Games of Our Uk(Uttarakhand)

Favourite Uttarakhand stepped up the momentum when it mattered to score a 74-66 win over Indian Railways in a men’s super league Group ‘A’ match at the 58th National basketball championship here on Friday.

With Trideep Rai and Riyazuddin probing through the opposition defence effectively, Uttarakhand raced to a 23-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Railways showed signs of improvement in the second and reduced the deficit to seven points at the half-way mark.

The third quarter saw Railways staging a spirited fightback, with Jasjot Singh’s sharp shooting skills helping his team gain lead. But the turning point came when in-form Jasjot was benched just before the end of the third. Uttarakhand made the most out of Jasjot’s absence in the fourth to clinch victory. Trideep scored 24 points, while Riyazuddin managed 22 points. Jasjot netted 21 points for Railways.

The Group ‘B’ super-league match between Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh was a one-sided affair. Tamil Nadu cagers never gave their opposition a chance to settle down and the 31-12 score line at the end of the second session was a proof. Seasoned Sukhavaneswaran top-scored with 20 points.

Defending champion Services and Punjab won their respective super-league matches pretty comfortably.

The results: Men: Super League: Group A: Uttarakhand 74 (Trideep Rai 24, Riyazuddin 22, K. Murali Krishna 13) bt Indian Railways 66 (Jasjot Singh 21, Yadwinder Singh 16, Snehpal Singh 13); Services 70 (Jairam Jatt 16, Sweeto Francis 13, Smithin Settu 13) bt Assam 56 (Ramsare Yadav 16, Binod Choudhary 10).

Group B: Punjab 85 (Jagdeep Singh 19, Mod Singh 14, Harminder Singh 10) bt Rajasthan 65 (Nand Lal 16, Mahendra 16); Tamil Nadu 60 (Sukhavaneswaran 20, Bhuvaneswar 13) bt Chandigarh 41 (Bhupesh 10, Ashtaq Ahamed 10).

Qualifying league: Group C: West Bengal 56 (Amalandu Singh 10) bt Tripura 36 (Yogesh Kumar 19); Delhi 62 (Satwinder 18) bt Gujarat 52 (Inder Vijay 19). Group F: Orissa 78 (Ashok Naik 39) bt Maharashtra 60 (Sanjay K. Soman 14).

Women: Super league: Group A: Punjab 44 (Karamjit 15, Paramjit 11) bt Andhra Pradesh 17 (Mohini Kumar 10). Group B: Chhattisgarh 51 (Pushpa 17) bt Tamil Nadu 48 (Kokila 19, Sunitha Suren 14); Delhi 62 (Divya Singh 16, Prashanti Singh 10) bt Maharashtra 28 (Beena 12).

Qualifying league: Group C: Kerala 49 (Lity Mathew 13) bt Jammu & Kashmir 27 (Natasha 16). Group D: Madhya Pradesh 49 (Prasanna 12, Keerthi 11) bt Haryana 29 (Neha 10). Group E: Puducherry 40 (Leya 18) bt Uttarakhand 37; Karnataka 44 bt Gujarat 15. Group F: Uttar Pradesh 52 (Renumoria 16) bt Rajasthan 15.