Hyderabad: Rahimpura Playground defeated Lions Basketball Club in a closely-contested contest at the Nawab Shujath Ahmed Khan Memorial Basketball Championship in Hyderabad.
Rahimpura started the match on an attacking note, with their forwards combining well to put pressure on Lions defence right from the first quarter of the match. Raheempura’s Ravindranath, in particular, proved handful for the Lions as he attacked the basket at will.
Rahimpura continued their attacking game in the second quarter as well. Though Lions played some superb counter-attacking game, Rahimpura still managed to see of the first half of the game leading 29-19.
However, Lions turned the table in the third quarter. Realising the advantage their opponent held while attempting to play a quick-passing game, Lions slowed the tempo of the game. Veteran player Amarnath’s experience came handy to successfully implement this tactic as he controlled the game from the centre of the court.
Amarnath played some superb passing game as his grip over the proceedings helped Lions’ young forwards to attack the Rahimpura basket with a freedom they rarely enjoyed in the first half.
With the Lions finally finding their feet, the fourth and final quarter of the match turned thrilling for the few afficionados assembled courtside. While Amarnath still continued to hold sway at the centre, Rahimpura’s Ravindranath put on his best performance as he scored on stunning two-pointer after another to guide the team to 42-37 victory.
In another match, Madras Regiment defeated Hustlers 48-29. After leading the first half by 3 points, Madras Regiment stepped up their ante in the third and fourth quarter of the match to puncture the Hustlers.
For Regiment, Biju Bhaskaran was in fine fettle, scoring five three-pointers in his personal score of 27 points. He was ably assisted by P.D. Reddy with 13 points. For Hustlers, Prateek scored 10 points.
Earlier, Sanath-Nagar Play-ground rallied to score a thrilling 41-38 victory over Gurunanak Engineering College.
The boys from Gurunanak started the match on an excellent note, scoring briskly in the first quarter. Gurunanak’s Azam was the cynosure of all eyes as he impressed with his deft movement and pace. Azam’s pace and trickery proved too much to handle for Sanath-Nagar as Gurunanak saw of the first half of the match with a lead of 24-19.
However, Sanath-Nagar fought their way back into the game in the third quarter. Sanath Nagar’s Shiva and Basanth dictated the game. By the end of the third quarter, Sanath-Nagar managed a three-point lead at 33-30. Sanath-Nagar boys continued their good show in the final quarter to register a 41-38 victory. For Sanath Nagar, Shiva top-scored with 13 points while Basanth scored 12 points. For Gurunanak, Azam scored a match-high 20 points.
Mahesh in Round 2 in tennis
Mahesh Bhogadi defeated Thirumala Raju 6-0, 6-0 to advance to the second round of 35-plus men’s singles category at the ITF seniors tennis tournament being held in Hyderabad.
Results: 55+ singles: Venkateswar Rao Parcha bt Veeraraghavan Surendran V 6-0, 6-0; Sreedhar Tirumalasetty bt Venkata Krishna Kumar Aripirala 6-1, 6-0; Madan Singh bt Krish Sundaram 6-0, 6-1. 45+ singles: R. Vishwanath bt Venkata Srinivasan Konda 6-1, 6-0; Arjun Erukulla bt Palyam Vijay Bhaskar Reddy 6-1, 6-0; Vijaya Kumar Ramanathan bt Venugopal Kurnool 6-4, 7-6(1).
35+ singles: Wahheed Mohammed bt Ashok Kumar Samala 6-1, 6-0, Goutham Parcha(USA) bt Srinath Ummadisetti 6-3,6-1, Mahesh Bhogadi bt Thirumala Raju Mandapati 6-0, 6-0, Madhukar L P bt Victor Kenneth Deva Kumar 6-0, 6-0, Manish Dudgundi bt Vinayak Betgeri 6-1, 6-2.
Provisional OU cricket squad
The Osmania University announced the provisional men’s cricket squad to represent the varsity at the Inter University Central Zone Men’s Cricket Tournament to be held at Kakatiya University, Warangal.
The selected players will report to M. Jayaprakash, cricket coach, at OU ‘B’ Ground, Hyderabad, on Thursday at 8am.
The squad (with the serial number and college name): 1. Akash Bhandari (Captain, Aurora’s Degree & PG College), 2. T. Ravi Teja (Aurora’s Degree & PG College), 3. Himalay Agarwal (Aurora’s Degree & PG College), 4. B. Yathin Reddy (Ibrahimpatnam Degree College), 5. J. Mallikarjun (Nizam College), 6. P. Sharath Kumar (Nizam College), 7. Vishwajeeth (Patnaik Aurora’s Degree & PG College), 8. Rajat Ramesh (Aurora’s Degree & PG College), 9. M. Dinesh Kumar (Avanthi Degree College), 10. K. Sree (Dharahas Reddy Wesley Degree College), 11. Prathik Sangle (Bhavan’s Degree College), 12. S. Saicharan Teja (S.P. College), 13. P. Nikhil Deep (S.P. College), 14. R. Arundeva (S.P. College), 15. A. Akash (S.P. College), 16. Anurag Haridas (M.J. Engineering College).
Coach: M. Jayaprakash Manager: L.B. Laxmikanth Rathod.
