ONGC Men, Central Railway Women win 4th JCI All India Basketball Tournament

In a repeat of last year’s final, ONGC’s Men’s team once again came victorious in the final of the 4th JCI All India Basketball Tournament against IOB (Chennai) at at the St. Aloysius in Athirampuzha of Kottayam district, Kerala, on Sunday, January 13, 2013. It was a clash of two Railways’ teams in the Women’s final, where Central Railway defeated South Western Railway to win the title.

The annual club tournament, which tipped off on January 9th, featured six Men’s and four Women’s squads competing for the championship.

ONGC (Dehradun) featured many of the same players who were part of Uttarakhand’s side that recently won the Senior National Championship in Ludhiana. The star-studded squad blazed their way through the championship and continued their dominance into the final. Led by Yadwinder Singh (22), Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (18) and Mohit Bhandari (18), ONGC cruised to a 78-59 victory. Amjyot Singh led IOB (Chennai) in the final with 17 points.

With Southern Railway (and Geethu Anna Jose) absent from this championship, the Women’s tournament was suddenly a wide open affair. It ended up being a battle of two other Railways’ sides – Central Railway (Mumbai) and South Western Railway (Hubli) in the final. It was an evenly contested battle which turned out to be a heavyweight bout between Manisha Dange of Central and Navaneetha of South Central Railway. Dange had 49 points to answer Navaneetha’s 42 as the former’s team surged ahead to an 87-82 win in this high-scoring contest.

The Mens’ winners were awarded Rs. 40,000 cash prize while the Womens’ winners were given Rs. 30,000.

A day earlier, Dange was again in full form as she scored 24 to help her side win the Semi Final against Kerala Police, 63-52. In the other Women’s semi, South Western Railway defeated KSEB Thiruvanathapuram in a thriller, 53-51. Stephy Nixon had a game-high 18 for KSEB.

In the Men’s semi-finals, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh scored 20 points each to lead ONGC to a 78-63 win over Customs & Central Excise (Kochi). Nikhil KR (28) and Manoj R (17) were the leading scorers for the losing side. In the other semi-final, IOB Chennai dominated Vijaya Bank Bangalore towards an easy 72-33 victory.

At the end of the tournament, Yadwinder Singh (ONGC) and Manisha Dange (Central Railway) were named the best players of the tournament. Yadwinder, who is in great form, was also named best player in Ludhiana’s Senior Nationals just 10 days ago.

Final Scores

Men: ONGC (Yadwinder Singh 22, Mohit Bhandari 18, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 18) bt. IOB Chennai (Amjyot Singh 17, Hareesh Koroth 13) 78-59.

Women: Central Railway (Manisha Dange 49) bt. South Western Railway (Navaneetha 42) 87-82.