Delhi up against Railways for title

Tamil Nadu were within touching distance,only a point adrift to Delhi’s 59 points with only two minutes to go,but that’s when the blow came. R Alagu Tamil Mozhi,the heart and soul of the team with 14 points,including a three-pointer,was fouled out of the game. The fight was over as Prashanti Singh,the top scorer in the game with 25 points,nailed a crucial three-pointer and Akansha Singh and Co ran the clock down. Delhi captain Raspreet Siddhu also chipped in with 19 points as Delhi survived their strongest test ahead of the final against Railways on Tuesday.

Tamil Nadu never allowed Delhi to build a big lead,except for a brief moment in the third quarter,when the hosts led 10 points. With Alagu and team mates sinking the basket for a succession of three-pointers,the fight had the sparse crowd,rooting for the south team in unison. It was only after Alagu’s exit,that the home team got some reprieve.

“Tamil Nadu team played better. But I need to add we didn’t play to our potential. Early on our we were missing baskets and we made lots of mistakes. We always knew that against this TN team,l who we thrashed recently,we could get away. But against Railways,we will get murdered if we commit the same mistakes,” Siddhu said,summing up the day for Delhi.

Meanwhile defending champions Indian Railways continued their domination in both men and women. The women crushed Chhattisgarh 97-60. P Anitha (23) and Renjini Peter (21) were the main scorers. In men,Railways put up an all-round performance against a strong Punjab side,maintaining a double digit lead throughout before winning 84-72. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Gagandeep Singh scored 22 points each for Railways.

Results: Women: Indian Railways 97 (P Anitha 23,Renjini Peter 21) beat Chhattisgarh 60 (Kavita 15,Aakansha Singh 13). Delhi 64 (Prashanti Singh 25,Raspreet Sidhu 19) beat Tamil Nadu 61 (S Kokila 19,R Alagu Tamil Mozhi 14); Men:Indian Railways 84 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 22,Gagandeep Singh 22) beat Punjab 72 (Jagdeep Singh 24,Talwinderjit Singh 23).

BFI names list of players
The Basketball Federation of India,finally came out with its first list of players,who will be paid an honorarium for the last three months. As first reported by this paper,the players have been bracketed into three categories — A,B and C — and will be paid Rs 30,000,20,000 and 10,000 respectively.

Category A: Men: Jagdeep Singh (Railways),Yadwinder Singh (Railways),Trideep Rai (Uttarakhand) and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Railways); Women: Geethu Anna Jose (Railways),Anitha Pau Durai (Railways),Prashanti Singh (Delhi),Akansha Singh (Delhi).

Category B: Men: Dishant Singh (Gujarat),Hareesh Karoth (Tamil Nadu),Eudrick Pereira (Kerala),Jay Ram Jat (Services),Dinesh CV (Tamil Nadu),Arjun Singh (Railways),Bobby Singh (UttarPradesh) and Amjyot Singh (Punjab); Women: Raspreet Siddhu (Delhi),Sneha Rajguru (Maharashtra),Bharti Netam (Railways),Pratima Singh (Delhi),Harjeet Kaur (Delhi),Raj Priyadarshini (Tamil Nadu),Jeena P.S. (Kerala) and Kokila (Railways).

Category C: Men: Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh),Sambaji Kadam (Services),Harpal Singh (Gujarat),Harinder Singh Rathore (Rajasthan),Rakesh Kr Yadav (UP),Barnet Carmel Joseph (TN),Rajan Sharma (Punjab),Jaskaran Singh (Punjab),Shadab Khan (Railways),Sunny Raut (MP),Anant Singh (Rajasthan),Kirti Goswami (MP),Sunil Rathi (Delhi),Shyam Sunder (Chhattisgarh),Loveneet Singh (Punjab),Harmandeep (Punjab),Karan Joshua (Karnataka),B Dinesh (Chhattisgarh),Abhishek Singh (UP),Kushmeet Singh (Punjab),Amritpal Singh (Punjab),Komalpreet Singh (Punjab),Pal Preet (Punjab),Manpreet (Punjab);

Women: Smruti Radhakrishnan (Railways),Pushpa M (Railways),Madhu (West Bengal),Soniya Joy (Kerala),Reshma G (Railways),Kruthka Lakshaman (Karnataka), Amruta Bhuskute (Maharashtra),Kavitha (Chhattisgarh),Aruna Kindo (Chhattisgarh),Sangitha Mandal (Chhattisgarh),Sangeet Kaur (Chhattisgarh),Preeti Kumari (UP),L. Suganya (TN),Navneeta P.U (Karnataka),Ashika Kuruvilla (Karnataka),Anjana P.G. (Kerala),Sara Vohra (Maharashtra)