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Bengaluru, 22nd January 2018: The 5th edition of the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, organised by Vijaya Bank, tipped off today at the Beagles Indoor Basketball Stadium, Malleswaram.
The tournament was inaugurated by the lighting of the lamp by several former Indian internationals of Vijaya Bank and in the presence of local MLA Mr. C.A. Ashwath Narayan, Mrs. R.A. Sankaranarayanan, M.D and CEO of Vijaya Bank, Mr. Y. Nageswara Rao, Executive Director and other General Managers of the Bank.
The tournament is being played in a league cum knockout format, with seven teams are divided into two groups, and the top two of each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
Along with trophies, cash prizes of Rs. 1,00,000/- for the winners, Rs. 50,000/- for the runners-up, Rs. 25,000/- and Rs. 10,000 for the 3rd and 4th place teams respectively have been announced by Vijaya Bank. Besides these, awards such as the ‘Best player of the tournament’, ‘Most promising player’ and ‘Best defensive player’ are up for grabs.
Vijaya Bank beat Indian Customs (Pune) 100-77
Hosts Vijaya Bank started their campaign in Group B against Indian Customs, Pune who were playing their debut game of the tournament. Customs (Pune) were headed by their powerful backcourt duo of Ajinkya Mane alongside former Indian Team guard Siddhant Shinde. Meanwhile, Vijaya Bank’s offense was facilitated by their former International Guard Rajesh Uppar (who had missed the previous edition of the tournament due to a knee injury) alongside fellow internationals Arvind Arumugam and Anil Kumar.
Vijaya Bank had a dominant start to the game leading 10-0 in the first two minutes with guard Anil Kumar scoring 6 very quick points off fastbreaks but Customs came storming back into the game with some great passing and cutting the lead to just one point. Point guard Rajesh Uppar orchestrated Vijaya Bank’s offense beautifully as they ended the quarter leading 28-21.
The 2nd quarter started with Shinde and Mane scoring back to back baskets thanks to some good ball movement from the Customs team. But Vijaya Bank answered right back with some good offensive showing from Arvind Arumugam and regained a comfortable double-digit lead midway in the 2nd quarter. Anil Kumar and Siddhant Shinde exchanged a couple of threes between them but then a three by Mane followed by a fastbreak reverse layup cut the lead back to just 4 points. Vijaya Bank displayed beautiful ball movement on the second last play of the quarter which led to an open three. But Ajinkya Mane answered back with a three of his own with only 5 seconds left on the game to trail Vijaya Bank 45-51-45 at the half.
The 3rd quarter started with Siddhant Shinde taking charge and getting his team back into the game but Anil Kumar stepped up for the host team draining 3 three-pointers in this quarter itself and had some great defensive stops which he converted at the other end of the floor. Forward Clinton Andrew of Vijaya Bank entered the game with two blocks on back to back possessions and he shifted the momentum of the game completely in favour of the hosts with a monstrous block on Ajinkya Mane.
Forward Karthik Saminathan of Vijaya Bank started the 4th quarter in style with a huge fastbreak dunk. Later Anil Kumar went into his bag of tricks and pulled off a sweet between the legs move to get the crowd on its feet and followed it with a corner three to make it an 18 point game in favour of Vijaya Bank midway through the final quarter. Hosts Vijaya Bank held on to their lead and finished the game at 100-77.
Game 1 Final score: Vijaya Bank 100 (Anil Kumar 27 pts, Harish M 21 pts) beat Indian Customs(Pune) 77 (Siddhant Shinde 41 pts, Edvin 14 pts) [28-21, 23-24, 30-27, 19-05]
Game 2 Final score: Indian Navy 89 (Vivek Goti 14 pts, A. J. Thomas 14 pts) beat I.C.F. Chennai 51 (G.A. Anto Bethle 15 pts, C. Praveen Kumar 10 pts)
Game 3 Final Score: Income Tax, Chennai 89 (Siva Balan 20 pts, Akilan 14 pts, P. Jeeva 14 pts) beat Telangana State Team 67 (Visu Palani 19 pts, Nikhil Sai 17 pts)
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