Kochi: Defending Junior Men’s champion Delhi withstood the Madhya Pradesh challenge to romp home to their second straight win in the 65th National Basketball Championship for Junior Men and Women 2014 that is underway at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Kadavanthara in Kochi. A physically strong and efficient Delhi side beat MP 91-63 courtesy 20 points by centre and last year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Gaurav Ohlan. Also staying undefeated is the Tamil Nadu men’s team which hurt Karnataka repeatedly on the counter attack to win 72-49. After yesterday’s loss to Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra men too won their first match of the tournament, beating Odisha 93-51.
In the junior women’s section, Karnataka lost its second straight match by a margin of five points or less. Today’s loss against Punjab was harder to digest for Karnatakaas its two best players internationals Lopamudra and Bhandavya getting fouled out with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. For Punjab, captain Kulwinder’s 25 and Samriti’s 28 points aided in their side’s 74-69 win. MP women also won on day two, beating Rajasthan 77-55. In lower pool matches, Uttarakhand and Delhi women posted wins.
Late last evening, hosts Kerala men suffered an opening loss against Madhya Pradesh, while the local women cruised to a 62-23 win against Rajasthan.
Results
Men
Rajasthan (Mahipal Singh 24, Mohamed 16) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Amanjot 11, J Singh 13) 94-44 [28-10; 22-10; 20-8; 24-16]
Andhra Pradesh (David 21, Tagapathi 20) bt Gujarat (Shahzad 10, Parth 8) 77-30 [22-16; 25-4; 11-4; 19-6]
Haryana (Pradeep 27, Rahul 22) bt Chhattisgarh (Rajeesh 18, Anil Kumar 11, Tarandira K 11) 71-62 [18-11; 16-21; 16-9; 21-22]
Bihar (Amit K 32, Iman Ali 13)bt Uttarakhand (Sooraj N 22, Arpit 12) 59-54 [10-15; 9-21; 15-4; 25-14]
Uttar Pradesh (Atal 21, Shilesh 12, Ashish K 10)bt Assam (Bijit Kalita 10, E Khan 6) 59-27 [20-7; 16-7; 12-8; 11-5]
Delhi (Sukrit 25, Gaurav 20) bt Madhya Pradesh (Lalit 12, Himanshu 11) 91-63 [24-17; 21-6; 20-27; 26-13]
Maharashtra (Kalbhor R 24, Ashraf Siddiqui 18) bt Odisha (Sahid Khan 13, Aditya 11) 93-51 [26-13; 27-15; 20-7; 20-16]
Tamil Nadu (Muin 23, T Venkatesh 14)bt Karnataka (Sowkin 18, Sachin 9) 72-49 [23-10; 14-11; 20-16; 15-12]
Women
Madhya Pradesh (Sakshi 35, Shivangi 16) bt Rajasthan (Kamlesh 21, Nisha 14) 77-55 [17-17; 30-19; 24-12; 6-7]
Delhi (Divya 19, Nishita 12, Varuni 11) bt Gujarat (Thulika 17) 72-40 [19-10; 8-8; 22-15; 23-7]
Punjab (Samriti 28, Kulwinder 25) bt Karnataka (Bhandavya 24, Lopamudra 17) 74-69 [12-17; 20-18; 16-20; 26-14]
Himachal Pradesh (Munisha 21, Indu Bala 12) bt Odisha (Jayashree 15, Urbashi 15) 46-41 [14-10; 19-12; 6-6; 8-15]
Uttarakhand (Palakh Sharma 16, Shraddha Rai 14) bt Andhra Pradesh (Sreetha 18, Meenakshi 12) 60-56 [19-8; 16-17; 14-16; 11-15]