Date:02/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/02/stories/2007010204612200.htm

Sport - Basketball

Services upsets Railways

Kirti Patil

JAIPUR: Services played as a unit to prevail 69-56 over defending champion Railways to top the men's Group `A' Super League with an all-win record in the 57th National basketball championship at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium here on Monday.

Jairam Jat and Sambhaji Kadam plotted Railways' downfall with relentless attacks. Jairam top-scored with 22 points, while feeder Kadam played his part to perfection. Skipper Riyazuddin and Shiv Kumar scored 16 points each to boost Railways but were unable to stop Services from winning the game.

Railways equalised through Riyazuddin's three-pointer in the fourth quarter at 48-48, but Jairam and Phool Singh put Services ahead yet again. The two teams were then 54-53 before Services raced ahead. Railways needed to win this match to avoid a better-rated team in the quarterfinals.

Lucky loss

As luck would have it, Railways will now meet Punjab in a replay of last year's final, something the defending champion would welcome given Punjab's miserable show so far. Earlier in the day, Kerala defeated Delhi 89-73 to register its third win from four matches. In the process, Delhi was relegated to the qualifying league for the next Nationals following four losses.

Former champions Tamil Nadu weathered a resolute Rajasthan with a brilliant rally three minutes from close. With a vociferous crowd egging on the host team, Rajasthan made a good start and kept a handy lead for most part of the match. It led 25-21 in the first quarter and was 49-42 at halftime. Rajasthan opened the last quarter at 70-62 but Trideep Rai (24) and Mihir Pandey (22) ensured Tamil Nadu fought back. Tamil Nadu went ahead with three minutes left in the match and Sukaneshwar (26) provided the finishing touches for a 89-86 win.

The results:

Men: Super League: Group `A': Kerala 89 (Harish 25, Subhash Shenoy 19, Monish 11) bt Delhi 73 (Honey 19, Harvant 16, Prem 12); Services 69 (Jairam Jat 22, Phool Singh 11, Dilip Kumar 11, A. Babu 10) bt Railways 56 (Riyazuddin 16, Shiv Kumar 16, Jose Joy 11).

Group B: Punjab 75 (Dilawar Singh 31, Gagandeep 10, Damandeep 12) bt Karanataka 46 (Rosham 15); Tamil Nadu 89 (Mihir Pandey 22, Sukanneshwar 26, Trideep Rai 24) bt Rajasthan 86 (Gurvinder 18, Lokesh Yadav 18, Mod Singh 25).

Loser's knockout: Andhra Pradesh 93 (Shiva Reddy 24, Sanjay 20, Shikandar 18) bt Maharashtra 78 (Sanjay Solanki 17, Arun 17); Orissa 69 (Ashish 20, Ashok 15, Shashi 12) bt Himachal Pradesh 58 (Dilip 18, Alok 17, Vinay 10); Uttar Pradesh 80 (Abhishek 20, Rajneesh 18, Vikram 13, Santosh 11) bt Gujarat 56 (Nachiket Naik 13, Pelmani 10); Tripura 96 (Dinesh Kumar 11, Hari Gopal 11, Vinod Kumar 32) bt Chhattisgarh 87 (Surendra Kumar 34, R. S. Roy 10).

Women: Loser's knockout: Chandigarh 59 (Pushpa 23, Shweta 16, Santoshi 10) bt Orissa 52; Karnataka 61 (Rani A.N. 27, Nirupama K. 12) bt Jharkhand 37 (Meena Kumari 14).