Services men, Railways women bag gold in National Basketball

Services toppled defending champions Uttarakhand to clinch gold in the men's section, while Indian Railways women bagged the yellow metal on the final day of the 66th National Basketball Championship, here.
Coming into the final with a 5-1 win-loss record in the league phase, Services registered a hard-fought win in the finals with a 73-67 victory against Uttarakhand to take the podium after a gap of nine years.
In the third place play-off, Tamil Nadu grabbed the bronze after they bounced back from their disappointing semifinal loss against Uttarakhand to outplay Punjab 82-68.
In the women's draw, Kerala, who came in unbeaten into the final alongwith with champions Railways, went down 55-72 to settle for silver. Delhi women edged past Telangana 71-66 to capture third place.

The gold medal winning teams were awarded a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh each, while the runners up were handed over Rs. 50,000 each and the bronze-winning sides had to settle for Rs. 25,000 each.
Navaneetha PU of the Indian Railways was awarded the Most Valuable Player in the women's section, while Services point guard Joginder Singh was awarded the men's Most Valuable Player. Each MVP was given a cash prize of Rs. 10,000.
Ministers from Government of Karnataka graced the final day action with HC Mahadevappa, Minister for Public Works Department, Mahadeva Prasad, Minister of Co-operation, HM Ambarish, Minister of Housing and Abhay Chandra, Minister for Fisheries & Sports in attendance.