CHANDIGARH, SEPT 29 :In the 18th Punjab Annual Basketball League being organized at Gure Village (Ludhiana District ) in memory of Arjuna Awardee Sardar Gurdial Singh ‘Bhaiya’, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala men defeated Rest of Punjab, which consisted the players from Nav Bharti Public School and S.C.D. Government College for Men sports wings, Ludhiana by 60 – 32 points.
Rest of Punjab put tough resistance to seasoned the RCF team. At the end of first quarter both the teams tied at 10 each and at the end of half time, RCF team took a lead of 14 points, the score being 34-20 in favour of RCF. RCF, Kapurthala consolidated their lead to 24 points at the end of third quarter through number of successful three points shots from Balbir. For RCF, Harsh- 22, Balbir- 17, Vajinder- 10 and Rajinder- 7 and for Rest of Punjab, Yatan Sharma- 14, Gurpreet – 5, Wasim – 4, Swaranjit – 4, and Amanjot – 4 were main scorers.
In the women section match fancied Jalandhar District thrashed Amritsar and won the match by 33 -11 points. In the late night last match, BSF, Jalandhar defeated DM Locomotive, Patiala by 60 – 38 points. Both teams had number of state Players in their line –ups. Though Patiala Railway men gave good resistance in the first two quarters, they succumbed to the pressure defense of BSF and lost the match. At the end of first quarter the score was 20 – 15 in favour of B.S.F. and at the end of half time, BSF was leading by 36 – 28 points.
In a match played at Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, Punjab Police men defeated Rest of Punjab by 82 – 62 points. For Punjab Police, Amritpal Singh (14), Deepak Kumar (18), Rajbir (10) and Bhupinder Singh (27) who excelled with three point shots gave excellent performance and for Rest of Punjab, international Rajan Sharma (11), Swaranjit (14), Harpreet (12) and seven feet tall Yatan Sharma (11) and Mandeep (4) were the main scorers.
Olympian Gurmail Singh inaugurated the league. International basketball player Kulwant Lamber DSP, Gursharnjit Singh,and Dhyan Chand awardee in basketball Ram Kumar, Dr Subramanian, PS Noorpuri, Joint Secy PBA Ranjit Singh Gill Kuki, Vijay Chopra and large number of villagers were present on the occission.