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Basketball
By M.C. Raman
The Tamil Nadu men's team and the Railways women's squad (right), the winners of the National basketball championship. — K. Pichumani
In the women's final Railways bounced back after last year's loss to post an authoritative win over Delhi. Railways, unlike last year, did not play casually and tightened up its game to shut out Delhi 88-55 for the Prince Basalat Jha Trophy. Railways had won the trophy for 14 years before it went down last year to Delhi at Hyderbad. Kerala finished third beating Andhra 64-43, after trailing 19-23. In the men's final defending champion Tamil Nadu tightened up its game in the second quarter and shut out its rival completely. It was a big disappointment for Kerala as it had beaten Tamil Nadu in the pool phase. For the winner Sridharan's poor patch continued, but Robinson not only lifted the side's game but also made up for the absence of Shabeer Ahmed. "In every National we have missed one important player. Jugan (Sukhavenshwaran), Gopinath and now Shabeer. Yet we have maintained that winning momentum. This shows the team spirit of the players. I expected this performance yesterday. But today the combination was good. The defence formation was superb. We could control the rebound. And of course the boys played brilliantly. I wanted to avenge the defeat and the team did it," said Tamil Nadu coach A.D. Senthureshwaran. Not many States can boast of such an achievement. Services had a fantastic record stretching over two decades. Here the Railways, Rajasthan and Punjab had assembled good teams. But none could maintain the winning streak. In the first quarter Tamil Nadu took a 15-5 lead before Sunny Thomas and Abilash converted three points to bring Kerala close. But after that Kerala's shooting dipped alarmingly even as Tamil Nadu tightened up its defence. By hustling strongly and intercepting passes quickly Tamil Nadu raced to a 46-29 lead by half time. It then pressed home the advantage with its bench players. Shivarjan came in and basketed steadily. Shivshankar, who was hitting the hoop with excellent control, too chipped in. Sukhavanehswaran, who was rested for a while, came back to consolidate the position further. Ball handler Mohan Raj took over from Gopinath and stepped up the pace. Kerala rapidly conceded a huge lead and despite substitutions there was no improvement in its basketing. The fourth quarter was a mere formality. In the women's final, Arnika Gujjar, though not in good form, rose to the occasion in the later part of the game with long shots. Railways did well in defence with Ivy Cherian and Renjini Jose controlling rebounds completely. Delhi depended heavily on Sheeba Maggo for baskets but Railways' tight defence cut short her aggression. It was an even contest in the first half and at half time Railways took a slender 29-27 lead. The results: Finals: Men: Tamil Nadu 94 (Sukavaneshwaran 20, Robinson 20, Shivashankar 14, Sivarajan 11) beat Kerala 59 (Sunny Thomas 13, Subash Shenoy 21). Women: Railways 88 (Arnika Gujjar 17, Ivy Cherian 14, Anitha 12) beat Delhi 55 (Sheeba Maggon 19, Savitha 11, Rajalakshmi 10) For third place: Men: Services 104 (Venkatesh 13, Phool Singh 12, Peter John 10, Vijaykumar 10) beat Karnataka 65 (Srinivasa Gowda 19, Stalin 11) Women: Kerala 64 (Ambily 21, Cini 11) beat Andhra 43 (Sofi Sam 17, Jetty Jose 11).
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