Title - Tamil Nadu women outplay Kerala in the last quarter to reach semifinals

Tamil Nadu outplayed Kerala in the last quarter in the women’s section to record a 68-55 victory in the quarterfinals of the IMG Reliance 63rd National basketball championship here on Wednesday.It was an impressive performance by Tamil Nadu, which rode on the fine work of R. Rajapriya, but Kerala was handicapped without the services of its captain P.S. Neenumol who had hurt her ankle in the league match against Delhi.With Stephy Nixon off colour, the onus was on P.S. Jeena, but her effort proved inadequate.

Hesitant start:After a hesitant start, Tamil Nadu led 26-25 at halftime, and increased the lead by three more points by the end of the third quarter.The team cruised through in the last five minutes, as it scored 23 points to 14 by Kerala in the last quarter, with Apoorva Muralinath standing out with 10 points in that phase. If it maintains the same tempo, Tamil Nadu can fancy its chances against Chhattisgarh.The Delhi girls were equally impressive in edging past a spirited Maharashtra 59-56, as they handled the climax with composure, thanks to the all-round efficiency of Raspreet Sidhu. Delhi will challenge the might of Railways in the semifinals.In the men’s quarterfinals, riding on the brilliance of Narender Kumar and Dalip Kumar who scored 56 points between them, Services subdued Railways 91-86 after leading 47-38 at halftime.

Services will challenge title-aspirant Uttarakhand, which once again demonstrated the mercurial game of Vishesh Bhriguvanshi who top-scored with 32 points, in outclassing Chhattisgarh. The other semifinal will be between host Punjab which handled Rajasthan with competence, and Tamil Nadu which outclassed Kerala 84-49.

That will be the last match on Thursday and the Tamil Nadu boys may have to tackle the cold conditions as much as the strong vocal support for Punjab in the vibrant atmosphere.

The results:

Men: Quarterfinals: Punjab 85 (Talwinderjit Shahi 20, Satnam Singh 18, Ranbir Singh 16, Palpreet Singh 12) bt Rajasthan 74 (Vinod Kumar 34, Harendra Singh 14, Lokesh Kumar 10).

Tamil Nadu 84 (C.V. Dinesh 21, Pratham Singh 14, Hareesh Koroth 14, Rikin Pethani 12, P. Akilan 10) bt Kerala 49 (T. S. Abhilash 11, Basil Philip 10).

Services 91 (Narender kumar 34, Dalip Kumar 22, Jairam Jat 14, Smithin Sethu 13) bt Railways 86 (Prakash Mishra 31, Gagandeep Singh 19, Sunil Kumar 17, Bijender Kumar 12).

Uttarakhand 77 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 32, Yadwinder Singh 11) bt Chhattisgarh 52 (Ajay Pratap 18, Shrawan Kumar 10, Sameer Rai 10, Bishambhar Pandey 10).

Pre-quarterfinals: Chhattisgarh 59 (Shrawan Kumar 18, Sameer Rai 11, P. Bishambar 11) bt Delhi 50 (Vinay Kaushik 15, Shakti 10).

Rajasthan 94 (Vinod Kumar 29, Hitender Singh 18, Kamran Khan 18) bt Andhra Pradesh 60 (Nihal Yadav 18, P.S.N. Rajan 12, Ramesh Kumar 10).

Women: Quarterfinals: Delhi 59 (Raspreet Sidhu 23, Manauti Passi 10) bt Maharashtra 56 (Anamika 17, Sneha 12, Renjusha 11).

Tamil Nadu 68 (R. Rajapriya 20, Soniya Joy 15, Apoorva Muralinath 13, M. Adhirai 10) bt Kerala 55 (P.S. Jeena, M. Athirai 14).

Chhattisgarh 74 (Poonam Chaturvedi 18, Kavita 12, Saranjeet Kaur 12) bt Punjab 50 (Nagma Mirza 17).

Railways 68 (Geethu Anna Jose 16, P. Anitha 12) bt Karnataka 36 (L.S. Savitha 15).

Pre-quarterfinals: Punjab 64 (Rajwinder Kaur 23, Sushma Rani 14) bt West Bengal 38.

Karnataka 60 (Reshma 10, Swathi 10) bt Madhya Pradesh 46 (Trisha Hooda 10, Vidushi Pathak 10).

Services subdues Railways in the men’s section