The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Uttaranchal, Railways reign supreme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 03, 2005

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Sport - Basketball

Uttaranchal, Railways reign supreme

By Kamesh Srinivasan

LUDHIANA, JAN. 2. Uttaranchal stunned host Punjab 75-59 to clinch the Dhanoa 55th National basketball championship at the Guru Nanak Sports Complex here on Sunday. The winner led 34-26 at half-time.

With this maiden title triumph, Uttaranchal has become a new force to reckon with in the national basketball scene, thanks to the job opportunities offered by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The win also helped Uttaranchal, which has got some of the best players in the country, demonstrate its bench strength.

The dashing Desh Raj was nursing a knee injury and did not play the final, while S. Sridhar, who brings about tremendous thrust to the attack, had to sit out for the better part after suffering a blow on his stomach midway through the second quarter.

Shabeer Ahamad, Mohit Bhandari and Nishant Kumar played their part with efficiency, while Uttaranchal found an unexpected hero in the tallest member of the squad, R. Murali Krishna. The 25-year-old, measuring 203 centimetres, scored 14 points besides winning thunderous applause from the crowd.

Shooting prowess

The shooting abilities of Uttaranchal players were to fore on Sunday. It slotted 11 three-pointers, and seven of them came in the first-half. Dinesh Kumar, Nishant Kumar, Shabeer Ahamad and S. Sridhar scored nine points each to back the work of Murali, Mohit and Suresh Kumar. The defence was tight and the rebounds were taken with alacrity. The team played with an admirable surety of touch, befitting a champion.

Punjab's challenge ended like a pricked balloon. Perhaps, the team had peaked early on its way to the final. It had scored wins over defending champion Tamil Nadu twice, Uttaranchal in the super league.

Talwinderjit Singh could not find his touch today and the trump card Amit Prasher was quite erratic. Though Parminder Singh played his part well, the team was unable to pull together with verve.

After being 43-48 at the end of third quarter, Punjab surrendered meekly, much to the disappointment of the home crowd.

Railways again

In the women's section, Railways won its 18th title with the biggest margin ever recorded in the final of the national championship, when it humbled Delhi 126-59 (HT: 59-37).

In the last 20 editions, Railways had lost once to Punjab by one point in 1988 and then to Delhi two years back in Hyderabad.

The last highest score recorded in the women's final was 96 by Railways when it beat Kerala at the same venue in the 52nd edition.

Delhi was able to keep pace till 16-16, after which the Railways accelerated the momentum.

The results: Men (final): Uttaranchal 75 (R. Murali Krishna 14, Suresh Kumar Ranot 13, Mohit Bhandari 12) beat Punjab 59 (Talwinderjit Singh 14, Parminder Singh 13). Third place: Tamil Nadu 91 (S. Robinson 31, R. Chandra Sekar 18, A. D. Sukavaneswaran 14, S. Gopinath 13) beat Railways 60 (Ranjeet Singh 20, Mahender Singh Shekhawat 10).

Women (final): Railways 126 (Sofi Sam 24, Ranjini Peter 20, P. Anitha 17, Geeta Anna Jose 12, Seema Singh 12, Ivy Cherian 11) beat Delhi 57 (Shiba Maggon 21, Divya Singh 19). Third place: Chhattisgarh 76 (Kawaljeet Kaur 20, M. Pushpa 17, Aakansha Singh 16, Rakhi Rajput 13) beat Tamil Nadu 37 (N. Shyamala 11).

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