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Punjab men ride on Talwinder’s brilliance

K. Keerthivasan

Railways women start off on the right track

Arjun Singh shone for U.P.
Delhi defeated Karnataka in the women’s section

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

SOARING TO SCORE: Shiba (centre) of Delhi gets past Karnataka’s Sneha R. Tiwari and R. Sumalatha (left).

SURAT: To call him the livewire of his team will be an understatement. He’s the fulcrum around which the Punjab men’s team functions. Talwinder Singh, a ball-handler, weaves his way past opponents easily a foot taller than him, moves like a bullet, pushes himself to the limits and most of all scores at crunch situations.

Riding on Talwinder’s (20 points) blitzkrieg, last year’s runner-up, Punjab overcame Uttar Pradesh 88-77 in a preliminary Pool ‘B’ contest of the Karp-Jyoti senior National basketball championships here on Wednesday.

Punjab, while retaining the core that competed at the last Nationals, has sprinkled its line-up with a few newcomers like Guruwinder, Bhupinder and Y. Sharma.

Led by Jagdeep Singh, current India skipper, Punjab shut out a strong challenge from Uttar Pradesh in the last few minutes of the match.

Entertaining contest

There was little to choose between the two till half-time apart from an excellent display from Talwinder. With quick and short passing, effective man-to-man marking, fantastic offensive and defensive rebounds, Punjab and U.P. gave an entertaining account of themselves.

The tie seemed to be shifting towards Punjab in the third quarter. A lead of 62-59 revealed as much. Five minutes into the fourth and final quarter, U.P. initiated and executed some outstanding set-pieces that took Punjab by surprise. Arjun Singh came to Uttar Pradesh’s rescue.

Thanks to Arjun’s intelligent passes and shooting skills, U.P. remained in the contest. Looking thin and frail, Arjun showed his wares outwitting stronger Punjab players through guile. At one point of time, U.P. was leading 71-69.

Forward Dilawar kept scoring two-pointers at regular intervals even as Punjab nosed ahead.

With hardly a minute and 50 seconds remaining for the final whistle, Punjab took a 5-point lead. And it was clear that it was beyond U.P.’s reach.

Rousing start

Defending champion Indian Railways women started on a rousing note scripting a commanding 104-32 victory over Punjab.

Punjab’s best phase came in the second quarter where it converted a majority of baskets. Understandably, Geetu Anna Jose was the cynosure of all eyes.

The International, playing in the ‘Big V League’ in Australia, worked quietly and efficiently allowing her teammates to revel in the limelight.

To keep Geetu fresh for crucial battles ahead, Railways’ coach Bhupendra Shahi rested her for the last two quarters.

One of the strongest challengers for Railways in the women’s section is Delhi. Comprising half-a-dozen international players, Delhi defeated Karnataka 90-77. Point guard Shiba stole the show with 21 points.

Delhi has found suitable replacements despite the absence of players like Divya and Savitha, who played the last Nationals.

Tamil Nadu men open their campaign against Indian Railways on Thursday while Services take on Karnataka.

The results:

Women: Pool ‘A’: Indian Railways 104 (Seema Singh 14, Renjini Peter 13, Geetu Anna Jose 12, Lincy Joseph 10) bt Punjab 32 (Sarabjeet Kaur 12, Kiranjeet Kaur 11).

‘B’: TN 92 (Gokila 10, Sangeetha 11, Appoorva 12 bt AP 34 (Geetha Rani 12).

Delhi 90 (Shiba 21, Harjeet Kaur 15, Prasanti Singh 10) bt Karnataka 77 (Deepa 28, Smitha 12, Sneha 11).

‘C’: Maharashtra 51 (Beena Nair 12, Shweta Mundada 10) bt J&K 8.

‘D’: Haryana 41 (Salma 24, Alka 13) bt HP 21.

‘E’: Chandigarh 43 (Nimrata Shital 14, Reena Sheetal 13) bt Gujarat 16.

U.P. 63 (Renu 20, Ranjana 13, Anamika 10) bt Orissa 23 (Jhuma 12).

‘F’: Rajasthan 47 (Kavitha 10, Madhu 14) bt Puducherry 42 (Leela 16).

Men: Pool ‘B’: Punjab 88 (Talwinder Singh 20, Mahesh Misra 17, Jagdeep Singh 15) bt U.P. 77 (Abhinav Singh 24, Arjun Singh 17, Shadab Khan 14, Rajneesh Singh 10).

‘E’: M.P. 75 (Kulvinder Hardia 25, Kamal Singh 14, Sukant Garg 12) bt WB 42 (T.S. Prakasa Rao 10, Wasim Ahmed 10).

‘F’: Chhattisgarh 65 (Pratham Singh 22, Kiranpal Singh 12, Prabhdeep Singh 18) bt Orissa 53 (A.K. Nayak 21, S.K. Nayak 11, S.K. Behera 11).

Maharashtra 89 (Sanjay Salinke 15, Siddanth Shinde 15, Karan Mehta 14, Sandeep 15) bt Puducherry 49 (Bhaskaran 20, Harikrishna 15).

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