Hosts Punjab log facile victories in senior basketball championship

Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 6

Hosts Punjab scripted facile victories in the men’s and women’s sections on the opening day of the 71st Senior North Zone Basketball Championship being held at Guru Nanak Stadium here on Monday.

Defending national champions, Punjab men made the mince meat of their opponents from Jammu and Kashmir whom they crushed 108-37 whereas their counterparts (women) came out triumphant against Himachal Pradesh hands down (64-11).

Punjab players dominated the proceedings and gave no chance to their rivals to settle down. Punjab men began their campaign on a high note as they went into an early lead, which they managed to hang on till the long whistle.

Hosts with international stars in their ranks faced a little challenge from Jammu and Kashmir players. For the winning side, Gurbaj Singh sank in as many as 21 points to steer his side wrap up the issue comfortably.

Earlier in the day, Punjab women were off to a flying start and raced to an easy win over Himachal Pradesh. Ritika and Manmeet were the main architects of victory, chipping in with 18 and 9 points, respectively, while Rupal was the lone fighter for the losers, scoring five points.

In another match in the women’s section, Delhi outperformed Haryana 83-51 in which the main contributors for the winning side was international player Raspreet Kaur Bharti, who dropped in 18 points and Bharti scored 13 points.

For the losing side, Ritika and Tarvinder scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, to reduce the margin.

However, in the men’s section, Haryana outplayed Delhi 84-64 to avenge their counterparts’ defeat. For Haryana, Sunil accounted for 13 points and he was ably assisted by Joginder, who scored 12 points. For the losing side, Manik was the top scorer, chipping in with 18 points and Jai Parkash contributed 15 points.

Varinder Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, and Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Commissioner of Police, jointly inaugurated the championship.

Yurinder Singh Hayer, former IG, and Teja Singh Dhaliwal, president and honorary general secretary, respectively, of the Punjab Basketball Association, JP Singh, president, District Basketball Association, along with other office-bearers of the associations, besides local administrative and police officials, including J Elanchezhian, Joint Commissioner of Police, Parminder Singh, ADCP, City, Gagnesh Kumar, former international basketball player and SP, Jalandhar, Prof Rajinder Singh, Brij Bhushan Goyal and Paramvir Bhogal, were also present on the occasion.

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