The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Southern Railway defends title in style

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Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007
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Sport - Badminton

Southern Railway defends title in style

Principal Correspondent

BASKETBALL / Indian Army triumphs at IOB’s expense

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

TRIUMPHANT: The Southern Railway team which took the honours in the all-India Master Prithvi Nath Sharma memorial basketball tournament in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Southern Railway, Chennai, defended its title in style as Geetu Anna Jose and Aneetha led the onslaught on MTNL, Delhi, virtually making the women’s final a no-contest, in the all-India Master Prithvi Nath Sharma memorial basketball tournament here on Tuesday evening.

Geetu led the charge with 37 points as Southern Railway beat MTNL 99-69 to lift the trophy.

After initial resistance, MTNL failed to match the athleticism of the Railway players. MTNL was down by just five points at the end of the first quarter as Harjeet Kaur and Prashanti Singh matched the Railway women with successful counterattacks.

Relentless attacks

But the difference started showing soon. Geetu and Aneetha made relentless attacks to quell MTNL’s tackles as Southern Railway gained a good half-time lead (48-35).

The third quarter saw MTNL cave in as Kokila also joined in to help swell Southern Railway’s tally.

By the end of the third quarter, the Chennai outfit led 71-42, before it completed the winning margin.

For the Delhi team, Harjit Kaur top-scored with 17 points. Prashanti Singh (16) and Sheeba Magon (11) were the other scorers for MTNL.

Giant-killing act

In the men’s final, Indian Army, inspired by Sambhaji Kadam, repeated its giant-killing act to down Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Chennai 107-93.

In a contest that witnessed keen tackles from either side, Army took charge of the proceedings after defending champion IOB had initially taken the lead.

Kadam was the controlling factor as Army showed resilience playing under pressure to lift the trophy.

Playing in front of a capacity crowd with hundreds crowding outside, the men’s final reached the highpoint when Army established a 59-42 lead at half-time.

Relentless pressure

Kadam with Dalip Kumar organised the attacks from either flank as IOB succumbed to the relentless pressure.

The defeat to Army in the league stage seemed to weigh heavy on the Bankmen’s minds, and the close battle against ONGC, Dehra Dun, in the semifinal on Monday night had also taken its toll.

Dalip top-scored for Army with 31 points, while Ashish Dubey (25) and Jai Ram (18) revelled under the conditions that Kadam set up for them.

For IOB, A.D. Jagan was the top-scorer with 28 points. D.E. John scored 20 and S. Arvindh and Vineet Ravi had 15 each, but their efforts fell short this time around.

The results (finals):

Men: Indian Army 107 (Dalip Kumar 31, Ashish Dubey 25, Jai Ram 18, Navneet 10) beat Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai 93 (A.D. Jagan 28, S. Arvindh 15, D.E. John 20, Vineet Ravi 15).

Women: Southern Railway, Chennai, 99 (Geetu Anna Jose 37, Aneetha 21, Kokila 16) beat MTNL, Delhi 69 (Harjeet Kaur 17, Prashanti Singh 16, Sheeba Magon 11).

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