Midhun Markose All India Basketball Championships: IOB Chennai and South Western Railway, Hubli win

Men’s Champions IOB, Chennai

Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai defeated Vijaya Bank, Bangalore 68-63 in the men’s final while South Western Railway from Hubli took the women’s title after beating Kerala State Electricity Board in an evenly fought final with the score of 63-60.

In the men’s final, IOB which trailed 29-32 at half time came back strongly in the second half to beat Vijaya Bank 68-63. For IOB, Aravind was the top scorer with 19 points followed by Prasanth with 13 points. For Vijaya Bank, bulk of the scoring was done by another Aravind who contributed 21 points.

In the women’s final match, the SWR Hubli side which had trailed 28-19 at half time went on to beat KSEB. Experienced International Savitha top scored for the winners with 24 points. For KSEB, Merlin Baby was the top scorer with 19 points and young Grima—who was fouled out of the game at the end of 4^th quarter—along with Ashey Mathew, contributed 12 points for the losers .

Malayalam actress Gouthami Nair and international footballer Joe Paul Anchery were among the celebrities who were present for the women’s finals.

Third Place for Customs and Central Excise

Customs and Central Excise took the third spot and grabbed Rs 15000/- as prize money as they defeated Indian Army, New Delhi 88-64 after leading 44-36 at half time. Customs, which had lost to Indian Army in the league round, thus avenged their defeat by playing as a cohesive unit with 6 of them making double figures in scoring. Eudric Perera, Basil Philiph and Monish Wilson scored 14 points each and were very well supported by Subash J Shenoy with 13 points. For Indian Army, it was Gopal Ram who came up with 19 points followed by Suresh Kumar making 16.

Women’s Champions South Western Railway, Hubli

Midhun Markose Remembered

Midhun Markose— the former student of Mar Baselios Engineering college in whose name this tournament was organized— was remembered on centre court just before the start of the men’s final. Incidentally, the day also marked Midhun’s 4^th Death Anniversary. There was a candle light vigil on the court, where his father and siblings were also present.

Shri Ramesh Chennnithala, KPCC President, distributed the cash prizes and trophies to the winners at a function presided by Shri Joymon, the President of the Trivandrum Distrcit Basketball Association (TDBA)

Detailed Scores

Men’s Final

• Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai 68 (A Aravind 19, Prasanth 13, Praveen Kumar 10) bt Vijaya Bank, Bangalore 63 (Aravind 21, Srinivas Naik 14, Anil Kumar 12)

Women’s Final

• South Western Railway, Hubli 63 (Savitha LS 24, Navaneetha 10) bt KSEB, Thiruvananthapuram 60 (Merlin Baby 19, Grima 12, Ashey Mathew 12, Rosmy Thomas 8)

Men’s Third Position Match

• Customs and Central Excise, Kochi 88 (Basil Philip 14, Eudric Perera 14, Monish Wilson 14, Subash J Shenoy 13, Nikhil KR 11, Sajeev Kamath 10) bt Indian Army, New Delhi 64 (Gopal Ram 19, Suresh Kumar 16, Nixon A 10)