34th Youth National Basketball Championship: Kerala, Punjab ease into semis
Hyderabad: Kerala, U.P. and Karnataka girls sailed into semis while Punjab and Haryana also won their quarterfinal matches of the 34th Youth National Basketball Championship for boys and girls being played at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad.
Kerala girls sealed a victory over Maharashtra 58-45 as the former flexed their muscles to overpower their rivals. Kerala’s centre Ann Mary Zachariah showed her class by scoring 12 points while bolstering Aparna Sadasivan’s 14 points. For Maharashtra Abha Lad and Siya Dodhar scored 12 and 11 points in vain.
In the boys quarters, Punjab hoopsters sprung in action to defeat Karnataka with a 89-66 verdict. Princepal Singh was the star player. He scored 32 points.
Selected results
Girls Level 1
Quarterfinals: Kerala 58 (Aparna Sadasivan 14, Ann Mary Zachariah 12, An Mariya Johny 9) bt Maharashtra 45 (Abha Lad 12, Siya Deodhar 11); Karnataka 73 (Grishma N. 28, Nidhi Chaudhari 12, Reshma Ramesh 10) bt Madhya Pradesh 43 (Rajvi Desai 19, Divya Sam 12) 73-43; Uttar Pradesh 60 (Vrinda Garg 15, Vartika Kushwaha 12, Riya Baliyan 12, Alankrita Singh 11) bt Punjab 52 (Radha Rani 18, Priyanka Behal 12).
Pre-quarterfinals: Chhattisgarh 78 (Neha Karva 27, Urvanshi Baghel 19, Elijabet Ekka 13) bt Haryana 47 (Suman 19, Ritika 13); Madhya Pradesh 63 (Asmat Kaur Taunque 16, Ruchi Patel 15, Rajvi Desai 10) bt West Bengal 39 (Liza Deb 15, Jyothi Routh 10).
Relegation from Level 1 to Level 2: Gujarat 62 (Naiya Patel 24, Tanisha Shah 13, Hethavi Sorathiya 8) bt Rajasthan 38 (Shataksh Rathore 16, Akshita 11, Ankita 9).
Level 2 loser's knockout finals: Himachal Pradesh 71 (Pallavi Bramla 37, Rakhi 14) bt Chandigarh 48 (Tarini Boprai 32).
Boys Level 1
Quarterfinals: Punjab 89 (Princepal Singh 32, Harsimranjit Singh 19, Rajan 18) bt Karnataka 66 (Aniket Sahoo 21, Akshan Rao 14); Haryana 74 (Mukesh 23, Kapil Mor 19, Gaurav 16) bt Tamil Nadu 70 (G Dhanosh 25, Gokul V. 14).
Level 2 loser's knockout finals: Telangana 79 (Vinay Kothari 16, Rithik Pothuganti 16, Aman Topno 13, Vighneshwar Upadhyay 13) bt Assam 69 (Salew Kadete 21, Sanjay Balmiki 19, Shivam Sunar 12).
