National Basketball championship final: Railway women retain title after beating Kerala; Tamil Nadu men beat Railways

Baladhaneswar top scored for the Tamil Nadu with 17 points. He had good support from Pranav Prince, Jeevanathan and Aravind Kuma while Palpreet Singh top scored for Railways with 23 points.

Champion Railway women’s team in the National basketball championship in Ludhiana on Sunday.  | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Tamil Nadu beat Railways 72-67 in the final while Railway women retained their title outplaying Kerala 80-50 in the 73rd National basketball championship at the Guru Nanak Dev Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Tamil Nadu got off to a strong start and led 42-25 at half time. There was a better fight from Railways in the third quarter, but Tamil Nadu was able to assert itself and stay ahead, especially in the last quarter when Railways could score only seven points.

Baladhaneswar top scored for the Tamil Nadu with 17 points. He had good support from Pranav Prince, Jeevanathan and Aravind Kuma while Palpreet Singh top scored for Railways with 23 points.

Railway women were once again well served by the towering Poonam Chaturvedi as she top scored with 23 points. Pushpa Senthilkumar, Gulabsha Ali and Sruthi Aravind also played their part well for the champion team.

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The men’s and women’s champion teams were presented Rs. 5,00,000 each. The runners-up and the third placed teams were given Rs. 3,00,000 and Rs. 2,00,000 respectively.

Baladhaneswar of Tamil Nadu and Poonam Chaturvedi were adjudged the ‘most valuable players’ of their respective teams and would get a car each.

The results:

Men (final): Tamil Nadu 72 (Baladhaneswar 17, Pranav Prince 11, Jeevanathan 11, Aravind Kumar 10) bt Railways 67 (Palpreet Singh 23, Sahil Kalyan 13, Manik 13).

Third place: Punjab 71 (Nawaz Singh 19, Kanwar Gurbaj Singh 18) bt Delhi 65 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 19, Vishal Kumar Gupta 15, Shubham Tomar 11, Joginder Singh 10).

Women (final):Railways 80 (Poonam Chaturvedi 23, Pushpa Senthilkumar 15, Gulabsha Ali 11, Sruthi Aravind 10) bt Kerala 50 (Aneesha Cleetus 15, Susan Dloranteena 10, Sreekala 10).

Third place: Tamil Nadu 65 (K Sathya 21, Dofhana 12, Harima Sundari 10) bt Karnataka 54 (Varsha Nandini 22).