#7: 31^st Youth National Basketball Championship – Day Four and Five: Quarterfinal Line-Up Becomes Clearer

(Vishnu Ravi Shankar) Chandigarh, 10^th-11^th October 2014: The quarterfinal line-up has become clearer as we head into the last day of the league stages at the 31^st Youth National Basketball Championship in Chandigarh. The Kerala boys picked up an 89-75 win over Maharashtra today morning to advance to the quarterfinals. The Maharashtra team has also made it to the quarterfinals on the back of their earlier wins in the league stages. Thus far, five teams have booked quarterfinal berths in the boys category, which includes Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Maharashtra.

The Chandigarh boys team lost their match yesterday evening in front of a home crowd against Tamil Nadu, who put up a consummate team display to register a huge 93-60 win. This puts hosts Chandigarh on the brink of elimination from this year’s championship, with Tamil Nadu all but advancing to the quarterfinal stages.

Among the girls teams, Maharashtra beat Uttar Pradesh 51-39 today to assure itself of a place in the quarterfinals. The Haryana girls team has also qualified, leaving only two spots left for the girls’ quarterfinalists. Madhya Pradesh will square off against the Delhi team and Andhra Pradesh will face Punjab in the pre-quarters to decide the final two quarterfinal berths. The other quarterfinalists in the girls category are Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh.

A complete list of results of the matches held after 5.30 p.m. on 10^th October 2014 up to 11.30 a.m. on 11^th October 2014 is as follows:

Girls:

10^th October 2014 (5.30 p.m. to end of day)

1.      Chhattisgarh (Mahima 22) bt Haryana (Surya 24) 82-45 (21-6, 14-11, 17-13, 30-15)

2.      Gujarat (Saiesha 10) bt Assam (Enuwara 2, Rima 2, Mary 2) 35-7 (6-0, 14-4, 11-1, 4-2)

3.      Goa (Rachel 16) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Pearl 11) 43-24 (9-7, 13-6, 18-10, 3-1)

4.      Rajasthan (Neha 6, Nikita 6, Khanak 6) bt Bihar (Supam 5) 35-11 (10-2, 12-1, 3-4, 10-4)

5.      Odisha (Jayshree Baskey 16) bt Uttarakhand (Rhea S. 9) 37-20 (15-9, 14-2, 8-2, 0-7)

11^th October 2014 (beginning of day to 11.30 a.m.)

6.      Maharashtra (Neha S. 16) bt Uttar Pradesh (Shreyasi Vats 23) 51-39 (19-14, 23-5, 9-5, 0-15)

7.      Andhra Pradesh (M. Laxmi Sravanti 26) bt Delhi (Gurkiran 18) 60-50 (13-5, 8-13, 15-18, 24-14)

Boys:

10^th October 2014 (5.30 p.m. to end of day)

8.      Tamil Nadu (P. Baladaneshwar 20) bt Chandigarh (Amit 24) 93-60 (15-18, 38-16, 30-18, 10-8)

9.      Punjab (Rahul M. 30) bt Madhya Pradesh (Rishab S. 23) 78-58 (17-11, 17-10, 24-21, 20-16)

10.  Uttarakhand (Vaibhav 18) bt Goa (Roy 17) 60-55 (15-15, 12-16, 17-8, 16-16)

11.  Mizoram (Zorinsanga 14) bt West Bengal (G. Sharma 27) 61-60 (17-10, 15-11, 15-20, 14-19)

12.  Himachal Pradesh (Rohit 13) bt Assam (Sanju 12) 45-39 (12-6, 11-14, 7-10, 15-9)

11^th October 2014 (beginning of day to 11.30 a.m.)

13.  Tamil Nadu (R. Hariram 14) bt Chhattisgarh (M. Das 18) 67-53 (21-11, 20-13, 20-15, 6-14)

14.  Kerala (Hari Krishnan 20) bt Maharashtra (Mearaj 28) 89-75 (22-14, 20-17, 19-24, 28-20)

The tentative schedule for the rest of the matches to be held on 11^th October 2014 is as follows:

FIXTURES

Date: 11-10-2014  (SATURDAY)

Court – 1

No	Team “A”	Vs	Team “B”	Group	Timing
87	HARYANA	Vs	ANDHRA PRADESH	BA	12.30 PM
88	HARYANA	Vs	WEST BENGAL	GB	02.00 PM
89	MADHYA PRADESH	Vs	UTTAR PRADESH	BB	03.30 PM
90	CHATTISGARH	Vs	MADHYA PRADESH	GB	05.00 PM
91	PUNJAB	Vs	KARNATAKA	BB	06.30 PM

Court – 2

No	Team “A”	Vs	Team “B”	Group	Timing
LOSERS KNOCKOUT (LKO) SEMI-FINALS
93	W/O UTTARAKHAND/GOA	Vs	W/O ASSAM/HP	BOYS	04.00 PM
94	BIHAR	Vs	MIZORAM	BOYS	05.30 PM

Court – 3

No	Team “A”	Vs	Team “B”		Group	Timing
LOSERS KNOCKOUT (LKO) SEMI-FINALS
96	GOA	Vs	W/O ODISHA/UTTARAKHAND	GIRLS		04.00 PM
97	GUJARAT	Vs	W/O RAJASTHAN/BIHAR	GIRLS		05.30 PM

About the 31^st 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 31^st version, is taking place in Chandigarh from the 7^th to the 14^th 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. The venue for the tournament is the recently constructed multi-facility sports complex in Sector 42, Chandigarh along with two other basketball courts located in the Government College for Women, Sector 42, Chandigarh and the Gurunanak Dev Public School, Sector 36, Chandigarh. There are 25 boys teams and 24 girls teams taking part in this year’s championship, which will witness 130 matches in all. 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.

About Basketball Federation of India

The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honor of Arjuna Award. More information at www.indiabasketball.org

About IMG Reliance

IMG Reliance Pvt Ltd., is an equal joint venture between Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest and most recognized private sector company, and IMG Worldwide (IMG), the world’s leading sports marketing and management company. The joint venture company will develop market and manage sports and entertainment in India. Its current assets include India’s premier fashion event, Lakmé Fashion Week and South Asia’s only ATP World Tour event, the Aircel Chennai Open. IMG Reliance has entered agreements with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to create a new professional basketball league and manage all aspects of the commercial rights to the game in India and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), to improve, popularize and promote the game of football throughout India, from the grassroots to the professional level. IMG Reliance has also created a scholarship program to identify and train talented young Indians from sports including – basketball, soccer and tennis at IMG’s world-class sports training facilities at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida.