Punjab (blue) takes on Uttar Pradesh (orange).

Punjab (blue) takes on Uttar Pradesh (orange).

Chandigarh, 9th October 2014: Defending champions for the boys, team Delhi, remained unbeaten in the 31st Youth National Basketball Championship here in Chandigarh. The Delhi boys used their size and height to their advantage beating the Kerala boys by a 16-point margin, 75-59, today morning. The Maharashtra boys set the tournament team scoring record, thus far, scoring 100 points against Andhra Pradesh, who managed to put up only 72 points. Multiple players for Maharashtra scored in double figures, with Mearaj and Talha top scoring with 27 and 23 points respectively. The day witnessed two close one-point games between two sets of neighbouring states – Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Bihar beat Jharkhand 41-40, while Uttar Pradesh held off Rajasthan to pick up a 68-67 win.

There were no real surprises in the girls matches, with the stronger teams picking up easy victories. Tamil Nadu handed West Bengal an embarrassing defeat, beating them by a margin of 53 points with a 64-11 win. India senior women’s team coach Francisco Garcia was spotted after the match congratulating some of the Tamil Nadu players. Kerala picked up an easy win against Uttar Pradesh on a balanced scoring effort, beating them 66-22, while Maharashtra (57-24) and Delhi (53-26) cruised to easy victories against Punjab and Puducherry respectively.

A complete list of results of the matches held on 9th October 2014 up to 5.30 p.m. is as follows:

Girls:

  1. Kerala (Nimmi George 13, Aswathi J. 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Pooja Yadav 10, Shreyasi Vats 5) 66-22 (21-2, 14-4, 18-5, 13-11)
  2. Tamil Nadu (Ishwarya J. 14, Nishanti M. 10) bt West Bengal (Pramita Ghosh 8) 64-11 (21-4, 11-0, 9-4, 23-3)
  3. Maharashtra (Shruti Sherigar 17, Rasika Pandge 9) bt Punjab (Sakshi Sharma 8, Prabhjot Kaur 6) 57-24 (22-9, 16-0, 8-2, 11-13)
  4. Himachal Pradesh (Sonika 13, Sakshi 8) bt Bihar (Chairisha 12, Neelima 7) 39-23 (7-3, 12-5, 9-4, 11-11)
  5. Delhi (Simran 11, Shrishti 10, Gurkiran 10) bt Puducherry (A. Sandhya 8, S. Samyuktha 6) 53-26 (13-4, 18-4, 14-12, 8-6)
  6. Assam (Rima 15, Pushpanjali 13) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Pearl 19, Sarbjeet 10) 34-32 (15-10, 6-7, 8-4, 5-11)
  7. Gujarat (Arti G. 11, Saiesha Shetty 8) bt Goa (Rachel Rapose 8, Rose Reha A. 8) 32-26 (7-4, 9-5, 8-7, 8-10)

Boys:

  1. Gujarat (Steve 19) bt Goa (Nayaab 19) 58-46 (11-12, 12-14, 21-12, 14-8)
  2. Tamil Nadu (Prakhar S. 8, Vishal K. 12, Shrey P. 14) bt Uttarakhand (Vaibhav G. 15) 57-24 (22-6, 18-4, 9-16, 8-8)
  3. Delhi (Sombir S. 28, Hansraj H. 19) bt Kerala (Sudarsan T. 14, Wilson E. 10, Jacob J.J. 10) 75-59 (16-17, 12-16, 27-10, 20-16)
  4. Bihar (Govind 10, Abhinandan 10) bt Jharkhand (Attavl 16, Rahul 10) 41-40 (6-8, 16-11, 2-8, 17-13)
  5. Maharashtra (Mearaj 27, Talha 23) bt Andhra Pradesh (Neeraj 26, Siva Prasad 14) 100-72 (26-14, 21-15, 26-23, 27-20)
  6. Uttar Pradesh (Dheeraj M. 29) bt Rajasthan (Abbas Ali 22) 68-67 (14-7, 25-15, 18-27, 11-18)

A complete list of results of the matches held after 5.30 p.m. on 8th October 2014 is as follows:

Girls:

  1. Chhattisgarh (Mahima 31, Gulabsha Ali 13) bt West Bengal (Paramita Gosh 21, Swagata Mal 8) 90-37 (22-18, 25-4, 24-8, 19-7)
  2. Andhra Pradesh (M.L. Sravanti 19) bt Odisha (Urbashi 15) 58-42 (11-7, 11-14, 13-12, 13-9)
  3. Delhi (Gurkiran 16) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Aashima 5) 28-12 (6-3, 4-1, 8-4, 10-4)

Boys:

  1. Rajasthan (Abbas Ali 22, Yogendra Singh 22) bt Madhya Pradesh (Rishabh S. 15, Rajendra S. 14) 81-69 (30-19, 23-13, 21-16, 7-21)
  2. Punjab (Rahul Mehla 38, Ajit 28) bt Uttar Pradesh (Dheeraj M. 15, Gopal Yadav 14) 80-53 (12-13, 20-13, 22-18, 26-9)
  3. Chandigarh (Amit 43, Gary 24) bt West Bengal (Shaw A.K. 28, Shaw B. 23) 89-75 (13-17, 23-19, 25-23, 28-16)
  4. Himachal Pradesh (Kartik 11, Sahil 7) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Inderjeet 5, Nirbhay 4) 38-18 (10-2, 10-9, 14-2, 4-5)
  5. Odisha (Suman 18, Aftabuddin 14) bt Mizoram (Zorinsanga 22, Chuaudingliana 21) 66-61 (13-11, 15-17, 10-8, 18-20, OT 10-5)
  6. Assam (Akshay Das 15) bt Puducherry (Vinod 11) 53-26 (13-4, 14-7, 12-7, 14-8)

About the 31st Youth National Basketball Championship

The Youth National Basketball Championship is an annual basketball tournament for the U-17 teams of boys and girls from various states of the country. This year’s tournament, being the 31st edition, is taking place in Chandigarh from the 7th to the 14th of October, 2014. The tournament is being held under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and IMG-Reliance and is being conducted by the Chandigarh Basketball Association. There are 25 boys teams and 24 girls teams taking part in this year’s championship. Last year’s tournament, in the boys category, was won by team Delhi, with Rajasthan finishing runners up. In the girls category, team Kerala were last year’s winners and Tamil Nadu finished in second place.