Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051209291800.htm

Sport - Basketball

Karimnagar boys win a thriller

Special Correspondent

JAGTIAL: Karimnagar boys staved off a late fightback by Visakhapatnam in a nail-biting 34-33 finish to their Group E match of the AP junior inter-district basketball championships at the District Sports Authority (DSA) mini stadium here on Thursday.

At half-time, the host was comfortably ahead 21-9, but the port district bridged the gap to 22-30 in the third quarter. Until then, the home side's presence was all pervading in the rival D, that featured some flashy forays. Karimnagar was quick to regroup in defence too, making it hard for the visitor to penetrate its opponent's semi-circle.

For Vizag, Sunil found the way `out,' resorting to shooting three-pointers, of which he had four in a personal tally of 13. The team's failing lay perhaps in its inability to combine well in the frontline, in contrast to the host's varied and sustained assault.

The results:

Boys: Group B: Ranga Reddy 35 (Praveen 14) bt Chittoor 25 (G. Anil 12, Kiran 8); Kurnool 28 (Avinash 11, Mansoor 8) bt Chittoor 8.

Group C: East Godavari 57 (Swamy 14, R. Suresh 14, Venkat 11) bt Krishna 48 (Nagaraju 11, B.S. Kiran 10, B. Arun Kumar 8).

Group D: Nizamabad 26 (T. Sharath 18) bt Medak 1; Nizamabad 21 bt Khammam 17 (Srinivas Babu 8);

Group E: Vizag 30 (Nageshwar Rao 13, K. Ramchand 8) bt Warangal 29 (N. Yakaiah 20); Karimnagar 37 (Venkatesh 13, Malliah 8) bt Warangal 19 (M. Yakaiah 10); Vizag 25 bt Adilabad 10; Vizag 23 bt Mahabubnagar 18 (Md. Mastan 9); Mahabubnagar 23 (Md. Zameer 9) bt Adilabad 7; Karimnagar 34 (Arvind 12, Arun Teja 10) bt Vizag 33 (Sunil 13, Nageshwar Rao 8).

Girls: Group A: Hyderabad 42 (P. Madhuri 10, K. Sandhya 8) bt Warangal 8; Hyderabad 27 (Prakruthi 7) bt Karimnagar 7.

Group B: Kurnool 26 (Sandhya 10, Saritha 7) bt Chittoor 13 (Karthika 8); Kurnool 21 (Prathyusha 10, Padmavathi 9) bt Krishna 17 (Aliya 7).

Vizag district meet

At Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam Table Tennis Association will conduct the district championships at the DSA Indoor Stadium, Pandurangapuram on May 13 and 14.

Entries close on May 12 and should be sent to N. Ramesh, MIG 21, Sector V, MVP Colony. For details, contact 9440319376 or 2705392.