Kochi: Putting behind morale sapping losses from the previous day, junior women from Maharashtra and Karnataka registered memorable first wins in the 65th Junior National Basketball Championship that is underway at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Kadavanthra in Kochi, Kerala.
Maharashtra’s Malayalee captain Sruthi Menon top scored with 24 points as her side beat Haryana 63-56. Both Haryana and Maharashtra are now locked 1-1 after two round robin games. Karnataka junior women beat last year’s semifinalist Tamil Nadu, 88-65, thanks to the scintillating performance of former youth international Bhadavya’s 42 points. To everyone’s surprise, traditionally strong TN girls have now fallen to their third straight loss.
The Junior Maharashtra men’s team won as well thanks to their speedy and busy guards who forced Karnataka into a numerous turnovers. Such was the defensive pressure of Maharashtra that at times, Karnataka struggled to cross the ball into its frontcourt. Late last evening, Kerala jr women stayed undefeated by beating Maharashtra 74-58. With its perfect 2-0 record, Kerala jr women are on top of Group B in the upper pool.
From the lower pools (Level 2), the toppers of each of the four groups (C, D, E and F) will play against each other in a bid to progress to Level 1. In the junior men’s section, Rajasthan (C1) will play West Bengal (F1) and Andhra Pradesh (D1) will take on Bihar (E1) and in the junior women’s section it will be Himachal Pradesh (C1) vs. WB (F1) and Delhi (D1) vs. Uttarakhand (E1).
A separate loser’s knockout tournament will also begin from tomorrow for all the lower pool teams that failed to qualify to the main draw.
Results
Men
1) Himachal Pradesh (Sahil Bali 22, Rishab 15) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Akashvir 19, Jaskirat Singh 13, Pranav 12) 73-60 [20-15; 19-10; 12-20; 22-17]
2) Gujarat (Shahzad 31, Samjaysinh 12) bt Puducherry (AR Murali 19, Aniruddha 14) 78-66 [26-23; 11-9; 24-22; 17-10]
3) Maharashtra (Kalbhor 21, Sandhu 18) bt Karnataka (Sachin 22, Sawkin 16) 83-76 [19-15; 19-18; 20-19; 25-27]
4) Madhya Pradesh (Shubham 27, Himanshli 18)bt Chhattisgarh (Rajat 14, Rajesh 13, Shiv Kumar 13) 72-59 [19-11; 22-17; 17-21; 14-10]
5) Punjab (Gurwinder Singh Gill 17, Arjun 17) bt Orissa (Aditya Pradhan 13, Sahid Khan 12) 116-45 [35-11; 29-8; 25-14; 27-12]
Women
1) Maharashtra (Sruthi 24, Rutuja 9) bt Haryana (Suman 24, Bharti 22) 63-56 [10-16; 18-15; 16-12; 19-13]
2) Odisha (Urbashi 21, Jayashree 18)bt Jammu & Kashmir (Pearl Sharma 11, Mamta Mishra 11) 65-27 [28-8; 14-6; 8-9; 15-4]
3) Karnataka (Bhandavya 42, Lopamudra 13) bt Tamil Nadu (Hemalatha 13, Srividya 12) 88-65 [31-17; 25-16; 18-16; 14-16]
4) Gujarat (Tulika Bisht 23) bt Puduchery (Pratyusha 10, Suganya 9)47-23 [8-7; 9-2; 12-10; 18-4]
5) Uttarakhand (Tanaz Shergil 15, Palakh Sharma 10) bt Goa (Rachel 12, Afran 11) 44-42 [12-11; 12-10; 12-3; 8-18]
6) West Bengal (Rashmi 23, Steffy Jose 15) bt Chandigarh (Akshita 22, Kensiya 13) 74-55 [23-14; 14-13; 14-13; 23-15]
Men
1) West Bengal (Anka Saha 29, Raghav Saigal 25, Sagan Joshi 23) bt Chandigarh (Naveen 21, Deepak Garg 12, Harkirat Singh 10) 89-58 [28-11; 12-22; 25-14; 24-11]
Women
1) Kerala (Arathi 21, Poojamol 12)bt Maharashtra (Sruthi 17, Ishwari 17) 74-58 [20-8; 15-13; 13-16; 26-21]
2) Uttar Pradesh (Barkha S 29, Garima 22, Preeti Kumari 21)bt Tamil Nadu (Sreevidya 33, Hemalatha 19) 89-83 [30-11; 17-30; 19-19; 23-23]
3) West Bengal (Rupkatha 16, Pratyusha 10) bt Bihar (Steffy Jose 4) 61-11 [13-4; 12-2; 16-3; 20-2]