The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Railways reigns

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Railways reigns

Kamesh Srinivasan

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

VICTORIOUS: The Railways men’s and women’s teams are an ecstatic lot.

LUDHIANA: Railways played a robust game to pip a resurgent Punjab 75-74 in the men’s final of the Pearls 60th National basketball championship here on Sunday.

The joy of Railways knew no bounds as the women’s team had earlier stopped Delhi 84-62 to win the title for a record 23rd time from 26 finals.

The team played its heart out and recovered from a seven-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to record a thrilling finish.

Prakash Mishra emerged the hero for the Railways, not only because he converted a three-pointer in the end but also came up with a brilliant interception with 10 seconds left on the clock.

His teammates were equal to the task of keeping the marauding Punjab lads away from the ball and just play out time.

Punjab’s power-house Jagdeep Singh Bains had converted two free throws to bridge the gap to one point with 34 seconds left on the clock. In a see-saw battle,

Railways handled the last minute with razor sharp precision. It was the tenth title for Railways from 18 finals. Punjab, finishing runner-up for the eighth time, has won the title five times, with the last title coming at Jaipur in 1998-99.

The champions in the men’s and women’s sections were presented Rs. 100,000 each, while the runners-up and third placed teams received Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively.

Talwinderjit Singh Sahi, S. Robinson and Harpal Singh won the individual awards, while the honour in the women’s section was cornered by P. Anitha and Geethu Anna Jose.

The results: Men: Final: Railways 75 (Yadwinder Singh 22, Arjun Singh 17, Vishesh Briguvanshi 17, Prakash Mishra 13) bt Punjab 74 (Talwinderjit Singh Sahi 27, Dilawar Singh 18, Jagdeep Singh Bains 16, Mod Singh 11).

Third place: Tamil Nadu 76 (Hareesh Koroth 26, S. Robinson 13, Mihir Pandey 11, M. Vinod Kumar 10) bt Uttarakhand 68 (Murali Krishna 20, Suresh Ranot 12).

Women: Final: Railways 84 (Geethu Anna Jose 28, Manisha Dange 13, P. Anitha 12, Anju Lakra 10, G. Reshma 10) bt Delhi 62 (Prashanti Singh 20, Shiba Maggon 16, Pratima Singh 10).

Third place: Chhattisgarh 67 (L. Deepa 17, Ranjeetha Kaur 16, Kavita 14, Aruna Kindo 13) bt Karnataka 66 (Kruthika Lakshman 24, Sneha R. Tiwari 15, L.S. Savitha 11).

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