Tamil Nadu retains title in style

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, JAN. 12. It turned out to be a no contest. Tamil Nadu, with an exhibition of class and confidence, retained its hold on the Todd Memorial Trophy for men with a flattering 111-66 margin against Indian Railways, as the curtains came down on the 51st Senior National basketball championship at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Coach A.D. Sendhureshwaran, sporting a big smile, said ``we worked on a strategy and stuck to it. I cannot single out any one player. The entire team played like one. And this win is all the more praiseworthy, for it's all the more difficult to maintain a position once you reach it''. He had guided the team to the pedestal after taking charge a month before the Delhi Nationals in 1999.

The Tamil Nadu Basketball Association (TNBA) chairman A.N. Dyaneshwaran's spontaneous announcement of Rs. 10,000 for each member of the team was welcomed with a joyous cheer and chairing of the coach for a victory lap.

If there was one team in the Nationals that showed professionalism, it was Tamil Nadu. No matter who the opponent was, the side led by the mercurial S. Gopinath, deservingly voted the `most valuable player', attacked in waves. Speed was its forte and backed by a conversion percentage that loomed well above the average, there was little the rivals could do. Rajasthan though proved it otherwise inflicting a rare defeat in the league stage, that gave holder the wake up call.

Railways had got the better off Tamil Nadu the last time the two teams clashed in a National final at Ernakulam in 93-94. Today Tamil Nadu not only avenged that defeat, but also crushed the aspirations of a squad that had no inkling from where the next sally would come from.

Gopinath with his inimitable style and speed set the tone for Tamil Nadu's flying start. Robinson was at hand to convert the first three baskets in a row and the trend was set. Sridhar and Moses Jeevanathan then took over and in no time the scoreboard read 13-2.

Railways if one thought had an answer to the brilliance, it never came about. Veteran Ramkumar found his long shots coming off the rim and with Renjith and Ashok too unable to convert the chances, the writing was on the wall. With TN increasing the tempo and finding the hoop at will, the derailment was set in motion.

The seven-foot plus Md Ishlauddin, baulked effectively by Shabeer Ahmed and Robinson, could do nothing to stop the slide and neither the induction of captain Vishal nor shooter Sudhir Hooda proved enough to change the course of the match for Railways.

If outside shooting proved Railways' undoing, TN had no such hiccups. Moses and Sridhar found the basket from both far and near and with Gopinath slicing through the thin defence that Railways could offer, the holders were 27-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Mahendra Singh with a couple of three-pointers did manage to give respectability to the Railway scoreline in the second quarter but with a healthy lead, Sendhureshwaran could afford to `rest' his trump-card Gopinath.

The recovery that one expected from the Railways never materialised. If TN had the bench strength to fill in the role effectively, the Railway bench only floundered deeper. It was only the advent of Dawood in the last quarter that bolstered the Railway scoring which however was too late for the rally.

TN in the last five minutes used all its substitutes, but then too there was no respite for the Railways as Sundar, Kannabiran and even Chandrashekaran scored at will to touch another century score. Earlier, Karnataka's valiant last ditch effort was just not enough to overhaul Punjab as the latter won 75-71 for the third place.

Karnataka's Murli Mohan with barely eight seconds for the final whistle earned two free-throws with the scoreline reading 71-72 and if converted would have given the host victory. But much to the disappointment of the teammates and fans, Murli missed both the shots and off the rebound Parminder (Sr) sunk a basket and the free-throw which followed the foul for a 75-71 win.

If Tamil Nadu men went right till the top, Tamil Nadu women justified some of the confidence it displayed on the eve of the tournament by pipping Madhya Pradesh 56-54 for the third spot.

M.P. looked better equipped with Poonam Singh and Savith Deshwal in good nick. But the fighting qualities of the TN girls, that was evident in the previous outings too, came through in the last quarter with Kaushika and Anitha leading the way. Down 22-29 at half time, TN caught up in the dying moments.

At 53-54 Vinaya converted one of the two free-throws. But off the second the lanky Vidya Sridharan collected the rebound and converted to the joy of the supporters to clinch a 56-54 victory.

Ivy Cherian of Railways was voted most valuable women player of the championship. Orissa was adjudged the best disciplined team and awarded the Kalinga Trophy.

lThe results:

Men: Final: Tamil Nadu 111 (Robinson 25, Moses Jeevanathan 15, Shivashankar 11, D. Swaminathan 10, Gopinath 7) bt Indian Railways 66 (Md Ishlauddin 17, Dawood 17, Mahendra Singh 9) HT: 56-25. Third place: Punjab 75 (Parminder (Sr) 33, Manpreet Singh 12) bt Karnataka 71 (Murli Mohan 24, Stalin 14, Basavaraj 5) HT: 42-34.

Men's (Semifinals): Railways 88 (Ram Kumar 23, Renjith 20, Ashok 16, Mohammed Ishlauddin 14) bt Punjab 70 (Parminder (Sr) 19, Singh Swaraj 15, Parminder (Jr) 12, Preetinder Singh 8) (ht: 44- 26).

Women: Third place: Tamil Nadu 56 (Vidya Sridharan 17, Kaushika 13, Anitha 12) bt Madhya Pradesh 54 (Poonam Singh 23, Savitha Deshwal 18, Seema Singh 8) HT: 22-29.

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