Federation Cup Basketball: Punjab Police post first win

Bangalore - Defending men’s champions Punjab Police shrugged off the shock defeat to Indian Air Force late on Wednesday night by defeating Captains Club (Delhi) 74-53 in the Federation Cup basketball tournament here on Thursday.

The police team, which has lost a couple of key players who had figured in their title triumph last year, overcame some early resistance to chalk up their first win in two matches.

Meanwhile, ONGC, one of the title favourites, recorded their second straight win by thumping Jind (Haryana) 96-59, to stay on course.

In the women’s section, South-East Central Railway overcame a resurgent Kerala 79-68 while Tamil Nadu got past Chattisgarh 64-57 and Maharashtra made light of Andhra Pradesh with a 89-41 score line that accurately reflected their dominance.

The results:

Men: ONGC 96 (Riyazuddin 18, Mohit Bhandari 14, Bhrugvenshi 14) beat Jind 59 (Deepak 16, Sukhbir Singh 15) Ht: 51-17.

Punjab Police 74 (Amruthpal Singh 23, Ranbeer Singh 17) beat Captains Club 53 (Vinaya Kaushik 16, Praveen 15, Sachin Sharma 10). Ht: 36-32.

IOB, Chennai 80 (Rikhin 21, Harish 15, Raghuram 13) beat South Central Railway 45 (Sujith 17). Ht: 39-24.

IAF 62 (Sethu 20, Joginder Singh 15, Narender Garewal 14) beat Punjab Police 53 (Amruthpal Singh 24, Ranbir Singh 13). Ht: 32-25.

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi 88 (Manoj 33, Pereira 19, Nikhil 13) beat Captains Club, Delhi 63 (Praveen 28, Devesh Nair 12). Ht: 45-33.

Vijaya Bank, Bangalore 72 (Arvind 19, Srinivas Naik 17, Sanjay Raj 15) beat Customs and Central Excise 68 (Subash Shenoy 25, Philip Basil 16). Ht: 34-33.

Women: South East Central Railway 79 (Pushpa 30, Seema Singh 16, Akansha Singh 15) beat Kerala 68 (Surya 25, Jina 16, Nixon 14). Ht: 43-23.

Tamil Nadu 64 (Anita Paul 27, Apoorva M 18, Adhrai 10) beat Chattisgarh 57 (Poonam C 22, Sangeetha 14, Saranjeeth 16). Ht: 39-25.

Maharashtra 89 (Manisha 23, Renu 20) beat Andhra Pradesh 41 (Shravanthi 12, Surya 12).