Title - Vishesh and Yadwinder put Uttarakhand in final

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh scored 50 points between them to guide Uttarakhand out of a tight corner and into the final of the IMG Reliance 63rd National basketball championship here on Thursday.The class of the two erstwhile Railway players, now employed with ONGC, was evident in the way they pulled Uttarakhand ahead with a clutch of three-pointers with Services leading 17-15 in the first quarter of their semifinal. The two scored 18 points compared to two by Services in the early phase of the second quarter. However, Services hung on gamely despite trailing 29-39 at half-time.In a dramatic third quarter, Services combined nicely to bridge the gap to two points (45-47), and fought bravely to remain just two points down (53-55) by the end of the quarter.However, Uttarakhand showed its champion stuff as it broke free to register a comprehensive 83-66 victory.In the second semifinal, defending champion Punjab bounced back from 36-37 at half-time to outplay Tamil Nadu 79-59.Amritpal Singh thrilled the home crowd with 26 points, while Talwinderjit Shahi came up with an all-round game to ensure a smooth finish for the host, which pulled ahead 55-47 at the end of the third quarter.

Adhirai stars for TN

In the women’s section, the Tamil Nadu girls rode on M. Adhirai’s six three-pointers to record a thrilling 61-56 victory over Chhattisgarh. Tamil Nadu led 30-25 at half-time, thanks to Apoorva Muralinath’s strong show, and stretched the advantage to 17 points at one stage.

However, the Chhattisgarh girls fought back brilliantly through Saranjeet Kaur. The team, however, froze in the last four minutes, failing to score a single point.

In the final, Tamil Nadu will challenge defending champion Railways, which was troubled initially by a fighting Delhi, the only team to break the monopoly of the champion team in the last 25 years. Geethu Anna Jose then took over, scoring at will, as Railways started to chug along merrily.

The results (semifinals):

Men: Uttarakhand 83 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 28, Yadwinder Singh 22, Murali Krishna 13) bt Services 66 (Joender Singh 15, Gopal Ram 13, Dalip Kumar 12, Jairam Jat 10).

Punjab 79 (Amritpal Singh 26, Talwinderjit Shahi 21, Satnam Singh 12) bt Tamil Nadu 59 (C.V. Dinesh 19, Pratham Singh 12, Rikin Pethani 10).

Women: Railways 84 (Geethu Anna Jose 34, M. Pushpa 12) bt Delhi 45 (Pratima Singh 14, Manauti Passi 12, Raspreet Sidhu 11).

Tamil Nadu 61 (M. Adhirai 23, Apoorva Muralinath 15, Soniya Joy 11, Raja Priyadarshini 10) bt Chhattisgarh 56 (Seema Singh 21, Saranjeet Kaur 10).