Punjab Men & TN Women win National Games Basketball Tournament

The basketball tournament at the 34th National Games in Ranchi came to an end on Tuesday, February 22nd, as Punjab Men and Tamil Nadu Women won their respective final games at the Harivansh Tana Bharat Indoor Stadium at city's Mega Sports Complex.


Led by explosive and experienced point guard TJ Sahi (28) points, Punjab sped past a hapless Uttarakhand side in the Final, leading the entire way to aa massive 97-57 win. The twin towers for Punjab, Jagdeep Singh and Yadwinder Singh had big games with 20 and 19 points respectively. Muralikrishna had 19 points for Uttarakhand in a losing effort.

The Women's game was a see-saw affair between Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, the winners of the recent Federation Cup in Raipur. After trailing by two at the end of the first quarter, Tamil Nadu's legendary Center Geethu Anna Jose caught fire, scoring at will to end the game with 34 points and dominate the next three quarters. TN beat Chhattisgarh 79-45. Renjini Jose added 21 for TN. For Chhattisgarh, captain Anju Lakra had a valiant 25 points.

Earlier in the day, in the third-place match-ups, Tamil Nadu Men won bronze after defeating Services 81-68. Delhi Women got third place after a win over Maharashtra 79-59.

Basketball tournament at the National Games set to tip off Friday

The 34th National Games 2011, set in Jharkhand, is being held from February 12-26th in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Dhanbad, as intimated by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). With over 30 different sporting events taking place, the tournament is featuring some of the best Indian athletes in the different fields.


The Basketball tournament at the National Games is set to be held from February 18th-22nd at the Harivansh Tana Bharat Indoor Stadium at the Mega Sports Complex in Ranchi. The tournament will feature the seven best teams in both the men’s and women’s divisions from the previous year’s Sr. National Basketball Championship, plus the team representing the state that host’s the tournament. Indian Railways are excluded from this tournament.

Thus, the top ranked teams from the 60th National Basketball Championship (Ludhiana) that will take part in this year’s tournament. Hosts Jharkhand qualify automatically as the eight seed in both divisions.

Men

1. Punjab
2. Tamil Nadu
3. Uttarakhand
4. Services
5. Andhra Pradesh
6. Chhattisgarh
7. Karnataka
8. Jharkhand

Women

1. Delhi
2. Chhattisgarh
3. Karnataka
4. Kerala
5. Tamil Nadu
6. Punjab
7. Maharashtra
8. Jharkhand

The last National Games were held back in February 2007 in Guwahati (Assam). Services (Men) and Tamil Nadu (Women) were the winners of the basketball tournament at this competition.