17th AIAMBT Finals Live! ONGC vs Indian Air Force Men

The men’s final proceeded exactly along scripted lines, however much we’d like to dramatize it. ONGC had already beaten IAF earlier in the league stages. Going by past head to head matches between the two teams, a clear pattern emerges: an undersized IAF relies heavily on the play of its two internationals— the outside shooting of point guard Joginder Singh and the individual isolation play and fastbreaking ability of shooting guard Narender— to keep them in contention. However, by the end of the third quarter, a much more balanced, stronger and skilled ONGC attack keeps building its lead till the final buzzer. This is exactly what happened tonight as well. From positions 1 to 5, all of ONGC past and present internationals contributed in the win. Trideep Rai was money from long range, Vishesh was unstoppable in his imperious drives to the basket, small forward Yadwinder Singh continued to be a pest on the defensive end and forward Murali Krishna and Amrit Pal Singh dictated proceedings in the paint.

The winning teams, Southern Railway women and ONGC men, were awarded cash prizes of Rs 1,00,000/- each and the runners up, SECR Bilaspur women and IAF men, got Rs 50,000/-. The trophies, cash prizes and individual medals were distributed by Chief Guest Chanda Kochhar, CEO, ICICI Bank. It is to be noted that this tournament is named after her father, the late Professor Shri RM Advani who was the first Director of MNIT.

A shoutout to the MNIT student body for successfully administering the tournament from start to finish. The Advani Tournament is perhaps India’s only senior invitational basketball tournament that is completely managed by students.

Men Final Results

ONGC 76 (Trideep Rai 27, Amrit Pal Singh 17) bt Indian Air Force 61

Men Individual Awards

Tournament MVP-  Amrit Pal Singh, ONGC

Finals MVP- Trideep Rai, ONGC