Bhar cagers lift maiden title

LUDHIANA, February 4: The moist eyes said it all as Bihar made history by toppling mighty Punjab to win the Todd Memorial Trophy for the fir...

LUDHIANA, February 4: The moist eyes said it all as Bihar made history by toppling mighty Punjab to win the Todd Memorial Trophy for the first time. Emotions and passions ran high as the men from Tisco beat Punjab 65-54. In the women8217;s final, Railways annexed the Baslat Jha Trophy for the 10th time beating Maharashtra 79-36. Earlier, Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu 60-59 to clinch the third place for the first time after the Cuttack National in 1965.

More than the over-confidence exuded by Punjab, it was Bihar8217;s strategy that made the difference in a match where a lot of was at stake. Punjab hoopsters had downed Bihar in their previous encounter here in 1994. This defeat must also have rankled Punjab since they were the hosts this time and their women had crashed out in the quarter-finals to Maharashtra.

On the other hand, Bihar led by fleet-footed Shahid Qureshi, the only professional cager from India, Bihar had the guts to put it across any team on a given day as they did today.

Playing with just sixplayers Bihar countered the might of Punjab well sticking to the pre-match tip handed down by coach JP Singh. The strategy was simple, quot;Don8217;t let Parminder Sr break free and mark the swifter rivals, Parminder Jr and Gagnesh Kumar.quot;

Rattled by the Bihar defence, Punjab then indulged in rough play which only helped their rivals. Qureshi was able to wade through and shoot despite being heavily marked. Besides, Islauddin was always near the basket.

Leading 39-25 at the interval, Bihar resumed the second session on a more confident note with Dhaliwal basketting the first shot. But they were guilty of not converting some sitters for the next three minutes. This was the period when Punjab managed to bring down the deficit Bihar however took the match beyond Punjab. Earlier, Railway women went about their task with ease. In fact, their coach and Arjuna Award winner Ajmer Singh was so relaxed that he gave everyone a chance to have a go at their rivals. Playing a resigned game, the girls from Maharashtra failed tocombine well. Even their shooting was erratic against a tight Railway defence.

For Railways, Sheeba Magon returned to form firing in 13 points along with Jeena Jose and Prabjot Gill. Pradnya Mane was off-colour and so was captain Arnika Gujar.

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Results: Men Final: Bihar 65 Shahid Qureshi 25, Jaideep Dhaliwal 8, Cyril Miranda, 8, Islauddin 9 bt Punjab 54 Vipin Kumar 18, Parminder Singh Sr 10, Gursharan Jeet Singh 10, Gagnesh Kumar 9. Third place: Karnataka 60 BN Arun Kumar 18, R Rajan 21, BS Gautam 13 bt Tamil Nadu 59 Saravanan 12, Jaishankar Menon 8, Sreedhar 8.

Women Final: Railways 79 Sheeba Magon 13, Jeena Jose 13, Prabjot Gill 10, Jiji Jose 12 bt Maharashtra 36 Prachi Velankar 9, Mithila Gujar 7. Third place: Kerala 49 Binu Cherian 10, Sini Thaliath 9 bt Madhya Pradesh 47 J Venu 18, Savitha Deshwal 11.