Punjab Police, Indian Railways continue to hold sway

By M.C. Raman

VISAKHAPATNAM, JULY 30. Punjab Police's domination in the Federation Cup basektball tournament continues and with this win the Punjab squad has emerged as the team of this decade.

Despite being on the decline, the champion side is still capable of powering its way to the title because of the presence of the towering Parminder Singh (Sr). Indian Army, kept out of the National championship and Cup titles for over a decade now, made its second attempt to ambush the rival in the tournament, but the Jalandhar team mixed its outside shooting with pivot game well to notch up its fourth consecutivte title victory at 73-57 at the Port indoor stadium here today.

Earlier, Indian Railways also found its touch to crush Kerala at 69-48 and maintain its long winning spree in the Cup. There is hardly any team in the women's section to challenge it seriously.

It is not the same Punjab Police of the early '90s when the team used to outpace every leading outfit in the country. It is also not the same Parminder Singh (Sr) who once used to maim every opposing team's defence. It is not the same delightful pair of Parminder Singh (Jr), who has put on more weight now, and Gagnesh kumar who used to move in tandem and come up with breathtaking shots. Yet, Punjab Police has not lost its magic touch.

The Armymen committed the same mistakes that the other teams did against Punjab Police earlier. Slackness in defence at any time can be disastrous against the Punjab players. Punjab Police doubles up as the State team for the National championship and as the club team for the Cup. So the players are able to find the rhythm quickly.

Like they did in the first group encounter, the Armymen applied full court press and kept Parminder (Sr) under check in the first half. The defending champion could manage only a slender 30-29 lead at half-time. Up to that stage Indian Army was very much in the game.

Peter John was shooting well. Ball handler Sambagi Kadam set a good pace and passed well. Thambi and Sweeto Francis were also basketing well. It looked an even contest then.

It was only after the break that Indian Army allowed Parminder (Sr) to break loose and the Police team surged to a 43- 31 lead. In this period it also controlled the rebounds well. Both Parminder (Sr) and Tajender Singh manged to bottle up Phool Singh. It took some time for the Army's pivot to score again. But by then the champion side was ahead by 10 points.

Under pressure, the Army shooters were spilling their shots. With neither outside basketing nor Phool's continuous contribution working, the Services champion slipped further down. A brief power failure and Indian Army's robust man-to-man defence, which sometimes resulted in serious fouls that went unnoticed by the referees, did not affect the defending champion.

Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai, finished third in the men's section, beating Vijaya Bank, Bangalore, 67-45.

In the women's section, too, it was the second confrontation between Indian Railways and Kerala. The first one in a pool match was far better, in the sense that Kerala really hustled the rival and even reduced the lead to just two baskets in the second half. It was a pretty tough game for the defending champion.

However, this time the Railways took more precaution and overpowered the rival with full court press. When Kerala's passing and quick drive were affected the team fell behind. There were not many long shots and the Railway players controlled the rebounds.

At the other end, Meenalatha was hitting the hoop from every angle. A rough and tough girl she withstood the jostling and baseketed steadily. Philomina and Arnika Gujjar were converting well from far. By half-time the Railways side was ahead 38-21. Railways' pivot Ivy Cherian left with five fouls. Still there was no let-up in the champion team's attack.

Midway through the second half, Railways took a commanding 20- point lead and Kerala faded away. Ambily Thomas fought hard. She was actually the livewire of the Kerala side. But Kerala failed with its long shots, leading to its disaster.

Andhra Pradesh finished third in the women's section, beating Tamil Nadu 60-50.

The results:

Men's final: Punjab Police 73 (Parminder Singh (Jr) 19, Parminder Singh (Sr) 24, Gagnesh Kumar 15) beat Indian Army 57 (Peter John 17, Phool Singh 17).

Third place: IOB 67 (Shabeer Ahmed 17, Gopinath 14, Hariharasudan 11) beat Vijaya Bank 45 (Murali Mohan 17, Austin 10).

Women's final: Indian Railways 69 (Philomina 12, Meenalatha 24, Arnika Gujjar 10) beat Kerala 48 (Ambily Thomas 18, Binu Cherian 10).

Third place: Andhra Pradesh 60 (Sofi Sam 21, Laiji 18, Sisily 10) beat Tamil Nadu 50 (Vidya Sridharan 14, Shyamala 15).

The Punjab Police team which won the men's title in the Federation Cup basketball tournament at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. (Standing from left): Lakhwinder Singh, Gurkripal Singh, Tejenderjit Singh, Mandeep Singh (coach), Gursharanjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Ganesh Kumar and Parminder Singh (Sr). (Kneeling): Swaraj Singh, Kulwant Singh, Parminder Singh (Jr), Prithpal Singh and Preetinder Singh. - Photos: K.R. Deepak

The Indian Railways team, winner of the women's title. (Standing from left): Meenalatha, Aparna Ghosh, Kareemullah (manager), Bhupendra Shahi (coach), R.D. Rathi (asst. coach), Arnika Gujar and Ivy Cherian. (Kneeling): Prabhjot Gill, Philomina Joseph, Shanti Saldanha, B.S. Shyla, Ranjini Jose, D.A. Nandhi and A. Padmaja.

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