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Journalism of Courage
Women win seventh title in a row,men complete a hat-trick; Delhi women thrashed 95-45
Geethu Anna Jose,India’s premier women’s basketball player,was leading the Railways team for the first time at the National Basketball Championships this time. The six-time winner who joined the squad in 2004 succeeded in her role as skipper. But the first quarter of the final match against Delhi wasn’t as convincing for the pro and the tallest player on the court on Tuesday. Her shots lacked technique that resulted in her being off target neither was she able to make the most of the rebounds that she won.
Railways hoopsters in Smruthi RK,P Anitha,Anju Lakara lifted their game as their captain was busy fighting her own demons. The girls ran the hosts ragged with a succession of lay-ups and three-pointers.
It was Delhi,who began with a succession of lay-ups from Raspreet Siddhu and Shiba Maggon,to give the hosts a favourable start. While,Prashanti Singh was winning the mini-battle inside the Railways D,drawing fouls and then scoring from the free-throws. But things began to change when Smruthi scored,beating the buzzer to get Railways level at 18 points each. From there on the tie swung in favour of the Railways. In the end Delhi were once again outplayed 95-55 and Geethu,despite having a tough time at the start,finished with 29 points.
Geethu said she was advised team mate Anitha,to take the back seat since she struggled. “Anitha asked me to relax when I missed shots. May be I was tensed leading the side for the first time. Anju had a lot of three-pointers and Smruthi too played very well,” she said. In comparison to their female compatriots,the men’s team had to fend off a charged up Services team to make it a memorable outing for the Railways Sports Promotion Board as they registered a 74-62 win.
Arjun Singh led the fightback with 27 points,after Services,led by Sambaji Kadam had led by five points (20-15) in the first quarter. While Kadam was brilliant with his passing,he ran into foul trouble in the second quarter. Without Kadam in the middle,Services looked out of sorts,and Railways took full advantage of it.
Other results: Women’s third-place match: Tamil Nadu 55 bt Chhattisgarh 51; men’s third-place match: Punjab 89 bt. Kerala 67
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