#5 – Arise Steel 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship: Tamil Nadu girls and MP boys maintain perfect record

Puducherry, 4^rd February 2016: The league stages of the Arise Steel 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship entered its third day here in Puducherry. The early morning session of Day 3 was filled with level 1 girls’ games. Defending champs Kerala girls recovered from their stunning loss yesterday to defeat Haryana today 63-45. Krisha Priya once again led the Kerala side in scoring with 22 points. Karnataka girls suffered a loss today at the hands of the Tamil Nadu team, who are undefeated so far. Pavithra Sree put up another strong performance for Tamil Nadu with 21 points. Last year’s runners up Chhattisgarh girls continued their good run in the tournament so far with a 69-38 victory over Uttar Pradesh. Chhattisgarh’s Elijabet Ekka maintained her consistency with a game-high 22 points. Madhya Pradesh girls pulled off a 10-point win over Maharashtra with the final score at 51-41. Later in the morning, in the level 2 girls’ game, Himachal Pradesh picked up their second victory of the tournament with a 43-31 victory against Gujarat, led by Ananya Sanoria’s 17 points.

In the boys’ games, defending champions Madhya Pradesh maintained their perfect record with a convincing 94-31 win against Odisha. Pankaj Singh top scored for the MP team with 23 points. The Haryana boys got the better of Maharashtra today with a 63-49 victory. The Rajasthan boys team tasted their first defeat of the tournament at the hands of last year’s runners up Chhattisgarh, who took the game 72-51. Tamil Nadu boys continued to impress with a big 43-12 win over the Goa team. In the other boys’ games, Uttar Pradesh managed to edge past Andhra Pradesh in a high scoring contest that ended at 81-71 in favour of UP.

Results from Day 3 (4-2-2016) up to 1.30 pm

Girls:

Level 1:

Group A:

1.       Tamil Nadu (S. Pavithra Sree 21, G. Hari Vardini 20) bt Karnataka (Anjali Venkat 9) 59-36 (18-10, 8-9, 18-10, 15-17)

2.       Kerala (Krishna Priya SS 22, Haleema Jan 17) bt Haryana (Varsha 11) 63-45 (10-14, 13-5, 19-10, 21-16)

Group B:

1.       Madhya Pradesh (Rajvi Desai 14, Asmat Kaur 11) bt Maharashtra (Shruti Bhosale 21) 51-41 (8-9, 6-12, 18-8, 19-12)

2.       Chhattisgarh (Elijabet Ekka 22, Sanskriti Singh 14) bt Uttar Pradesh (Tripti Singh 8) 69-38 (17-9, 24-7, 13-14, 15-8)

Level 2:

Group D:

1.       Himachal Pradesh (Ananya Sanoria 17, Ramandeep 10) bt Gujarat (Khushubu 11) 43-31 (13-4, 9-10, 7-10, 20-7)

Boys:

Level 1:

Group A:

1.       Madhya Pradesh (Pankaj Singh 23, Jeet Kharwar 17, Manish Prasad 11) bt Odisha (Brahmananda B. 8) 94-31 (14-9, 22-8, 29-9, 29-5)

2.       Haryana (Hardeep 15, Gaurav Sheoran 11) bt Maharashtra (Raza Shaikh 16, Vishal Kumar Satyadeo 12) 63-49 (15-15, 11-8, 20-18, 17-14)

Group B:

1.       Uttar Pradesh (Aniket Singh 39, A. Kumar Singh 18) bt Andhra Pradesh (A. Sai Pawan Kumar 24, P. Venkata Raju 21) 81-71(15-13, 17-22, 24-15, 25-21)

2.       Chhattisgarh (Rishab 24, Sandeep 14) bt Rajasthan (Jaiveer 14, Ankit 11, Mohammad Aasif 10) 72-51 (18-16, 10-12, 25-15, 19-8)

Level 2:

Group E:

1.       Tamil Nadu (Salmal 18, Velmurugan 6) bt Goa (Daniel Godinho 4) 43-12 (9-4, 14-3, 1-5, 19-0)

Group F:

1.       Bihar (Md. Danish 12, Dharmendra K. 12) bt Tripura (Aftab Khan 2, Vibhu Singh 2) 77-4 (24-4, 26-0, 14-0, 12-0)

About the 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship

The 42^nd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship is being organised in Puducherry from the 2^nd to the 8^th of February 2016 at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. There are two indoor courts inside the complex, named Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, along with one outdoor court in the complex dedicated to the tournament. This year’s event is being organised by the Puducherry Basketball Association under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India. The Sub-Junior Nationals is an annual national tournament for U-14 boys’ and girls’ teams from states across India. This year’s tournament is witnessing the participation of 23 boys’ teams and 21 girls’ teams. Arise Steel is the main sponsor for the tournament.

The 41^st Sub-Junior Nationals were conducted in Nashik, Maharashtra, where the Kerala girls and the Madhya Pradesh boys emerged victorious clinching the gold medals. Chhattisgarh girls and boys were the second placed teams. The 2013 version tournament was conducted in Patna, Bihar. The Chhattisgarh teams won both the boys and the girls category last year, while the Madhya Pradesh boys and the Tamil Nadu girls finished runners-up respectively.

About Basketball Federation of India

The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honour of Arjuna Awards. Earlier in June 2015, 19-year-old Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian national to be drafted by an NBA team, when he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks. More information at www.basketballfederationindia.org