LUDHIANA, February 2: Holders Tamil Nadu struggled their way up, beating a determined but tired Maharashtra 63-53 and Punjab, despite some initial hiccups, overcame Railways 90-56 to complete the men's semi-final line-up of the 48th Senior National Basketball Championships at the Guru Nanak Stadium here today.Earlier, Karnataka mauled Andhra Pradesh 53-33 while Bihar toyed with Services to win 80-46.On an eventful day, Karnataka women became the worst hit as they went down to Madhya Pradesh 17-52, having to play in the rain on an unfamiliar court. But for this match, all other quarter-finals in the women's section were shifted to the indoor court, midway.Delhi women went down to champion side Railways 36-85, Kerala downed Andhra Pradesh 85-33 and Maharashtra, keeping their nerves in tact, won over Punjab 54-51 in a needle match.In the semi-finals, Railway women will take on Kerala while Maharashtra will play Madhya Pradesh. All the semi-finals are slated for the morrow.The drama in the morningnotwithstanding, things went on expected lines, at least for Maharashtra women. And the star, who fashioned their win was the surprise packet, Pradnya Mane. The little girl from Satara, kept under wraps so far, showed her prowess at outwitting the normally quick-footed Punjab girls.Results:Men (QF): Bihar 80 (Nishant Kumar 18, Islauddin 14, J Dhaliwal 20, S Quereshi 10) bt Services 46 (Amrithanathan 12, Phool Singh 12); Karnataka 53 (Rajan 21, Arun Kumar 16) bt Andhra Pradesh 33; Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra 63-53; Punjab bt Railways 90-56.Women (QF): Madhya Pradesh 52 (Neelam S 13, Savitha D 22) bt Karnataka 17 (Pavithra MU 4); Railways 85 (Geo Jose 10, Sheeba Maggon 11, Ji Ji Jose 8, Rekha Chaudhary 8, Laiji UP 8, Aparna Ghosh 8, Deepali K 8) bt Delhi: 36 (Nishitha 11, Shivani 13); Kerala 65 (Sini Thaliath 17, Sandhya PV 19) bt Andhra Pradesh: 33 (Sreeja S 8, Shetty MS 9); Maharashtra 54 (Pradnya Mane 22, Arnika Gujar 10) bt Punjab: 51 Pavneet Kaur 1)
