Chhattisgarh Women and Tamil Nadu Men Crowned Champions of the 64th National Basketball Championship

The winning Chhattisgarh women’s side. Photo courtesy: Abhinav Jerath/BFI

Press Release/New Delhi, 5th March 2014: In an upset for the ages, Chhattisgarh women toppled Indian Railways 77-81 in the finals of the 64th National Basketball Championship for Men and Women here. This is the first time in the last ten years that Indian Railways has failed to win the Senior National championship. The last time they finished runners up was in the 2002 Senior Nationals when they lost to Delhi in the summit clash.

Indian Railways were leading 23-12 and 45-38 in the first and second quarter respectively. Chhattisgarh managed to reduce the lead to 4 points in the third quarter and then edged past the defending champions in the final minutes of the game. Kavita scored 25 points with 13 rebounds, Saranjeet Kaur 20, Bharti Netam 16 and Deepa L (three 3-pointers) finished with 11 points for the winning side. Anju Lakra scored 23, Geethu Anna Jose 17, Pushpa M 11 and Raja Priyadharshini added 11 to the Indian Railways total. (Relive play by play commentary here)

The Tamil Nadu Men’s team. Photo Courtesy: Abhinav Jerath/BFI.

In the men’s finals, Riken Pethani scored 22, Pratham Singh 18, S.Prasanna 15, Revi Vineeth scored 11 and Tamil Nadu beat Punjab 74-57 to lift the winning trophy. Palpreet Singh scored 19, Gurukripal Singh 12 and Amritpal Singh finished with 11 for Punjab. TN looked in total control from beginning to end of the match to seal the much deserved victory. Punjab, which had relied on explosive guard Ranbir Singh in the earlier matches, found him wanting in this crucial title game. (Relive play by play commentary here)

The winners have taken home Rs 150,000 while the first and second runners-up received Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 50,000, respectively. Rikin Pethani of Tamil Nadu and Kavita Kumari of Chhattisgarh were awarded the Harish Sharma Most Valuable Player Award.

The Harish Sharma Most Valuable Players Riken Pethani from TN (left) and Kavita from Chhattisgarh (right). Photos Courtesy: Abhinav Jerath/BFI.

The 64th National Basketball Championship, held at the Thyagaraj Stadium from 26th February to 5th March 2014 was organized by the Basketball Federation of India and supported by IMG-Reliance. In all 51 teams, 27 men and 24 women participated in the country’s top most competition played on League–cum–Knock-out basis. Top 10 teams of the previous year ranking are grouped in Pool A’ & B’ (Level I).

Results  5^th March 2014 Finals

Women

1. Chhattisgarh (Kavita 25, Saranjeet Kaur 20, Bharti Netam 16, Deepa L 11) bt Indian Railways (Anju Lakra 23, Geethu Anna Jose 17, Pushpa M 11, Raja Priyadharshani 11) 81-77 (12-23, 26-23, 22-19, 21-13)

Men

1. Tamil Nadu (Rikin Pethani 22, Pratham Singh 18, S.Prasanna 15, Revi Vineeth 11) bt Punjab (Palpreet Singh 19, Gurukripal Singh 12, Amritpal Singh 11) 74-57 (18-22, 19-8, 22-14, 15-13)

For 3^rd & 4^th Place

Men

1. Services (Gopal Ram 16, Narender Singh 13, Jai Ram 12, Manu Thomas 12, Vivekananda Das 8) bt Uttarakhand (Yadwinder Singh 15, Amritpal Singh 13, Dinesh Kumar 11) 82-54 (17-9, 25-16, 21-15, 19-14)

Women

1. Delhi (Prashanti Singh 22, Akansha Singh 15, Raspreet Sidhu 13, Pratima Singh 13, Sonia Ohliyan 10) bt Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 22, Krittika Divadkar 18, B.Sangeeta 10, Sona Saji 10) 79-66 (24-16, 17-20, 14-10, 24-20)

 5^th & 6^th Place

Men

1. Indian Railways (Prakesh Mishra 27, Vikram Parmar 16, Arjun Singh 10) bt Kerala (Nikhil KR 15, Basil Philip 15, Jijo Thankachan 14) 74-59 (25-13, 14-15, 16-14, 19-17)

Women

1. Punjab (Naima 27, Nirmal 14) bt Karnataka (Roshni 12, Kavita 7, Sagarika 6) 72-47 (24-12, 21-9, 14-16, 23-10)

7^th & 8^th Place

Men

1. Karnataka (Sanjay 26, Vishnu 20, Garish 10) bt Haryana (Balraj 12, Vikang 11, Vinay 11) 90-74 (27-21, 24-23, 19-14, 20-16)

Women

1. Punjab (Naima 27, Nirmal 14) bt Karnataka (Roshni 12, Kavita 7, Sagarika 6) 72-47 (24-12, 21-9, 14-16, 23-10)

9^th & 10^th Place

Men

1. Chhattisgarh (Kiranpal Singh 22, Sameer Rai 17, Rajesh 12, Manoj Singh 11) bt Rajasthan (Karman Khan 19, Prashant Singh 16, Sharad Dadhich 13) 75-62 (27-11, 7-15, 19-18, 22-18)

Women

1. Andhra Pradesh (Jincy Jose 19, M.Gayathri 14, P.U Madhulatha 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Radha Gour 13, Niharika Vertia 7) 60-25 (27-9, 8-3, 10-8, 15-5)