Senior National basketball championship: Uttarakhand men storm into title clash
Mysuru: Defending champions Uttarakhand men stormed into the title clash defeating Tamil Nadu 71-69 in the thrilling semifinals clash at the 66th Senior National basketball championship here on Friday.
In a keenly contested last-four encounter, Uttarakhand’s Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi (21), Yadwinder Singh (21) and Murali Krishna (11) scored while for Tamil Nadu, Rikin Pethani made 20 while Pratham Singh (15) and Prasanna Venkatesh (11) netted.
In the women’s semis game, undefeated Indian Railways eves overcame Telangana 78-50 to cruise into the final.
Star player Anitha Paul-Durai led the scoring for TN with 20, Sitamani Tudu poured in with 13 while Rajapriyadarshini made 12. For Telangana, Divya P. contributed 21 and Ramya slotted 10.
Meanwhile, hosts Karnataka outplayed neighbours Kerala 72-50 in the 5th to 8th place classification match.
Anil Kumar topped scoring 20 points while Isaac I made 10. For Kerala, Jishnu Nair (12) and Robin (11) scored.
Results (Semifinals): Men: Uttarakhand (Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 21, Yadwinder Singh 21, Murali Krishna 11) bt Tamil Nadu (Rikin Pethani 20, Pratham Singh 15, Prasanna Venkatesh 11) 71-69
Women: Indian Railways (Anitha Paul-Durai 20, Sitamani Tudu 13, Rajapriyadarshini 12) bt Telangana (Divya P. 21, Ramya 10) 78-50
5th to 8th place classification matches: Men: Karnataka (Anil Kumar 20, Isaac I. 10) bt Kerala (Jishnu Nair 12, Robin 11) 72-50; Indian Railways (Somvier S. 24, Ajay Pratap Singh 18, Gaurav Ohlan 13) bt Gujarat (Kasi Rajan 29, Vinay Kaushik 21, Harpal 13) 87-76
Women: TN (CL Rini 20, Srividhya 17, Prithi 14) bt WB (Anjana Dezy 29, Libina 26, Madhu Kumari 14) 83-76; Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 34, Bharti 19) bt Punjab (Nirmal 29, Kirandeep 20, Indu Kumari 14) 79-75.
