After shocking holder Tamil Nadu the other day, Punjab came back fresh to defeat last year’s runner-up Services 74-65 to emerge the men’s champion of the 69th senior National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports Complex courts here on Saturday.
Services was certainly a better side but Punjab outplayed it on height and some steady firing. Arshpreet Singh Bhullar and Jagdeep Singh excelled both from the inside and outside. They hardly missed anything while the towering Amritpal Singh made a huge difference. He guarded the ring impeccably and Services found it hard to get past him. He even converted a few baskets with ease.
Punjab enjoyed an edge in the first three quarters but Services fought back in the final quarter by taking a 62-60 lead. Its men were quick on their feet and attacked from both flanks as never before.
At this stage the pressure was beginning to tell on Punjab but a quick time out call by coach Gurkirpal Dhillon changed the complexion of the game. Strategies were planned to apply the brakes on Services’ forwards and they did exactly that to put the team back on the victory track.
Happy times: The Indian Railways women celebrate retaining the title.
It was Punjab’s seventh title. The last time it won was at Chennai in 2011.
Earlier, Indian Railways registered an 88-71 win over Tamil Nadu for the women’s crown. It is its 29th title and came with a lot of sweat.
Tamil Nadu, with a bunch of young college girls, played freely from the start. They knew they were up against an experienced side but played without fear.
The first two quarters were evenly fought but the Railways women made best use of their rich experience to thwart Tamil Nadu, which played lively but lost a bit of gas towards the end.
Railways had a better bench as well and that helped the team last the whole distance. Coach Satyabrata Nayak agreed that it was experience that helped it sail through.
“The Tamil Nadu girls are very young and I was impressed with the way they played. It’s a real good team,” he said.
Tamil Nadu’s coach Delhiraj was pleased with the effort. “I am satisfied with their gritty performance and I cannot ask for anything more,” he said.
Punjab’s Amritpal Singh and Tamil Nadu’s S. Pushpa got the Most Valuable Player award in their respective categories.
The results: Men: Final: Punjab 74 (Arshpreet Singh Bhullar 24, Amritpal Singh 15, Jagdeep Singh 19) bt Services 65 (Joginder Singh 26, Isaac Thomas 11).
Third place: Tamil Nadu 84 (Muin Bek 20, Justin 19, Hariram 17, Jeevanantham 10, Rikin Pethani 10) bt Karnataka 65 (Rahul Sarathy 16, Jitender 17, Shashi Kumar 12).
Women: Final: Indian Railways 88 (Raja Priyadarshini 23, Navaneetha 16, Ramya 13, Sitamani Tudu 11, Bandaviya 11) bt Tamil Nadu 71 (Sathya 21, Dharshini 12, Pushpa 12, Nishanthi10).
Third place: Kerala 79 (P.S. Jeena 21, Poojamol 18, P.G. Anjana 13, Stephy Nixon 12, Kavitha Jose 11) bt Chhattisgarh 73 (Poonam Chaturvedi 41, Deepa 12, Seema Singh 12).