Sport - Basketball

Kerala, Tamil Nadu in super league

KOCHI: Defending champion Kerala and Tamil Nadu along with Karnataka and Orissa topped their respective groups and entered the super league stage of the eighth all-India BSNL basketball tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Wednesday.

Kerala defeated Gujarat 39-15 in its last Group ‘A’ league encounter while Tamil Nadu brushed aside Madhya Pradesh 76-34 in Group ‘B’. In other prominent group games, Orissa defeated Jammu & Kashmir 60-24 and Karnataka crushed MTNL Delhi 83-24.

The results (league): Group A: Kerala 39 (Aravindhakshan 16, G. Mahesh 12) bt Gujarat 15 (G. I. Jadeja 10).

Group B: Tamil Nadu 76 (A. Saghyaselvan 17, C. Gokulakrishnan 16, R. Delhi Raj 12, C. Mohan Raj10) bt Madhya Pradesh 34 (A.B. Tigga 14); Punjab 47 (Praveen Kumar Sareen 19, Bahadur Pal Singh 10, Pradeep Kumar 10) bt MTNL, Mumbai 20 (G. S. Ghag 10). Group C: Orissa 60 (Shashi Kanta Mohanti 19, Amaresh Patra 13, G. Ravikumar 10) bt Jammu & Kashmir 24 (Satyajit Sharma 10, Harbans Singh 10); West Bengal 84 (Rajender Kumar 13, Debashish Saha 12) bt UP East 14; Orissa 59 (Shashi Kanta Mohanti 22, Saroj Kumar Behra 10) bt Himachal Pradesh 43 (Sunny Kumar 15, Divya Prakash 14, Jagajivan Ram 10).

Group D: Karnataka 83 (Sayed Ajmal Mujahid 29, P. Naresh 12, Onkara Murthy 10) bt MTNL, Delhi 24 (Tejvir Singh 10); Bihar 43 (Raymond Osta 23) bt Harayana 3; Bihar 16 (Raymond Osta 10) bt MTNL, Delhi-11; MTNL, Delhi 39 (Tejvur Singh 27) bt Harayana 18 (Arijit 10).

The Sr. Redempta memorial all-Kerala inter-collegiate women’s basketball tournament begins at the St. Xavier’s College court, Aluva, on Thursday. Thrissur’s St. Mary’s College will meet Alphonsa (Pala) in the tournament opener.

K. A. Muhammed, Managing Director, TCC, Udyogamandal, will inaugurate the two-day tournament on Thursday afternoon. Sr, Percy, St. Xavier’s College Principal, will preside over the opening function. — Principal Correspondent

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