Defending champs Uttarakhand in national basketball quarters

Defending champions joined Group A leaders Tamil Nadu in the quarter-finals thanks to a 79-67 win over Chhattisgarh in the 64th National Basketball Championship being held at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex here Sunday.

Amritpal Singh scored 28 points and 17 rebounds, Yadwinder Singh 20 (16 rebounds), and Paramjit Singh finished with 15 points as Uttarakhand won their third game in four matches. The defending champions' only loss in the tournament came against Southern powerhouse Tamil Nadu.

Karanpal Singh scored 30 points while Ajay Pratap Singh and Sameer Rai finished with 15 and nine points respectively for Chhattisgarh.

Tamil Nadu men rounded off an impressive showing in the group stage with a 83-62 win over Indian Railways, their fourth consecutive win.

Pratham Singh and Prasanna Venkatesh were again the danger men as both bagged 23 points.

N. Singh and P. Mishra scored 13 points each while Ankur Anand added 12 points for Indian Railways.

In the women's category, champions Indian Railways thumped Karnataka 91-39 and topped Group A winning all four league matches.

They looked strong from the start and were leading 51-15 at half time. Raja Priyadarshni scored 20 points (11 rebounds), M.Pushpa 16 and Anju Lakra finished with 13 points (three 3-pointers) for Indian Railways.

Kruthika (11 points) was the only Karnataka player to score in double digits. Savitha scored seven and Navaneetha finished with six points.

Complete Results:

Men:

Uttarakhand (Amritpal Singh 28, Yadwinder Singh 20, Paramjit Singh 15) bt Chhattishgarh (Karanpal Singh 30, Ajay Pratap Singh 15, Sameer Rai 9) 79-67.

Kerala (Abhilash T 23, Basil Philip 21, Albin Babay 13, Ajeeth Sugunan 12, Monish Wilson 11) bt Rajasthan (Vinod Kumar 20, Kamran Khan 17) 89-68.

Tamil Nadu (Pratham Singh 23, Prasanna Venkatesh 23, Rikin Pethani 16) bt Indian Railways (N Singh 13, P Mishra 13, Ankur Anand 12) 83-62.

Qualifying matches (Men):

Karnataka (Arvind 27, Srinivas Naik 22, Dheeraj Shetty 14) bt Haryana (Deepak R 24, Hemant S 21) 76-69 (21-20, 23-13, 16-19, 16-17)

Women:

Indian Railways (R.Priyadarshni 20, M.Pushpa 16, Anju Lakra 13) bt Karnataka (Kruthika L 11, Savitha 7, Navaneetha 6) 91-39.

Tamil Nadu (Soniya Joy 12, V. Srividya 12, R Ramya 12, R. Algu Tamil Mozi 11) bt Madhya Pradesh (Jhilik Roy 11, Sakshi Pandey 11) 84-34.

Punjab (Kiranjit Kaur 23, Kirandeep Kaur 19) bt Chhattishgarh (Sangeeta Kaur 13, Deepa 10, Anjana Daisy Ekka 10) 64-52.

Qualifying matches (Women):

Andhra Pradesh (M. Gayatmriz 13, Jnney Joseph 10, Jilna Jose 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Niharika 8) 48-15.