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Services gets past Uttarakhand

Kamesh Srinivasan

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Pushing through:Railways' Geetu Anna Jose about to score against Karnataka in the women's super league match in the senior National basketball championship.

NEW DELHI: Services handled the climax in brilliant fashion while recording a 65-62 victory over Uttarakhand, after leading 34-31 at halftime in a group ‘A' superleague match of the IMG-Reliance 61st National basketball championship at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

It was an impressive show by Services, which had trailed 48-50 at the end of third quarter, but Murali Krishna who had won the claps with an early dunk, failed to convert three successive free-throws when Uttarakhand had trailed 60-62, with just over a minute left on the clock.

In contrast, Services converted three of the last six free throws thereafter, which eventually made the difference. It was a brave effort from Services, particularly after it had lost top-scorer Jay Ramjat, as he was stretchered off with an injured knee, midway through the third quarter.

Men's defending champion Railways proved too good for Karnataka in racing to a 111-55 victory after leading 59-25 at halftime. Gagandeep Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Yadwinder Singh and Jasjit Singh were in the thick of things.

Last year's runner-up in the men's event, Punjab, did not face much of a challenge from Chandigarh in its opening encounter as it ambled to a 68-28.

Railway women eased up in the second and fourth quarter against Karnataka, which did not let the perennial champion register a century of points. The second-best team in the women's event, Delhi, struggled in the second quarter when the Uttar Pradesh girls bridged the gap to 22-26, but a couple of three-pointers from Pratima Singh put them back on track. Meanwhile, in the women's group ‘B' superleague, Tamil Nadu went down fighting to a determined Chhattisgarh 49-54 after having been 47-48.

The results:

Men: Group ‘A': Services 65 (Jay Ramjat 15, Narender Grewal 14) bt Uttarakhand 62 (M. Anoop 14, Riyazuddin 13, Mohit Bhandari 11, S. Sridhar 10); Railways 111 (Gagandeep Singh 26, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 18, Yadvinder Singh 12, Jasjot Singh 10) bt Karnataka 55 (Loyid Antony 13, Srinivas Naik 12);

Group ‘B': Punjab 68 (Amritpal Singh 21, Talwinderjit Singh 17) bt Chandigarh 28; Chhattisgarh 68 (Ankit Panigrahi 20, Shyam Sundar 19) bt Andhra Pradesh 61 (Sujith Reddy 21, Soumya Ranjan Rathi 14, Liju K. Abraham 10); Chandigarh 48 (Joginder Singh 17) bt Chhattisgarh 47 (Shyam Sundar 16, Ankit Panigrahi 10).

Women: Group ‘A': Railways 94 (Geethu Anna Jose 29, Ranjini Peter 17, M. Pushpa 12, P. Anitha 10) bt Karnataka 45 (Kruthika Lakshman 10, K.K. Nimisha 10); Andhra Pradesh 65 (Kawaljit Kaur 21, Anusha Anto 15, Mandha Meshram 12, Arshna 10) bt Kerala 55 (P.S. Jeena 16, Lizy Mathew 12, P.S. Neenu Mol 10);

Group ‘B': Chhattisgarh 54 (Kavita 16, Akanksha Singh 16, B. Jose 11, L. Deepa 10) bt Tamil Nadu 49 (R. Priyadharshini 14, N. Sowmya 12); Delhi 76 (Prashanti Singh 21, Prtima Singh 17, Harjeet Kaur 10) bt Uttar Pradesh 42 (Preeti Kumari 16, Ranjana Singh 16) .

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