Defending men's and women's champions Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh had contrasting results on the third day here as the former suffered a loss against Punjab while the latter defeated Maharashtra respectively at the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship today.
In men's category, Punjab led by Gagandeep Singh (16) and Gurvinder Gill (13) notched up a stunning 65-57 (12-17, 13-11, 26-17, 14-8) win over Uttarakhand.
For the defending champions, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi (18) and Trideep Rai (12) scored most points.
In women's event, Chhattisgarh continued their good run as Poonam Chaturvedi (23), Saranjeet Kaur (17) and Sangeeta Kaur (11) guided their side to a 72-45 [27-14, 18-10, 16-10, 11-11] victory over Maharashtra.
Sangeeta (13), Shireen Limaye (10) and Manisha Dange (10) contributed for Maharashtra but it was not enough.
Among others, last year's runners up Tamil Nadu continuing their winning streak by defeating Kerala men with a huge margin of 27 points, riding on Aravind Annadurai (22) performance.
In the women's level 1 matches, Kerala women registered a 57-31 (17-12, 18-8, 14-4, 8-7) victory over a young and inexperienced Madhya Pradesh side after their opening day win against defending champions Chhattisgarh.
Jeena Scaria, one of India's best players, showcased her class today with 16 points.
Indian Railways and Delhi women also stayed strong registering wins over Tamil Nadu 96-71 (21-22, 23-17, 26-14, 26-18) and Punjab 70-56 (18-16, 14-9, 14-17, 24-14) respectively on the third day.
