Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002
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Basketball
By Our Sports Reporter
In the men's section, National champion Tamil Nadu also completed a hat-trick whipping Kerala 57-27, with the host coming up with just four baskets in the second half. ``We had predicted something like this,'' said the Tamil Nadu skipper A.D. Sukavaneshwar. International M.S. Shabeer (20 points) and P. Bhubalan (15) led the Tamil Nadu scoring, but with the host failing to put up a fight, Tamil Nadu took things easy. Coming back to the distaff side, though Kerala's winning margin appears big, it was Tamil Nadu which dominated for a major part of the match. The visitors began in a flurry. Fast and gutsy, the Tamil Nadu girls came up with some heady stuff. Brave interceptions, naughty steals, shrewd rebound collections and neat passing. All at a fast pace. ``We will win,' said the confident Tamil Nadu captain N. Shyamala a few hours before the big match. And the others in the teams first five - international Renjini Jose, M.Adhirai, S.Divya and ball-handler Sharmili P. Mathew - appeared determined to prove the captain right. Clearly, Tamil Nadus opening act rattled defending champion Kerala. Three quick baskets, with Tamil Nadus Renjini leading the star act, almost caught the host girls off guard. They could not keep up with the tempo. They took time to settle down. And they trailed Tamil Nadu for a major part of the match, though they managed to cut down the margin to just one point (half-time 27-28) by the break. But Tamil Nadu's heady dance had to stop somewhere, sometime. For this was not expected to be the script. And Kerala came up with the solution soon after the break. They harried the TN ace, Renjini Jose, and under pressure the tall lass fumbled. Her shooting became awry and her confidence dipped. And this clearly affected the teams morale, even as Kerala polished up its act. The turnaround came midway through the third quarter when Kerala took the lead at 37-36. And the small advantage was enough to boost the host's confidence as Ambily Thomas, centre P.Lajitha, captain Ligi George, shrewd P.V. Sandhya and the experienced ball-handler Binu Cherian went from strength to strength. Soon, Keralas lead grew to 50-36 as Tamil Nadu faded away. Kerala's Ambily Thomas (22 points) and Tamil Nadus Renjini Jose (16) topscored in the match. Mr. Ramesh Chennithala, MP, and Mr. Mammen Mathai, MLA, gave away the prizes The results: Women's final: Kerala 61 (Ambily Thomas 22, P. Lajitha 16, Binu Cherian 6) bt Tamil Nadu 47 (Renjini Jose 18, M. Adhirai 12, S.Divya 8, Sharmili P. Mathew 6, N. Shyamala 6). For third place: Sri Lanka 41 (Dhanuksha Wijesinghe 12, Premila Fernando 8, Inoka Sandamli 6, Sanduni Bollalage 7) bt Andhra Pradesh 36 (A.B.Binu 13, Jetty Jose 7, M. Sindhu 9). Men's final: Tamil Nadu 57 (M.S. Shabeer Ahmed 20, P. Shivashanker 15, P.Bhubalan 15, C. Mohan Raj 9) bt Kerala 27 (Murali Krishna 11, Subash Shenoy 5, Priyesh Jacob 7). For third place: Karnataka 69 (Srinivas Gowda 23, Murali Mohan 11, B.S. Gautham 6, Uma Shanker 16) bt Andhra Pradesh 42 (J. Pankaj 9, Nihal Yadav 10). Monday's results (semifinals): Men: Kerala 54 (Bobit Mathew 7, Subash Shenoy 18, Muralikrishna 10, Priyesh Jacob 7) bt Andhra Pradesh 47 (Vinay Yadav 13, S. Prasad 13, P.B. Srinath 8). Women: Tamil Nadu 58 (Renjini Jose 23, N. Shyamala 20) bt Sri Lanka 46 (Dhanushka Wijesinghe 20, Inoka Sandanli 10).
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