Karnataka men fall to Delhi at 66th Senior National Basketball Championship

Coming off their first victory of the tournament against Haryana, home team Karnataka men took on Delhi, who were searching for their first win of the tournament. The game was anticipated to be a close battle with little to separate the teams in the early going.

Karnataka got off to quick start by taking an early lead in the contest. Forward Anil Kumar took the bulk of the scoring load for Karnataka along with Sashi.

But late in the second quarter, the game turned after Karnataka centre Arvind Arumugam caught an inadvertent elbow from Delhi forward Gopal Ram that forced him out of the game. The second half was a completely different affair with Delhi’s big men scoring easily in the paint with no defensive presence for Karnataka on the inside. Delhi pulled off an 84-73 victory with forward Gopal Ram top scoring with 33 points.

The last level 1 game of the day saw the Indian Railways men’s team take on Chhattisgarh. The Services team bounced back after their loss against Tamil Nadu with a comfortable victory against the Railways. Mayur Bhat, the Services sixth man, made a major impact off the bench as he turned the game to his team’s favour with his 20 points.

In the level 2 games yesterday evening, Gujarat men beat Uttar Pradesh in a hard-fought contest. Vinay Kaushik, Gujarat’s international player, led his team with 26 points as they clinched the top spot in Group E. In the other level 2 game yesterday evening, the Maharashtra men beat Jammu and Kashmir 66-54.

Indian Railways women overpower Delhi

In the morning session of day 4 of the tournament, the Indian Railways women were firing on all cylinders against last year’s runners up Delhi. Railways completely overpowered their undersized opponents, with forward Apporva Muralinath leading the way with 20 points. The Railways team has remained undefeated so far.

Telangana women shock Chhattisgarh

Defending champions Chhattisgarh women took on the upstart Telangana team later in the morning. The Telangana women’s side have been the surprise of the tournament so far with strong play in all their matches. Telangana executed to perfection today against Chhattisgarh sticking to their fast-paced style of play and knocking down their open shots.

Despite last year’s MVP Poonam Chaturvedi putting up huge numbers with 46 points and 19 rebounds, Chhattisgarh’s other players had a poor shooting day.

Telangana played tight defense forcing 20 turnovers from the Chhattisgarh side, while limited their own turnovers to just 7. For Telangana Anusha Anto put up a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds, including 9 offensive rebounds. Divya P. for Telangana also had a big game with 23 points.

All of Telangana’s players crashed the boards to pull down 23 offensive rebounds leading to 23 second-chance points. Telangana pulled away in the final minutes to clinch a 79-72 victory.

Telangana men, however, failed to register a single victory in the tournament, losing today against the Indian Railways men. Railways established a lead early in the game and maintained it throughout to register a 94-53 victory, led by Somvier’s 21 points and Raj Kalbhor’s 15 points.

Level 2 qualifying matches also took place today. Gujarat continued their good form with a 75-56 victory against Rajasthan. West Bengal women also remained unbeaten in the tournament with a win against Odisha today, while the Rajasthan women defeated the Uttar Pradesh side.

Results from Day 3 after 7 pm

Level 1:

Men:

1. Delhi (Gopal Ram 33, Parveen Dovan 22) bt Karnataka (Anil Kumar 24, Sashi Kumar 13, Sashi S. 12) 84-73 (14-18, 28-18, 23-11, 19-26)
2. Services (Mayur Bhat 20, Jairam Jat 20, Setu SM 13, Ashutosh Rai 13) bt Indian Railways (Ajay Pratap Singh 14, Himanshu Sharma 12) 78-61 [17-17, 11-20, 12-19, 21-22]

Level 2:

Women:

1. Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 10, Shruti 9) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Pratibha 10) 42-12 (10-6, 15-0, 14-3, 3-3)

Men:

1. Gujarat (Vinay 26, Dhawal 14, Kasi Rajan 13, Harpal 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Ashutosh 20, Ankur Anand 19, Bobby 16) 78-71 [22-19, 12-11, 18-22, 26-19]
2. Maharashtra (Loveneet 14, Pradeep Chavan 14) bt Jammu & Kashmir (A Ranbir 18, D Iqbal 11) 66-54 [19-16, 19-15, 16-13, 12-20]

Results from morning session of Day 4

Level 1:

Women:

1. Indian Railways (Appoorva Muralinath 20, Anitha Paul-Durai 14, Sitamani Tudu 10) bt Delhi (Pratima Singh 9) 83-33 [6-12, 35-5, 23-14, 19-2]
2. Telangana (P. Divya 23, Anusha Anto 19, Aishwarya Nataraj 18) bt Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 46, Saranjeet Kaur 18) 79-72 (17-16, 15-22, 23-18, 24-16)

Men:

1. Indian Railways (Somvier S. 21, Raj Kalbhor 15, Ajay Pratap Singh 14) bt Telangana (Harish N. 13, David Boon 12, Ambati Prudhvi Reddy 12) 94-53 (23-19, 21-17, 25-11, 25-6)

Level 2:

Men:

Group C:

1. Chhattisgarh (Dinesh Mishra 34, Rudrashk Pandey 16, Rajesh 14, Kiran 11) bt Chandigarh (Ravi 20, Bipin 19, Pulkit Sood 18, Gurinder Singh 15) 90-76 [25-12, 26-20, 20-23, 19-21]

Group D:

1. Bihar (Yogesh Kumar 16, Hemnath Hooda 15, Deepak Kumar 12) bt Himachal Pradesh (Deepak Thakur 14, Ashwani Kumar 14) 62-43 (11-12, 8-15, 22-10, 21-6)

Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1):

Women:

1. Rajasthan (Nisha 29, Surya 13, Kumud 12) bt Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 28, Shivani 12, Shruthi 9) 77-67 (19-18, 21-18, 16-15, 21-16)
2. West Bengal (Madhu Kumari 24, Anjana Dezy 17, Libin A. 17) bt Odisha (Suvanki 18, Rajashree 12, Jayashree 12) 76-52 (21-10, 22-9, 13-21, 20-12)

Men:

1. Gujarat (Dishant Shah 19, Vinay Kaushik 12, Harpal 11) bt Rajasthan (Kamran Khan 23, Saurabh Badaya 14) 75-56 (25-6, 21-14, 10-16, 19-20)

Loser Knockout Quarterfinals:

Women:

1. Bihar (Divya Pandey 17, GS Sravanthi 15) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Amarpreet Kaur 10) 55-21 (16-6, 8-5, 25-5, 6-5)

Men:

1. Maharashtra (Pradeep P. 32, Ajinkya Mane 17) bt Odisha (Lagnajeet 14, K. Sravan Kumar 11) 79-47 (20-15, 18-9, 22-12, 19-11)