The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Chhattisgarh girls' dream run continues

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Monday, Sep 04, 2006

Sport

Sport - Basketball

Chhattisgarh girls' dream run continues

Principal Correspondent

KOLKATA: The Chhattisgarh girls continued their supremacy in age-group basketball, humbling challenger Maharashtra 68-49 to retain the title in the 33rd sub-junior National basketball championships at the Netaji indoor stadium here on Sunday. The boys' crown went to the north-east powerhouse Mizoram, which drubbed Delhi 73-39.

Chhattisgarh, which has been winning the title since 2003, rode on the shooting abilities of Saranjit Kaur (18 points) and A. Kavita (13) to make short work of Maharashtra. The team led from the start though Maharashtra put up some resistance initially. It led 30-23 at half-time.

In the second half, Chhattisgarh stepped up the tempo to pull away from its opponent and won by a margin of 21 points.

Long-term programme

Coach Rajesh Patel said that the success of the team is the result of a long-term coaching programme, being conducted with the support of Bhilai Steel Plant. It is this sustained development that has seen Chhattisgarh emerge as the strongest State in the age-group category.

The boys' team, however, lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion Mizoram but bagged the bronze beating Punjab in the classification play-offs. Mizoram, which regained the title after a gap of five years, scuttled the hopes of Delhi, a surprise entrant to the final.

Andrew Lalmalswama top-scored with 21 points while V. Lalmunsanga was close behind with 19. The speedy Mizoram boys proved too good for the Delhi lads. The latter, however, can take heart from the performance of their shooter Deepanshu, who scored 16 points to become the highest scorer of the tournament with a tally of 150 points.

The results:

Boys: Final: Mizoram 73 bt Delhi 39.

Semifinal: Mizoram 52 bt Chhattisgarh 46; Classification matches: 3rd and 4th: Chhattisgarh 72 bt Punjab 49; 5th & 6th: Andhra Pradesh 51 bt Madhya Pradesh 40; 7th & 8th: Manipur 54 bt Rajasthan 42.

Girls: Final: Chhattisgarh 68 bt Maharashtra 49.

Classification matches: 3rd & 4th: Tamil Nadu 56 bt Uttar Pradesh 45; 5th & 6th: Karnataka 31 bt Madhya Pradesh 24; 7th & 8th: Haryana 28 bt Punjab 15.