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Day 1 of the 32nd Youth National Championship started with 5 games taking place in the morning at M.K. Bhavnagar University at Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The first half of the day saw defending champions in the girls’ category Tamil Nadu cruise to an easy victory over southern neighbours Andhra Pradesh. In the other Level 1 game in the girls’ category, Haryana pulled off an unlikely victory against last year’s runners up Kerala, on the back of Meena’s 22 points. In the only Level 2 girls’ game of the morning, Chandigarh handily beat Telangana 47-8.
In the boys’ category, two Level 2 games took place in the morning, which were close contests. In their Group F fixture, Chandigarh edged past West Bengal 72-65 led by their captain Amit who scored a massive 42 points. Goa held on to a 7-point lead to clinch a 49-42 victory against Himachal Pradesh in their Group E game.
The second half began with the opening ceremony for the tournament. All the teams participated in a march-past led by a trained marching band comprising of young children. The Chief Guest for the ceremony was Shri Nanubhai Vanani, the Sports Minister of Gujarat. Other dignitaries present included Shri Mansukhbhai Mandaviya (M.P., Rajya Sabha), Shri Jitubhai Vaghani (M.L.A., Bhavnagar West), among others. From the Basketball Federation of India, Secretary General Shri Chander Mukhi Sharma was present and addressed the crowd. He requested all coaches to ensure maximum output from their team players as the selection committee was watching all games and all teams. Dr. Shailesh Zala, Vice Chancellor, Bhavnagar University, declared the event open. The ceremony was also brightened by a traditional Dandia dance performance by a local dance troupe and balloon and fireworks display.
The basketball action in the second half began with two boys matches. The Karnataka boys comfortably defeated the Jammu and Kashmir team 57-12 in their Level 2 fixture. The other game was a Level 1 encounter between Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The game was interrupted by rain in the third quarter with Tamil Nadu leading by 1 point 49-48.
Girls:
Level 1:
Group A:
Tamil Nadu (Amritha 11, Mirudhula 8) bt Andhra Pradesh (SK Chandini 4) 49-12 (19-3, 15-0, 13-4, 2-5)
Group B:
Haryana (Meena 22, Suriya 12) bt Kerala (Sreekala R. 11, Aneesha 11) 61-49 (18-14, 10-9, 19-10, 14-16)
Level 2:
Group E:
Chandigarh (Amrit Kaur 20, Ramya Sharma 12) bt Telangana 47-8 (15-6, 16-0, 12-2, 4-0)
Boys:
Level 2:
Group C:
Karnataka (Akshay Prasad 12, Pavan Bhat 9, Dev Mishra 8) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Shivam 5) 57-16 (26-7, 13-5, 12-2, 6-2)
Group E:
Goa (Ray Cortez 16, Shaan Adanje 12) bt Himachal Pradesh (Ankush 16, Saksham 6, Chetan 6) 49-42 (13-14, 13-8, 9-9, 14-11)
Group F:
Chandigarh (Amit 42, Anuj Soni 11) bt West Bengal (S. Hussain 24, H. Singh 13) 72-65 (21-7, 21-17, 6-23, 24-18)
