1But the strategy boomeranged. Thane were whipped 69-50 by Mumbai Central in the pre-quarterfinal, ending their dreams of a final berth two phases earlier. Ironically, poolmates Sangli had an easy run into tomorrow's quarter-final, beating Kolhapur 55-27.

Favourites Mumbai North, Mumbai South-East, Mumbai South-West and Pune directly qualified for the quarter-finals by topping their leagues.Thane girls defeated Mumbai Central 35-24 to enter the semis. They were joined by Nagpur, who accounted for Pune 55-43.

Thane's plans came unstuck due to foul trouble. An aggressive half press against Central took its toll, tall pivots Anup Nair andcaptain Dheeraj forced out with five fouls apiece. Avinash Nair followed them out, while top scorer Binoy (37) stuck on with four against his name.

Results
Boys league: Pune 57 (Apoorv Sontakke 21, A Amod 10) bt Mumbai Central 51 (Siddharth Shukla 22, Rohan Kumar 17) HT 20-24; Sangli 60 (Mahesh Nagane 14, Milind Kadam 13, Anil Sankpal 12) bt Thane 47 (V Maulik 12, KB Binoy 10) HT 42-32; Nagpur 54 (Ravi Kumar 11) bt Satara 20 (Rohan G 8) HT 30-11. (PQF): Mumbai Central 69 (Rohan Kumar 33, Siddharth Shukla 13) bt Thane 50 (KB Binoy 37) HT 26-24; Sangli 55 (Mahesh Nagane 11, Sachin Patil 9) bt Kolhapur 27 (D Sagar 8) HT 36-15.

Girls league: Thane 35 (Madhura Bodas 10, Gayatri Manolikar 13) bt Mumbai Central 24 (Krupa Temkar 10) HT 14-14; Nagpur 55 (Snehashree Desai 16, Minal Patil 15, Poonam Holkar 11) bt Pune 43 (Shweta Shitole 19, Renuka Agarwal 11) HT 26-24.