Powerhouse Punjab

Anil dutt

Ludhiana, December 26

Punjab and Madhya Pradesh in the women’s section, while Indian Railways in the men’s section booked semifinals berths on the sixth day of the 70th Senior National Basketball Championship being held at the Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

In the women’s section, Madhya Pradesh after leading 27-22 at the half-time, wrapped up the game to beat Delhi 64-59, with captain Nima Doma again emerging as the top scorer (27 points) and Aparna Saini scored 18 points for the losing side. In the semifinals clash, they now will take on the winners of match to be played between the holders Indian Railways and Karnataka.

In the men’s section, Karnataka which had a mesmerising 27-9 start in the first quarter but a downward spiral in the second quarter saw Railway overtaking them 48-41 at the lemon break and beat Karnataka with the final score of 93-78. Sahil came up with 23 points and Lovneet Singh scored 22 points for the Railways whereas for Karnataka, the bulk of scoring was done by Harish M who contributed 26 points.

In the third match of the women’s section, hosts Punjab edged Telangana 72-65. A close shave encounter saw Punjab’s young guns Harismaran Kaur and Anmolpreet Kaur along with Rajandeep Kaur propel their side to the victory and book a semifinals berth. Harismaran was the top scorer for Punjab with 23 points, followed by Amolpreet and Rajandeep scoring 18 each, while for Telengana Gulabasha Ali was the leading scorer with 23 points and Divya had 20.

Key results

Quartefinals (Women): 

Madhya Pradesh beat Delhi 64-59, Punjab beat Telangana 72-65, Maharashtra beat Chandigarh 94-67 and Karnataka beat Rajasthan 54-47

Quartefinals (Men):

Indian Railways beat Karnataka 93-78