The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : One-sided matches mark opening day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 13, 2005

Sport

Sport - Basketball

One-sided matches mark opening day

NEW DELHI: The Basketball Federation of India's (BFI) experiment to have a `professional league' of its own started at the NDMC Indoor Stadium here with eight select combinations, including four in the women's section, getting down to action on Tuesday.

The BFI, with an eye on identifying and promoting talent at all levels, chose 48 players in each section. The selected players, based on their performances in the National and international competitions, have been divided into four teams. These teams have been named after former players of repute. No member of the Indian men's team is included since the squad is preparing for an invitational meet in Chinese Taipei from July 23.

On the opening day, Team Abbas Montassir kept Team Ranbir Chopra at bay and eventually won 77-69. The score-line does not reflect the one-sided nature of the contest. The winning team, for which Pratham Singh top-scored with 26 points, opened up big leads almost at will and then took things easy to let its rival make the score-line look respectable. The other match in the men's section also proved to be a one-sided affair.

In the women's section, Team Suman Sharma and Team Prasanna Jayashankar won with expected ease.

The scores (league):

Men: Team Abbas Montassir 77 (Pratham Singh 26, Kuldeep 12) beat Team Ranbir Chopra 69 (S. Bhupendra 17, V. Vivek 13, Amit Prasar 11).

Team Ajmer Singh 83 (Anoop M. 16, Srinivas 14, A. V. Srinivas 11)) beat Team Khushi Ram 56 (Mandeep 12, Amitesh Singh12, Ashok Nayak 10).

Women: Team Prasanna J. 76 (Bharti Netam 19, Geethu Anna Jose 10, Akansha Singh 9) beat Team Aparna Ghosh 43 (P. Anitha 10).

Team Suman Sharma 88 (M. Pushpa 18, Prashanti Singh 16) beat Team Nandini Basappa 64 (Bincy 22, Seema Singh 10). — Special Correspondent

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