IOB (Men) and Southern Railway (Women) win 2012 All India Basketball Tournaments in Coimbatore

ONGC saw their incredible recent run of good play in Indian basketball tournaments come to an end on Sunday, September 2nd, as they were beaten in the final of the PSG Trophy All India Basketball Tournament in Coimbatore by IOB (Chennai). Although ONGC were the defending champions of this trophy – which tipped off this year on August 28th – it was IOB who played better in the second half of the final to clinch the trophy. Last year’s runners-up Southern Railway lifted the women’s CRI Pumps Trophy on the same day at the PSG Tech Courts in Coimbatore.

Rakuran (21) and Pratham Singh (18) led the way for IOB en route to their comfortable 71-54 victory in the final.

In the Women’s All India competition at Coimbatore last year’s runners-up Southern Railway came on top to clinch gold, defeating Western Railway in the Final. Southern Railway were led by Geethu Anna Jose (16), leading 28-16 at halftime, and finishing the game with a 61-42 win.

The tournament’s semi-finals were held earlier on Saturday. In the Men’s tournament, IOB defeated Income Tax 71-56 in a Chennai-city derby. ONGC’s semi-final featured an explosive 37 point performance by Trideep Rai to beat Chennai Customs 80-57. R. Vinoth had 25 points for the losing side.

In the women’s semi-finals, Southern Railway beat last year’s champions South Eastern Central Railway (SECR) from Chhattisgarh in a great defensive performance, 56-27. Western Railway beat South Central Railway 52-31 in the second women’s semi-final.

Eight Men’s clubs and seven women’s clubs took part in these prestigious tournaments from all across India.

Edited by Staff Editor