#11:  41^ST SUB-JUNIOR NATIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – HARYANA GIRLS HOLD NERVE IN OVERTIME TO BEAT MAHARASHTRA IN QUARTERFINAL

(Vishnu Ravi Shankar) Nashik, 26-27 November 2014: Yesterday evening, the pre-quarterfinals of the 41^st Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship resulted in home team Maharashtra being knocked out of the tournament with a loss against Assam, 79-72. The other boys pre-quarterfinal was won by Uttar Pradesh who defeated Chandigarh 83-79. The girls pre-quarterfinals were won by Haryana and Karnataka, who defeated Delhi and West Bengal respectively.

Of the quarterfinal matches held today morning, Haryana girls defeated local favourites Maharashtra in overtime 78-77, behind Meenu’s 42 points, to qualify for the semi-finals. Defending girls champs Chhattisgarh also booked a semi-final berth with a comfortable 74-46 win against Tamil Nadu. The third quarterfinal between Kerala and Madhya Pradesh was a close contest with Kerala pulling away in the final minutes to register a 86-82 win. The Uttar Pradesh girls round off the girls semi-finalists with a huge 54-23 win against Karnataka. One boys quarterfinal was also held today morning in which the Madhya Pradesh boys steamrolled Uttar Pradesh 53-18 to clinch a spot in the semi-finals.

The results of the matches held on 26 November 2014 after 5.30 p.m. are as follows:

Pre-quarterfinals:

Girls:

1.     Haryana (Meena 21) bt Delhi (Shristi 8) 45-26 (18-14, 12-7, 11-3, 4-2)

2.     Karnataka (Grishman 20) bt West Bengal (Babita Das 7) 73-64 (15-18, 11-21, 32-5, 15-20)

Boys:

3.     Uttar Pradesh (Amit Singh 32) bt Chandigarh (Ajmer 28) 83-79 (23-21, 11-18, 19-14, 30-26)

4.     Assam (Sachin Samarin 23) bt Maharashtra (Homiran Mohan 13) 79-72 (20-22, 8-26, 30-12, 21-12)

Level 1: League Matches:

Girls:

5.     Maharashtra (Shruti Bhosale 21, Ishita Surve 21) bt Kerala (Sreekala R. 18) 79-60 (10-25, 20-10, 24-14, 25-11)

The results of the matches held on 27 November 2014 up to 12.00 p.m. are as follows:

Quarterfinals:

Girls:

6.     Haryana (Meenu 42) bt Maharashtra (Sudhiksha 19, Ishita 13) 78-77 (20-18, 10-20, 21-18, 16-12, Extra time 11-10)

7.     Chhattisgarh (E. Ekka 20) bt Tamil Nadu (T.M. Jayaseeli 20) 74-46 (20-8, 13-20, 14-11, 27-7)

8.     Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 24) bt Karnataka (Grishman 9, Anadha N. 9) 54-23 (30-14, 9-3, 10-3, 5-3)

9.     Kerala (Sreekala R. 39) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divya Sam 29) 86-82 (21-15, 9-21, 25-23, 31-23)

Boys:

10.  Madhya Pradesh (Harshwardhan 12) bt Uttar Pradesh (Priyanshu 7) 53-18 (24-9, 10-1, 13-4, 6-4)

About the 41^st Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship

The Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship is an annual national tournament for U-14 boys’ and girls’ teams from states across India. The Nashik District Basketball Association and the Maharashtra State Basketball Association under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and IMG-Reliance are conducting the 2014 tournament on the two wooden courts at the Meenatai Thakare Indoor Stadium here in Nashik. The tournament will be conducted over a period of 7 days from the 22^nd to the 28^th of November 2014. This year’s tournament is witnessing the participation of 27 boys’ teams and 25 girls’ teams from various states of the country. The 2013 version tournament was conducted in Patna, Bihar. The Chhattisgarh teams won both the boys and the girls category last year, while the Madhya Pradesh boys and the Tamil Nadu girls finished runners-up respectively.