Khelo: Dominant Punjab cagers enter semis of U-17 basketball

Defending champions Punjab boys registered their second successive win to seal a berth in the semi-finals of the Under-17 basketball event at the Khelo India Youth Games 2019 here Wednesday.

Led by a 20-point effort by skipper Rajan, Punjab ended the challenge of hosts Maharashtra 72-48 in a Pool B encounter.

The hosts thus bowed out of the event, a media release said.

In another encounter, Haryana brushed aside Tamil Nadu 81-58 to maintain their clean slate.

Both Punjab and Haryana face-off in the last league encounter to decide the group winner.

From Group A, Rajasthan downed Madhya Pradesh 88-77.

The race for the second spot in the group will be between Kerala and Karnataka, who had mixed results on day 2.

The Under-21 boys section had Kerala (Group-A), Punjab and Tamil Nadu (Group-B) booking their spots in the last-four, the release stated.

Results: Under-17, Boys Pool-A:Rajasthan bt Madhya Pradesh 88-77; Kerala bt Karnataka 82-73 Pool-B:Punjab b Maharashtra 72-48;Haryana bt Tamil Nadu 81-58.

Under-17, Girls Pool-A:Punjab bt Rajasthan 78-58