Date:09/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/09/stories/2004080902181500.htm

Sport - Basketball

Indian Army lifts Magnolia Trophy

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, AUG. 8. Indian Army defeated Indian Overseas Bank 81-66 in the final of the IOB-Ace Club Magnolia Trophy All-India men's basketball tournament at the Montfort indoor stadium, Santhome here on Sunday. Indian Army collected Rs. 30,000 as prize money.

The final drew a good crowd, but the local fans were disappointed when IOB messed up its early game by trailing 4-18, missing seven shots in a row. For the second day in succession the Bank team's rebounding left much to be desired. When the Armymen tightened up the zone defence the local team floundered under pressure missing a series of shots. Perhaps for the first time IOB missed Robinson, who is playing in Iran, Shabeer and Sridhar, who have joined ONGC.

IOB's defence formation was very weak. Chandrasekhar, Swaminathan, Sukhavaneshwaran and Shivashankar were all there, but the similar effect of Robinson-Shabeer combination in controlling the rebound was missing. Phool Singh pulverised the IOB defence. Even Tinu Joseph and Peter John began to hit the hoop confidently.

Indian Army's coach S.K. Raja did not field his main ball handler Sambaji Kadam and he was making the attack work with Nagaraj. He was giving IOB a run for the money with his quick drive across the court and passes to Phool Singh and Tinu.

IOB's ball handler Gopinath had to sit on the bench and barring a brief period, IOB did not show any urge to bridge the gap quickly. Too many basket misses and too weak defence led to IOB trailing 24-44 at half time.

However, IOB managed to reduce the lead to just eight points (47-55) at one stage in the third quarter when Chandrasekhar, who came back, went on a lay-up spree.

Indian Army never relaxed and kept the rival under pressure right through with quick pass, steady basketting and close man to man marking and defence.

ONGC, Dehradun, finished third, beating Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, 106-65.

Mr. R. Krishnan, General Manager, IOB, gave away the prizes.

The results: Final: Indian Army 81 (Phool Singh 23, Peter John 18, Tinu Joseph 17) bt IOB 66 (Swaminathan 17, Shivashankar 14, Chandrasekhar 16). Third place: ONGC 106 (Sridhar 20, Desh Raj 16, Rajinder 20, Shabeer 20) bt DLW 65 (Sandeep Yadav 11, Mihir Pandey 13, Settu 12).