Ghatkopar YMCA win junior boys’ title

Earlier, Central Railway’s bench strength helped them rally brilliantly to defeat Income-Tax 62-60 in a nail biting men’s semi-final. With fifteen minutes left for the final whistle, Income Tax enjoyed a huge 16 point lead at 44-28. They were headed into the final. But in the most amazing of turn-arounds. Income-Tax did not score for the next 11 minutes despite making 23 attempts in that period, as Railway sparked off a 24-0 run to lead 52-44. The man of themoment for Central was former junior International Sayeed Bijapuri. The 37-year old was playing a competitive match after seven years, the knee pad conspicuous of the injury he was carrying. Bijapuri steped in five minutes play when five minutes play was left in the first half. He took control of the game in the second, moving the ball around and feeding pivots Fazil Shaikh and Imran Ansari.

Imran shone, scoring 14 of his 21 points in the second-half. Sayeed himself contributed eight points, one steal and a block on Mahesh Naidu! After the match, he humbly said, “ I don’t play much, the younger players should get a chance, The team combined really well.”

What can we say about Income Tax? They had the match wrapped up in a bow-string and then blew it by slowing down the pace in the second-half. They held possession too long, but often made hasty attempts to beat the 30 second violation. Income Tax’s international Mahesh Naidu said,“ We were feeling tired at the stage. We should have forced the pace butthe absence of a coach mattered a lot.”

Results

Junior boys (final): Ghatkopar YMCA 69 (Sachin More 23, Ralph Gomes 13, Aijaz Shaikh 13, Ashish Lad 12, Pragnesh Bhanushali 8) bt Bombay YMCA 49 (Shailesh Saldanha 21, Aamir Ansari 10, Rizwan Siddique 9) HT 42-22.

Men (semis): Shivaji Nagar Gymkhana 70 (Pankaj Deshmukh 23, Mahesh Gharwar 15, Hemant Waghade 15) bt Chembur YMCA 49 (S Gopal 14, Sheldon Buthelo 9, Vijay Neygandhi 12) HT 35-25; Central Railway (Imran Ansari 21, Abdul Hamid Khan 15, Fazil Shaikh 12, Sayeed Bijapuri 8) bt Income Tax 60 (Mahesh Naidu 21, Shibu George 19, Clarence Menezes 18) HT 23-32.