Authoritative win for Punjab Police

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 30. Defending champion Punjab Police qualified for the semifinals with an authoritative 98-74 victory over Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) after leading 45-28 at halftime in a group `A' league match of the 29th Master Prithvi Nath Sharma memorial basketball tournament at the Master Prithvi Nath Stadium, Ajmal Khan Park, here on Sunday evening.

The one-sided nature of the contest was, of course, a disappointment for the holiday crowd, that thronged the venue, but Punjab Police compensated to a greater extent with its fine combination of skill and power as it outwitted ONGC. The latter ended its campaign without a win.

Skipper Parminder Singh was a towering source of strength for the Punjab team under the ring, and he enjoyed his role with a fine display of rebound reaction and remarkable shooting. He had good support from Gagnesh Kumar, Parminder Singh jr., Harminder Sinh, Pritpal Singh and Gursharanjit Singh.

The Punjab team did ease after the second quarter, allowing the bench to get a feel of the competition, resting the main players. It was thus no surprise that ONGC capitalised on the situation in the last quarter to take its tally from 42 to 74 in that phase.

Punjab Police had earlier beaten TISCO and Andhra Pradesh also with big margins to announce its readiness for the knock-out matches ahead.

On Saturday night, Services caused a flutter by stopping last year's runner-up Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai, in its track with a 82-71 triumph, in group `B'. Gagandeep Singh brought about a twist in the fortunes as he turned the match around in the fourth quarter with four successive three-pointers. Services had trailed 40-42 at halftime, and it raced to the finish in an exciting encounter.

The Delhi girls put up a brave show but could not stop the experienced FACT team from Kerala from scoring a 49-46 victory. The teams were locked 24-24 at the end of the second quarter, but the Kerala team showed its class through its skipper Binu Raju and A. Sindhu, and pulled through, after being teased till the finish when it was tied 42-42, with seconds ticking away on the clock.

V.J. Ani also rose to the occasion in the climax with vital points that clinched the issue for FACT, which was recording its second successive triumph following the comfortable victory over the Bhilai Steel Plant.

With Western Railway also having scored two wins from as many matches, the picture was clear in the girls section with regard to the final qualifiers from the four-member league. Thus, it would only be a prelude to the final when FACT takes on the might of Western Railway in its last league match.

lThe results: Men: Punjab Police 98 (Parminder Singh 21, Swaraj Singh 18, Harminder Singh 17, Parminder Singh jr. 17, Gagnesh Kumar 16) beat ONGC 74 (Suresh Kumar 28, Nishant Kumar 16, Anup Minz 15, Dinesh Kumar 11).

TISCO 85 (Des Raj 28, Jaldeep Dhaliwal 15, Riazuddin 15, Vinay 13, Wasim Khan 12) beat ONGC 54 (Nishant Kumar 33).

Services 82 (Peter 18, Phool Singh 16, Gagandeep 14, Dilip 13) beat IOB, Chennai 71 (Robinson 23, Harihara Sudan 12, Swaminathan 12, Chandrashekhar 10, Sridhar 10).

Western RAilway 85 (Ranjit 14, Rajesh Yadav 13) beat Prithvi Nath Club 48 (Sandeep Singh 24, Man Singh 11).

Women: FACT, Kerala, 49 (Binu Raju 16, A. Sindhu 14, V.J. Ani 10) beat Delhi 46 (Prabhjot Gill 20, Shymol Jacob 11).

Western Railway 88 (Arnika Gurjar 19, Lincy Joseph 17, Shanti 15, Lovita 12) beat Delhi 58 (Prabhjot Gill 23, Rameshwari 22).

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Section  : Sport
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