Sport - Sports : General

Kottayam girls retain title

— Photo: H. Vibhu

THE CHAMPIONS: The Kottayam girls’ team, which retained the girls’ under-19 basketball title on Saturday.

CHALAKUDY: Girls from the Mount Carmel School are watched very closely. They are so good that even people from Chennai and Mumbai come to see them.

We’re talking about the basketball players from the Kottayam School which has produced some of the country’s best players, including Indian captain Geethu Anna Jose, who was the top-scorer in the last Asian Championship, and the bright young talent Ashey Mathew, who was lured to Chennai’s St. Joseph’s College of Engineering a few months ago. Talent hunters keep a close eye on the school talent at every major event.

Kottayam, virtually the Mount Carmel School team, whipped Kannur 47-20 to retain the under-19 girls’ basketball title in the 52nd Kerala State School Games at the Carmel School, here on Saturday.

Kannur’s stars came mainly from the Cherupushpa School, another leading basketball nursery in the State, but Kottayam was too strong for its rival.

“We’ve never lost the title after the under-19 section came into being in 2003,” said Biju D. Theman, the Mount Carmel coach. Mount Carmel keeps attracting young basketball hopefuls year after year. Like Anila Augustine who came from Kannur and Jane Mercella George who landed from Mumbai.

“Not only is our school good in basketball, it is good in academics too,” said Anila.

Parents and players find the combination very attractive. “Our basketballers train for about two hours every day but since they go for tournaments often, they are given special coaching by their teachers,” said Biju Theman.

“That’s why they all want to join Mount Carmel. And the teachers, parents and sisters at the school support the game very well,” he added.

Thrissur, with eight of its 12 players from Irinjalakuda’s Don Bosco School, defeated Kannur 52-33 and completed a hat-trick of triumphs in boys’ basketball, while Kannur boys and Ernakulam girls emerged champions in volleyball.

Malappuram, Kerala’s top nursery in football, blanked Ernakulam 2-0 and won the football title with Sudheesh (18th minute) and Zahir (45th) scoring the goals.

The results (all u-19): Basketball: Boys: Final: Thrissur 52 (Asif Ashraf 17, Shebin 14, Amit Sebastian 10) bt Kannur 33 (Lijo 13, Dimil 11). Girls: Final: Kottayam 47 (Anila Augustine 16, Jane Mercella 14, Sona M. Saji 14) bt Kannur 20. Third place: Thrissur.

Volleyball: Boys: Final: Kannur bt Kozhikode 25-18, 25-23. Third place: Ernakulam. Girls: Final: Ernakulam bt Kozhikode 25-8, 25-21. Third place: Kottayam.

Football: Boys: Final: Malappuram 2 (Sudheesh 18, Zakir 45) bt Ernakulam 0.

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