64th Junior Nationals, 2013: Chhattisgarh Girls & Kerala Boys off to flying start on Day 1

Chhattisgarh girls in action against Uttar Pradesh. Chhattisgarh went on to win the match 92-65.

Chhattisgarh girls underlined their intent to repeat their all-conquering ways from last year, when they beat the ladies from Uttar Pradesh in their first match. The defending champions won by a whopping 92-65 margin on the opening day of the 64^th Junior National Basketball Championship being held in Cuttack, Odisha.

Boasting of a seasoned squad that includes the towering, 6ft 6 inch Poonam Chaturvedi, the Chhattisgarh offense was firing on all cylinders. But none could overshadow Poonam’s 44 point performance, with many of her baskets coming effortlessly, due to her supreme height advantage.

In other matches, Karnataka boys and Kerala girls also registered wins. Karnataka boys overcame a sharpshooting Andhra Pradesh team to win by a 28-point margin. Karnataka benefited from a size advantage in the post and also enjoyed some vociferous support from their fellow girls’ squad.

The local lads from Odisha recorded a morale boosting win in front of their home crowd by beating Chandigarh 57-29. Late in the evening, an athletic Kerala squad wore down the Maharashtra boys to record a convincing 95-69 victory.

The last match of the day between West Bengal and Jharkhand (boys), which was to be played on the outdoor courts of the Barabati Stadium Complex, has been postponed due to rains. All the matches in this Championship are being held throughout the day at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack and at the two outdoor courts of the Barabati Stadium Complex.

The Championship was inaugurated earlier in the evening by His Excellency Dr. S. C. Jamir, the Governor of Odisha. The Guests of Honour were Sri Anshuman Das, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NALCO and Sri Hrushikesh Tripathy, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Sports & Youth Services.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Sri Asirbad Behera, Hon. Secretary, OOA, OCA & Chairman, and Organising Committee. The Governor and all the other dignitaries on the dais were warmly welcomed by all teams by way of a march past. The inaugural ceremony also witnessed some cultural singing by local school children.

Results of Matches played on September 1, 2013 (Sunday)

Boys

1. Kerala (Nair J G 23, Akhil A R 22) bt Maharashtra (Mihir J 14, Sanket K 13) 95-69 [QT scores: 31-12, 14-8, 28-12, 22-37]

2. Odisha (Firoz Barwa 17, Amarjeet Kumar 16, Bharat Tarsey 10) bt Chandigarh (Naveen 12, Gurpreet Singh 6) 57-29 [QT scores: 18-4, 14-9, 10-6, 15-10]

3. Tamil Nadu (S. Karthickayan 28, P. Vijay 17, G. Bethal 13) bt Madhya Pradesh (B. P. Singh 15, B. Akash 14, Saif Ali 10) 75-64 [QT scores: 21-23, 22-16, 20-8, 12-17]

4. Delhi (Pradeep 29, Narendar 26, A.Singh Sohal 25, Pankaj 16) bt Rajasthan (Devendra 22, Navjot 14, Atul Singh 14, Abhimanyu 13, Tushar 13) 114-86 [QT scores: 22-17, 39-13, 24-30, 29-16]

5. Karnataka (Issac Thomas 20, Sowkin Shetty 13) bt Andhra Pradesh (S.S.V.R Krishna 9, Akhil V. Reddy 9) 80-52 [QT scores: 24-24, 21-7, 19-11, 16-10]

6. Uttar Pradesh (Abhi Kumar Singh 22, R. K. Pandey 11) bt Gujarat (K. Upadhyaya 12, Rohan Pethoni 9) 66-35 [QT Scores: 21-15, 14-8, 11-4, 20-8]

Girls

1. Madhya Pradesh (Monika Singh 13, Princy Singh 10, Aayushi L. 9, ) bt Odisha (Advasha Sahani 7, Rajashree Swain 5) 66-25 [QT Scores: 24-2, 26-14, 5-5, 11-4]

2. Haryana (Prince 24, Suman 24, Savitha 15) bt Delhi (Somya 24, Monika 22, Padmavati 13, Jyoti 11) 82-72 [QT scores: 17-19, 18-17, 16-15, 31-21]

3. Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 44, Sangeeta Kaur 31) bt Uttar Pradesh (Preeti Kumari 20, Niharika Verama 12, Barkha Sonkar 14) 92-65 [QT scores: 24-15, 23-15, 19-19, 26-16]

4. Kerala (Poojamil K. S. 21, Garima Merlin 20) bt Punjab (Nirmal Kaur 29, Kulwinder Kaur 12)62-50 [QT scores: 12-9, 18-14, 13-16, 19-11]

5. Karnataka (Supriya M.S 16, Sharika D. V. 8) bt Gujarat (Tulika Bisht 8) 67-13 [QT scores: 28-6, 14-2, 13-0, 12-5]

6. Chandigarh (Kirti 12, Akshita 12) bt Pondicherry (N. Suganya 6) 37-8 [QT scores: 15-4, 6-2, 10-2, 6-0]

7. Jharkhand (Mridula Barla 8, Jidew Barla 5) bt Bihar (Anushka Rai 4) 22-6 [QT scores: 1-4, 10-0, 5-2, 6-0]

8. Assam (Kiran 12, Binita 6) bt Andhra Pradesh (Mrunalini Reddy 6, S. Nikitha 5) 30-21 [QT scores: 14-4, 6-2, 3-9, 7-6]

9. West Bengal (Paulami Chatterjee 8, Swagata Dey 8) bt Uttarakhand (Vedika Tibrewala 3) 32-5 [QT scores: 14-0, 6-1, 2-2, 10-2]

All the match results along with the upcoming schedule will be posted on the BFI website. Regular updates can also be viewed on BFI’s Facebook and twitter pages.

Note: This article has been published with permission from the Basketball Federation of India. The original article, on the BFI website, can be accessed here.