Federation Cup basketball: TN women face Maharashtra in title tie

Bangalore - Favourites Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra qualified for the women’s final here Saturday in the Federation Cup basketball tournament in what will be a repeat of their league match.

The men’s final will be between ONGC who are on a hot run and Chennai’s Indian Overseas Bank as the two teams scored contrasting wins in the semi-finals.

Tamil Nadu brushed aside Kerala 75-55 as Anita (35) led them from the front, while Maharashtra, for whom Manisha (21) topped the scoring chart, edged out South-East Central Railway 71-70. The two finalists had earlier met in the league phase when Tamil Nadu beat Maharashtra quite comfortably.

In the men’s semi-finals, ONGC, thanks to a splendid performance by Bhruguwanshi (26), put paid to the hopes of defending champions Punjab Police 75-65 after wiping off a three-point first-half deficit while IOB overcame Indian Air Force 86-60 with Rikhin (23) doing the bulk of scoring for the Chennai outfit.

The results (semi-finals):

Women: Maharashtra 71 (Manisha 21, Shireen 16, Renu 10) beat South-East Central Railway 70 (Seema Singh 32, Pushpa 18, Bharthi 13). Ht: 38-31.

Tamil Nadu 75 (Anita 35, Alagi 12, Adhiray 12) beat Kerala 55 (Jeena 22, Surya 11). Ht: 44-23.

Men: ONGC 75 (Bhruguwanshi 26, Yadwinder Singh 17, Mohit Bhandari 11) beat Punjab Police 65 (Amritpal Singh 19, Palpreet Singh 17, Harminder Singh 11). Ht: 37-40.

IOB, Chennai 86 (Rikin 23, Raghuram 13, Vinith 11) beat IAF 60 (Narender 18, Shivraj Singh 13). Ht: 38-33.