Host Karnataka succumbed to its second defeat in the men's section of the Senior national basketball championship, after a 84-73 loss to Delhi here on Monday.
Delhi's Gopal Ram dominated his smaller opponents to take 33 points, and was ably supported by point guard Parvin Davon (22 pts). The duo guided their side to its first victory in three outings so far.
Karnataka received an early setback when India international Arvind Arumugam took an elbow to the face, in the second-quarter. Arumugam required six stitches above his left eye and took no further part in the contest. His teammate Anil Kumar impressed with his athleticism, but a 24-point return was not enough on the day.
In another fixture, a pitched battle between Punjab and defending champion Uttarakhand finished with the former emerging a 65-57 winner. Burly centre Gagandeep Singh (16 pts, 13 rebounds) was unstoppable under the ring, while a charged-up Gurvinder Gill also had a good outing, scoring 13 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. The action was physical, yet remained without any malicious intent or untoward incidents.
In the women's section, an all-round show from Railways helped the powerhouse shut out Tamil Nadu 96-71. The two units were evenly matched until half-time, before Railways broke free. N. Navneetha (19 pts, 14 rebounds), D. Rajapriya (16 pts), Shruthi Menon (13 pts) and Smruthi Radhakrishnan (11 pts) combined well to wreck havoc in the Tamil Nadu defence. Railways have now won both its league matches, justifying its status as genuine title contender.
The results:
Men:
TN 73 (Aravind Annadurai 22, Pratham Singh 16, Rikin Pethani 14) bt Kerala 46 (Jishnu Niar 14, Jomon Jose 11); UP 65 (Bobby 17, F. Abishek 14) bt J&K 42 (Shalinder 13, Iqbal 10); Chhattisgarh 85 (P. Rajesh 16, K. Shiv Kumar 16, Dinesh Mishra 11) bt Puducherry 45 (Poovanan 14); WB 74 (S. Joshi 18, M. Kaswan 17, A. Singh 14) bt Jharkhand 33; Punjab 65 (Gagandeep Singh 16, Gurvinder Gill 13) bt Uttarakhand 57 (Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 18, Trideep Rai 12); Delhi 84 (Gopal Ram 33, Parvin Davon 22, Diwakar Sharma 10) bt Karnataka 73 (Anil Kumar 24, Sashi Kumar 13, Sanil Sashi 12).
Women:
Railways 96 (N. Navneetha 20, D. Rajapriya 16, Shruthi Menon 13, Smruthi Radhakrishnan 11) bt TN 71 (Rajini Peter 19, Varshanandhini 16, Adhirai 13); Kerala 57 (P.S. Jeena 16, Stephy Nixon 12) bt MP 31; Chhattisgarh 72 (Poonam Chaturvedi 23, Saranjeet Kaur 17, Sangeeta Kaur 11) bt Maharashtra 45 (Sangeeta 13, Shireen Limaye 10, Manisha Dange 10); Delhi 70 (Prashanti Singh 20, Raspreet Kaur 20, Pratima Singh 12) bt Punjab 56 (Karamjeet Kaur 19, Kirandeep Kaur 13, Nirmali Kaur 10).
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