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Defending champions Punjab boys are yet to face any challenge at the 66th Junior National Basketball Championship here in Ludhiana, Punjab. The home team had yet another easy victory, their third so far, against the Karnataka boys’ team that is yet to win a game. Punjab captain Jaipal Singh Mann top scored with 21 points in the blowout 83-34 victory.
The defending champions Chhattigarh girls took on the Delhi team in the last game of Day 3. Delhi ran their offense mostly through their big frontcourt of Sushantika C., Shubham Ohlan and 6 foot 7 inch centre Pallavi Kumari. However, their guard play was lacking compared to the quick and decisive Chhattisgarh backcourt. Captain Riya put up 31 points for Chhattisgarh, who dominated the second half and closed out a 71-60 victory.
On Day 4, the qualifying matches commenced for promotion of teams from Level 2 to Level 1. As expected, the Tamil Nadu girls booked a place in Level 1 as they completely outplayed the Andhra Pradesh girls in a lopsided contest that ended at 48-10. The Rajasthan girls also moved the Level 1 with a victory over Odisha. In the boys’ matches, Uttar Pradesh moved to Level 1 with a 83-68 win over Gujarat in an offense-heavy contest. Chandigarh pulled off a surprise victory over Chhattisgarh 66-51 to book a place in level 1. Amit remained consistent for Chandigarh with 24 points in this game.
In the Level 1 games on Day 4 morning, the Maharashtra boys were involved in yet another nail-biting contest in the tournament. Taking on Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra got off to a good start and maintained their lead throughout the game. Sameer Qureshi put in 20 points in the victory for Maharashtra. Kerala boys also picked up a victory against the winless Andhra Pradesh side 64-29. In the other Level 1 boys’ game, Rajasthan captain Mahipal Singh led from the front, scoring 29 points in the win against Karnataka. After their initial loss against Punjab, Rajasthan has looked good with victories since. The tournament has been a nightmare for the Karnataka boys’ team that has not won a single game thus far.
Later in the afternoon, the Delhi boys took on the Haryana side in a game expected to be close. The first half was tight with little to separate the teams. Haryana was running its offense through their point guard Sonu Kumar, whose penetration bothered the Delhi team. However, the second half was a different story as Delhi stepped up on both ends of the floor. Led by their captain Sunil Kumar, who has played on the junior India team, Delhi outscored the Haryana side and dominated on the boards. Sunil’s 33 points helped Delhi register a 98-81 victory.
Results from Day 3 after 6:00 pm
Girls:
Level 1:
Chhattisgarh (Riya 31, Vandana 14, Megha 8) bt Delhi (Shubham Ohlan 17, Sushantika C. 14, Pallavi Kumari 9) 71-60 (12-13, 14-14, 24-18, 21-15)
Level 2:
Group E:
Puducherry (Kriti Agarwal 10, Anjali Jural 6) bt Uttarakhand 19-3 (8-1, 4-0, 3-0, 4-2)
Group F:
Telangana (G. Kavya 18, B. Akshitha 9) bt Tripura (Sonali 4) 31-9 (13-3, 6-0, 5-3, 7-3)
Boys:
Level 1:
Punjab (Jaipal Singh Mann 21, Rahul Mehla 20, Dilpreet 16) bt Karnataka (Siddarth 13) 83-34 (23-12, 25-4, 20-2, 15-9)
Level 2:
Group C:
Chhattisgarh (Atul Chauhan 22, Pankaj Pandey 8) bt Himachal Pradesh (Keshan Sood 11, Navjot Singh 10) 52-35 (21-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8)
Group D:
Odisha (Shiba 21, K. Sravan 18, Rudra Kanta 15) bt Gujarat (Shahzad 19, Jugal Anil 19, Mirant 11) 76-75 (19-21, 14-21, 19-8, 24-25)
Group E:
Uttar Pradesh (Deepak 14, Shivan 11) bt Goa (Roy Pereira 8, Nikhil Pinto 8) 59-33 (21-9, 16-11, 13-8, 9-5)
Results from Day 4 up to 2:30 pm
Girls:
Level 2 qualifying matches (winner moves to Level 1):
Tamil Nadu (M. Surya 12, S. Srishti 5) bt Andhra Pradesh (S.K. Hafijunnisha 6) 48-10 (13-4, 13-2, 7-2, 15-2)
Rajasthan (Kamlesh 34, Pratibha Shekhawat 13) bt Odisha (Jayshree Bakey 18, Suvanki Sahoo 15) 68-55 (18-15, 19-14, 19-17, 12-9)
Loser Knockout Quarterfinals:
Gujarat (Daxa 18) bt Chandigarh (Akshita 18) 69-54 (15-12, 9-18, 30-8, 15-16)
Goa (Rachel 8) bt Bihar (Kajol 4) 30-6 (8-0, 6-2, 4-2, 12-2)
Odisha bt Uttarakhand by way of forfeit
Boys:
Level 1:
Group A:
Maharashtra (Sameer Qureshi 20, Sayyed Yousuf Asif 16) bt Madhya Pradesh (Mithun Das 17, Ashish Briggs 9, Ashwini Pandey 9) 66-63 (21-14, 15-15, 13-13, 17-21)
Rajasthan (Mahipal Singh 29, Akhilesh Kumar Tudu 27) bt Karnataka (Siddarth P.N. 14, Karthik Kumar 14) 76-53 (19-15, 19-21, 25-13, 13-4)
Group B:
Kerala (Jibin John 13, Amal Johnson 11) bt Andhra Pradesh (Sai Sri Harsha Reddy 8, L. Manoj Sivakrishna 8) 64-29 (25-10, 17-3, 12-8, 10-8)
Delhi (Sunil Kumar 33, Vishal Gupta 21, Rachit Kumar 14) bt Haryana (Sonu Kumar 19, Lalit 13, Deepak Kumar (no. 14) 13, Deepak Kumar (no. 15) 13) 98-81 (25-20, 18-25, 28-18, 27-18)
Level 2 qualifying matches (winner moves to Level 1):
Uttar Pradesh (Atal 18, Ashwani 17) bt Gujarat (Mirant 26, Jugal 12) 83-68 (15-15, 19-16, 21-19, 28-18)
Chandigarh (Amit 24, Abhishek 15) bt Chhattisgarh (Pankaj 22, Atul 13) 66-51 (24-9, 13-7, 13-12, 16-23)
