41ST SUB-JUNIOR NATIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – SEMI-FINAL BERTHS SEALED

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#12:  41^ST SUB-JUNIOR NATIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP – SEMI-FINAL BERTHS SEALED

(Vishnu Ravi Shankar) Nashik, 27 November 2014: The Haryana girls defeated local favourites Maharashtra today morning 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. Kerala captain Sreekala created an individual scoring record in the girls category with 49 points. The Uttar Pradesh girls round off the girls semi-finalists with a huge 54-23 win against Karnataka.

In the boys’ quarterfinal matches, the Madhya Pradesh boys steamrolled Uttar Pradesh 53-18 to clinch a spot in the semi-finals. Defending champions for the boys, Chhattisgarh comfortably defeated Assam 61-31 in their quarterfinal match. The last two boys quarterfinals were close contests, with Rajasthan getting the better of Andhra Pradesh with a 86-80 victory and Odisha narrowly defeating Haryana 95-93. All the semi-final matches will be held today evening.

The losers knockout finals were won by Karnataka in the boys category, who defeated Kerala and Chandigarh in the girls category, who defeated Gujarat. The results of the other placement matches held today are below.

The results of the matches held on 27 November 2014 up to 5.30 p.m. are as follows:

Quarterfinals:

Girls:

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

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

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

4. Kerala (Sreekala R. 49) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divya Sam 29) 86-82 (21-15, 9-21, 25-23, 31-23)

Boys:

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

6. Chhattisgarh (Saif Ali Khan 27) bt Assam (Sanjajpal Balmiki 12) 61-31 (21-11, 18-5, 16-9, 6-6)

7. Rajasthan (Kuldeep 44) bt Andhra Pradesh (Manikanta 28) 86-80 (20-26, 17-14, 26-17, 23-33)

8. Odisha (Suresh Das 27) bt Haryana (Hardeep Boora 32) 95-93 (20-20, 17-23, 22-23, 34-27)

Loser Knockout Finals:

Girls:

9. Chandigarh (Sehjnoor Dhillon 13, Rajni Sharma 13) bt Gujarat (Tanisha Shah 16)45-43 (17-14, 10-10, 6-6, 12-13)

Boys:

10. Karnataka (G. Venkateshwara 19) bt Kerala (Ankitlal E. 23) 83-68 (21-26, 21-8, 17-18, 24-16)

Classification (9^th and 10^th place):

Girls:

11. West Bengal (Liza Deb 12) bt Delhi (Vani Mittal 14) 46-39 (12-10, 9-12, 15-11, 10-6)

Boys:

12. Maharashtra (Nilesh Yadav 31, Tanay Thatte 28) bt Chandigarh (Ajmer 33) 103-92(19-23, 21-20, 27-23, 36-26)

Level 1 to Level 2:

Girls:

13. Punjab (Preet Kaur 9) bt Andhra Pradesh (R. Setha 6) 26-13 (17-9, 6-0, 1-2, 2-2)

Boys:

14. Tamil Nadu (V. Adisiva 22) bt Jharkhand (Sushant Deep 11) 52-30 (16-16, 13-1, 12-4, 11-9)

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.

About the 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 atwww.indiabasketball.org