NEW DELHI, October 2: Holders Punjab Police began their campaign in the all-India Master Prithvi Nath Sharma Memorial Basketball Tournament in right earnest, trouncing hosts Prithvi Nath Club 92-49 in the inaugural pool A game at the Ajmal Khan Park courts here today. The winners were comfortably leading at 66-24 at the break.The afternoon thunderstorm, followed by the heavy rains forced the organisers delay the start by nearly an hour. But that did not, in any way, lessen the enthusiasm of the teams as they fought well in a seemingly one-sided game.Punjab Police, virtually the state team and who finished runners-up in the Ludhiana Nationals, had no difficulty in putting it across the hosts. With stalwarts like the Parminders (senior and junior), the fleet-footed Gagnesh pressing hard, PNC's task was always going to be tough.They, however, mustered courage to challenge the Punjab Police defence and were successful to some extent. The tall Arun Kumar and Brian were quick to capitalise on the chances for PNC but they could not sustain it for a long time and missed some easy points. In fact, their poor rebound collection let them down.But for the Punjab team, pivot Parminder senior was always there to collect the rebounds and dunk them with utmost ease. Gagnesh, generally a good three-pointer shooter, did not attempt at many but proved more than a handful for PNC. Parminder Junior and Gagnesh combined well and forced the pace in the first session and contributed 18 and 17 points respectively.But in the second half they began slowly and took almost five minute before scoring their first points. Their bench strength was so adequate that the first five was rested for most part of the second session and it was left to Gurkirpal Singh to take centrestage thereafter. Though Gurkirpal contributed only 10 points, he made good passes for his teammates to swell their tally. For PNC, Arun Kumar shone with 17 points.Apart from Punjab Police and Prithvi Nath Club, India Juniors and Punjab Red are placed in Pool A while Western Railway, BSF, Tisco and ONGC form Pool B in men's section.Brief Scores: Punjab Police 92 (Parminder Jr 18, Gagnesh Kumar 17, Parminder Sr 16, Gurkirpal Singh 10) bt PNC 49 (Arun Kumar 17, Brian 7, Bharat 7) HT: 66-29.
