The men's team didn't upset the draw by quelling ONGC, Dehradun 80-66 in a late night match. Stronger offensive rebounding and distinct height advantage, won a match which saw both teams make too many hasty attempts. The Hyderabadis had surprised Western Railway, Mumbai yesterday and are billed to meet Central Railway, Mumbai in the final league match on Friday.

Western Railway, Ajmer handed Delhi their third straight loss in a match stopped twice by sudden showers. The Ajmer team, regrouping after the retirement of tall international Ajmer Singh and relying heavily on another veteran international 35-year-old Ram Kumar are fancied to win the tournament.

SC Rly lack the height, but made up with some bustling traffic inside the restricted area. Sharp passes, soundrotation and minimum hasty attempts -- they waited for an opening before going for the kill.

D Anandhi had two steals and one sharp assist to give SC Railway a flying 10-4 start, a lead which they widened to 26-40 midway in the second-half. Delhi, always threatening a comeback, were woefully off target. Until Manjit Kaur -- player of the match, plotted a cameo. She snapped up a five-basket run, inspired fellow international Nishita Chaudhari to contribute two three pointers -- and suddenly, the margin was down to five again. Alas, they had peaked too late!

RESULTS

Men: ONGC, Dehradun 79 (Anup Minz 24, Suresh Kumar 27, Rajinder Singh) bt Delhi 40 (Arun Kumar 17) HT 35-17. Western Rly, Ajmer 69 (Ashok Kumar 15, Narender Kumar 12, Surjit Singh 24) bt Delhi 46 (Arun Kumar 16) HT 38-21. Player of the match: Surjit Singh

SC Rly, Hyderabad 80 (V Rajesh 17, N Srinivasan 12, Vishal 24, Ravi Kumar 15, Madhusudhan Rao 12) bt ONGC, Dehradun 66 (Anup Minz 17, Suresh Kumar 22, Rajinder Singh 17, MAshokan 10). HT 36-38

Women: W Rly 76 (Meena Singh 16, Ivy Cherian 15, Lincy Joseph 13, Deepali Shah 10, Bindu Mathew 10, Shanti Saldanha 10) bt N Rly 54 (Prabhjyot Singh Gill 25 (3x3), Loveraj Bhullar 22 (4x3)) HT 41-30. Best player: Ivy Cherian

SC Rly, Hyderabad 54 (D Anand 19, UP Laiji 14) bt Delhi 49 (Mandeep Kaur 22, Nishita Chaudhari 14, Shivani Gupta 13)