Khelo India 2019, Basketball: Dominant Punjab cagers ease into KIYG semi-finals

Punjab and Rajasthan U-17 girls in action at Khelo India Youth Games

Pune, January 16: Defending champions Punjab boys registered their second successive win to seal a berth in the semi-finals of the Under-17 basketball event at the Khelo India Youth Games 2019.

Led by a 20-point effort by skipper Rajan, Punjab ended the challenge of hosts Maharashtra 72-48 in a Pool B encounter. The hosts thus bowed out of the event.

In another encounter, Haryana brushed aside Tamil Nadu 81-58 to maintain their clean slate and qualify. Both Punjab and Haryana face off in the last league encounter to decide the group winner.

From Group A, Rajasthan followed, downing Madhya Pradesh 88-77. The race for the second spot in the group will be between Kerala and Karnataka who had mixed results on Day-2.

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The Under-21 boys section had Kerala (Group-A), Punjab and Tamil Nadu (Group-B) booking their spots in the last four.

Kerala played spoilsport for Maharashtra with a close 75-73 win. The result helped Kerala move into the knock-out round. Maharashtra, on the other hand, will have to wait for Thursday when they play Delhi to secure their spot.

In Pool B, both Punjab and Tamil Nadu crossed the 100-point mark to qualify in style. Punjab routed Karnataka 101-56, while Tamil Nadu recorded the highest score of the day in subduing Rajasthan 116-73. For Tamil Nadu, this was their second successive 100-plus scoreline.

In the girls section, the Punjab Under-17s followed the boys in securing a place in the semis from Group B. Punjab put out Madhya Pradesh 75-67 for their second win.