The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : IOB begins with a bang

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Thursday, May 26, 2005

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IOB begins with a bang

Sports Reporter

International star Sivashankar was the master of the first quarter

Coimbatore: Defending champion Indian Overseas Bank (Chennai) opened its campaign on a splendid note hammering a hapless Kerala Presidents Five (Thrissur) 71-43 in the 47th all-India basketball tournament for the Nachimuthu Gounder Cup for men at the VOC Park Corporation Sports Complex courts here on Wednesday.

Till Tuesday night, the match looked doubtful as the Kerala team failed to confirm its participation. However, to the surprise of the organisers and the spectators the Kerala men were at the courts on time for the match.

But, that did not upset the calculations of the IOB men. They played like a well-oiled unit to topple the rival in no time.

The Chennai team, eyeing its third all-India title this season, played an attacking game right from the word go. International star Sivashankar was the master of the first quarter.

He pulverised the Kerala defence time and again to reach the ring with ease. The first 10 minutes alone saw the agile forward collect 15 points for his team.

In the next two quarters the situation remained the same for the Thrissur team, which boasted of young blood. The team played an equally fast game, but lacked the experience when it came to scoring points.

Nibin J. Jose, Abilash and V. Vackachen showed fine understanding upfront, but that wasn't sufficient enough to upset IOB, which played a cool and cautious last quarter to seal the match.

Earlier, strong contenders Indian Army (Delhi) scored a comfortable 69-13 win over Armed Police (Chennai), while EME (Bhopal) drubbed Range Police (Coimbatore) 83-29.

The results: League: IOB (Chennai) 71 (Sivashankar 24, Mehir Pandey 11) bt Kerala Presidents Five (Thrissur) 43 (Nibin J. Jose 16, Abilash 11, V. Vackachen 11); EME (Bhopal) 83 (Hawa Singh 20, Lijo George 13) bt Range Police (Coimbatore) 29 (Saravanan 10); Indian Army (Delhi) 69 (Jaswant Singh 22, Azad Khan 12) bt Armed Police (Chennai) 13.

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