chandigarh to clinch a 73-60 win.

In the men’s games today morning, Tamil Nadu continued their good form with an 86-43 win over Gujarat. Backup centre Jeevanantham top scored for Tamil Nadu with 21 points. The Rajasthan men also picked up a crucial victory today morning over Madhya Pradesh 87-76, thereby moving to the upper pool. Odisha men joined Rajasthan in moving to the upper pool defeating home team Puducherry 91-54.

In the final game of yesterday evening, Punjab men kept their hopes alive in the tournament with an 84-59 victory against Haryana. Punjab’s guards TJ Sahi, Arshpreet Bhullar and Rajveer Singh combined for 59 points to lead Punjab to their first win of the tournament.

Results from 11^th January 2017 up to 2 pm

WOMEN

Level 1:

Group A:

1.       Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 39, Sharanjeet Kaur 24, Sangeeta Kaur 15, Aakansha Singh 12) bt Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 20, Sakshi Arora 17) 102-65 (26-16, 34-15, 16-16, 26-18)

2.       Indian Railways (Libina MJ 18, Sitamani Tudu 12, Sruthi Menon 12, R. Rajapriyadarshini 10) bt Telangana (Ramya R. 10, Aishwarya Nataraj 8) 84-38 (25-14, 22-5, 12-12, 25-7)

Group B:

1.       Delhi (Sahiba Maan 18, Monika 15, Raspreet Sidhu 11, Garima Gosain 10, Meena 10) bt West Bengal (Paulami Chatterjee 10) 81-36 (18-10, 15-5, 28-15, 20-6)

2.       Tamil Nadu (V. Srividhya 13, Srividya Shekar 13, M. Keerthi 10) bt Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 19, Surbhi Nair 7) 66-34 (23-6, 15-12, 15-9, 13-7)

Level 2 to Level 1 Qualifier:

1.       Karnataka (Bhoomika P. 16, Supritha CN 11, Priyanka P. 10) bt Odisha (Rajashree Swain 10) 48-24 (14-9, 12-4, 14-2, 8-8)

2.       Madhya Pradesh (Nima Doma 28, Namrata 13, Sakshi Pandey 11) bt Chandigarh (Kirti 17, Pooja 15) 73-60 (13-12, 21-9, 19-20, 20-19)

MEN:

Level 1:

Group B:

1.       Tamil Nadu (P. Jeevanantham 21, J. Justin 14, Rikin Pethani 13, R. Hariram 11) bt Gujarat (M. Kasi Rajan 15, Harpal Sinh Waghela 14) 86-43 (26-13, 15-12, 25-12, 20-6)

Level 2 to Level 1 Qualifier:

1.       Rajasthan (Vinod Kumar 28, Sharad Dadich 22, Mod Singh 10) bt Madhya Pradesh (Shubham Mishra 28, Harendra Singh Tomer 26, Gagandeep Singh 12) 87-76 (16-20, 20-11, 28-28, 23-17)

2.       Odisha (Ashok Kumar Nayak 19, Siba Sankar Behera 17, K. Sravan Kumar 14) bt Puducherry (Poovana 16, Hari 13) 91-54 (24-16, 22-16, 23-9, 22-13)

Results from 10^th January 2017 after 8 pm

WOMEN

Level 2:

Group C:

1.       Gujarat (Arti Godhani 15, Nidhi Tank 10) bt Haryana (Meenu 4, Renu 4, Alisha 4) 36-17 (14-7, 7-0, 12-6, 3-4)

Group E:

1.       Tripura (Riya 16, Anamika 10) bt Bihar (Harshita Kumar 10) 35-14 (7-7, 8-6, 9-1, 11-0)

2.       Chandigarh (Kirti 20, Suman Pannu 14, Akshita 10) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Pearl 18) 55-36 (13-10, 9-10, 19-5, 14-11)

MEN

Level 1:

Group A:

1.       Punjab (Rajveer Singh 26, Arshpreet Singh Bhullar 17, Talwinder Jit Singh Sahi 16, Nitesh Kumar 10) bt Haryana (Pardeep Chauhan 23, Naveen 13, Vikas Kumar 9) 84-59 (20-14, 18-18, 30-21, 16-6)

Level 2:

Group C:

1.       Rajasthan (Vinod Kumar 35, Sharad Dadaich 15) bt Chandigarh (Ravi Bhardwaj 17, Jatin Shokhanda 15) 71-55 (12-10, 14-10, 23-18, 22-17)

Group D:

1.       Telangana (Nikhil Sai Kumar 14, Shiv Kumar 13, A. Muthukumar 11) bt Himachal Pradesh (Anubhav Sharma 11) 68-37 (21-14, 16-11, 10-7, 21-5)

Group E:

1.       Maharashtra (Rohan Jagtap 19, Subham Yadav 13, Sanket Kalbhor 10, Ashraf Siddique 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Bhagyansh Gulati 16, Lav Singh 12, Priyanshu 10) 77-60 (28-13, 24-20, 11-10, 14-17)

Group F:

1.       Madhya Pradesh (Harendra Singh Tomar 40, Goutam 14, Shubham Mishra 13) bt Andhra Pradesh (IBP CH Kumar Varma 23, K. Akhil Reddy 16, Gudupu Ganesh 12) 82-69 (10-15, 22-14, 22-20, 28-20)

About the 67^th Senior National Basketball Championship 2017

The championship is being held 7^th to 14^th January. 27 men’s teams and 25 women’s teams have confirmed their participation.

The championship is being organised by the Puducherry Basketball Association under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India.

Matches are being simultaneously held on four different courts: the indoor and outdoor courts of the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium complex (Courts 1 & 2), and the two courts at the Petit Seminare School.

Defending champions Railways women will be the team to watch out for as it rekindles its rivalry with previous winners Chhattisgarh. In the men’s section, traditional powerhouses Services, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu will be vying for top honours.

29 international players from across the country will be adding their experience to the fray.