The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : IOB men, KSEB eves in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 29, 2005

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Sport - Basketball

IOB men, KSEB eves in final

COIMBATORE: Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) men from Chennai and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) women from Thiruvananthapuram breezed into the final of the all India basketball tournaments for the Nachimuthu Gounder Cup and CRI Pumps Trophy at the VOC Park Corporation Sports Complex courts here on Saturday.

IOB despatched INS Shivaji (Lonawala) 85-62 for its second straight league victory while KSEB did likewise toppling Central Railway 63-56.

The Bank men fumbled in the opening minutes of the game thus allowing its opponent to build a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter. However, the next three quarters saw the IOB men play their hearts out. Mehir Pandey (20 pts), the best available resource in the team, was on a song. He single-handedly won the game for his team. The efforts of Chandrasekar and Hariharasudhan, who offered Mehir ample support in the middle, should also be commended. IOB also found its outside shooting going awry on many an occasion, owing to the windy conditions, but won rather handily in the end.

The KSEB women, unlike IOB, had found the going tough in the first three quarters. They trailed by ten points or more right through. However, in the final quarter, the team pressed hard and managed to claw back thanks to the stellar role played by its captain Ambili Thomas.

The results: Nachimuthu Gounder Cup: IOB (Chennai) 85 (Mehir Pandey 20, Chandrasekar 12, Hariharasudhan 10) bt INS Shivaji (Lonawala) 62 (Settu 20, Hasse 15).

IOB (Chennai) 84 (Mehir Pandey 18, Chandrasekar 16) bt EME Center (Bhopal) 56 (Hawa Singh 25, Lijo George 18).

CRI Pumps Trophy: Western Railway 66 Ivy Cherian 24, Shrija Mathew 11) bt Eastern Railway 43 (Yashu K. 14, Mridhula Adil 11).

KSEB (Thiruvananthapuram) 63 (Ambili Thomas 26, Liza Rani 12) bt Central Railway 56 (Sini Shaju 23, Beena 12).

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