Omega Basketball Club, with a third successive victory, assured themselves of a berth in the knockout phase of the Hyderabad Club League basketball championship being played in the city. Meanwhile, FIBA and BHEL ‘B’ kept their knockout hopes alive with victories over their respective opponents. FIBA defeated Students Sports Club ‘A’ PG Road Secunderabad 54-34 while BHEL beat Rahimpura Basketball Club 47-17. In another match, Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB) also continued their winning run, defeating Hyderabad Leaders 55-40.
In a game that went down to the wire, Omega, thanks to a brilliant performance from Sai, who scored a whopping 35 points, managed to shut out a fighting and youthful side from KVBR Stadium for whom Dinesh (21 points) and Mithil (30 points) were outstanding. The players from both sides made good use of every opportunity that came their way and in the end, it was the experienced Sai — who had attended a sub-junior national coaching camp — who earned them a win. And not a moment too soon.
The results:
Omega Basketball Club 66 (Sai 35, MIntu 11) bt KVBR Stadium Club 57 (Dinesh 21, Mithil 30).
FIBA 54 (Revanth 17, Shubhankar 8) bt Students Sports Club ‘A’ PG Road Secunderabad 34 (Sanjay Kumar 18, Akash 6).
BHEL ‘B’ 47 (Praneeth 15, Harish 9) bt Rahimpura Basketball Club 17 (Ravindernath 6, Srinath 8).
KPHB 55 (Lendl 15, Sai 13) bt Hyderabad Leaders 40 (Nagesh 9, Siva 10).
St Joseph’s, niraj, suchitra, abhaya enter semifinals:
Suchitra Academy will clash with Abhaya School while hosts Niraj International School will take on St Joseph’s Public School (AG Palace, Malakpet) in the semifinals of the boys section in the fifth edition of the B. Ramender Reddy Memorial Inter inter-school basketball tournament being played in Hyderabad. Suchitra Academy scored a comfortable 31-14 win over Niraj Public School with Sarvesh (16 points), Vaagesh (8 points) and Harshith (5 points) playing in tandem with Elisha.
Niraj International School pulled off a convincing 34-13 win against Johnson Grammar School (ICSE). Kunal top-scored for the winners with 16 points. In the other quarterfinals, Abhaya School had to raise their game to defeat Oakridge International School Bachupally 40-30. Amay was in splendid form for the winners, scoring an impressive 22 points while Mohit scored 11 for Oakridge International. Meanwhile, St Joseph’s defeated Sunflower School by a 15-point margin at 30-15. Niraj (8) and Pranav (6) starred for St Joseph’s.
