Delhi, Chhattisgarh win junior basketball championships

Delhi won the boys' title and Chhattisgarh girls retained their crown in the 64th Junior National Basketball Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, here today.
Delhi defeated Punjab 89-82 (19-20, 24-26, 20-11, 26-25) in a close encounter while Poonam Chaturvedi, with 43 points, led the Chhattishgarh girls to another title as they beat Kerala 79-68 (21-15, 18-15, 19-21, 21-17).
Tamil Nadu trounced Kerala 96-57 to finish with third in the boys event.
In the girls' section, Maharashtra got the better off Tamil Nadu 78-66 to secure third place in the competition.
The winning teams got Rs 1,00,000 each while the first and the second runners-up received Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 each.

Delhi's Gaurav Ohlan was declared Most Valuable Player among boys and Chhattisgarh's Kavita Akula won the MVP award in the girls' section. Both were given win Rs 15000 each.

Meanwhile, President Basketball Federation of India R S Gill felicitated the Indian U-18 boys team that had won silver in the 1st FIBA Asia 3X3 at Bangkok, Thailand in May this year.
A prize money Rs 50,000 each was given to the team members and the accompanying officials.
Results:
Boys: Final - Delhi (Pradeep Kumar 26, Ohlan Gourav 23, Pankaj Rathi 17, Narender Rathi 15) bt Punjab (Satnam Singh 24, Loveneet Singh 14, Jaspreet Singh 11, Abhishek Rai 10) 89-82 (19-20, 24-26, 20-11, 26-25).

3rd/4th - Tamil Nadu (S.Karthickeyan 38, Nikal Pandian 13, M. Harissh 13, P.Vijay 11, P.Raghunath 10) bt Kerala (Akhil 20, Sreerag 10) 96-57 (27-18, 24-11, 30-12, 15-16).
Girls: Final - Chhattishgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 43, Sangeeta 21, Akula Kavita 13) bt Kerala (Poojamol 33, Grima 12, Arathy 9) 79-68 (21-15, 18-15, 19-21, 21-17)
3rd/4th - Maharashtra (Ishwari 21, Shireen 19, Krittika 16, Sruthi 13) bt Tamil Nadu (Keerthi 13, Mathurayaani 11, Sharmila 10) 78-66 (21-21, 19-13, 18-18, 20-14).