Maharashtra seek to sizzle at home

Maharashtra boys, who too were champions nine years ago in Mumbai itself, now have in their ranks Sachin Rao, who would also lead the team. Accompanying him on the courts would be Rohan Kumar, Raymand Irani, Vineet Hingwe and Girish Chopda, who have ability to turn the tables like last year’s semifinalists Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Manager of the hosts’ girls team, Mukund Dhus said his squad would definitely go all out to beat their opponents to make the semifinals. He relies heavily on the prowess of captain Sweta Shitole, Kirti Pandit and Neha Vaidya.

“We can certainly reach the last four stage though we are unable to field a strong team because of the ongoing School Nationals. We need to give off our best and consistently to reach the final,” he said.

In all 20 boys and 14 girls’ teams will take part in the 17th edition of the Nationals. The organisers said that the poor response in the girls section was also due to the School Nationals.

The state boys meet Orissa in inuagural match while Rajasthan eves will meet Maharashtra girls in the opening matches.

THE GROUPINGS

BOYS: Gr `A’: Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Bengal; Gr `B’: Uttar Pradesh Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura; Gr `C’: Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Services (Army); Gr `D’: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rahashthan. GrE’: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Manipur, Orissa.

GIRLS: GR A: Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi; Gr `B’: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat; Gr `C’: Andra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal; Gr `D’: Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Punjab, Rajasthan

The Teams:

Maharashtra (Boys): Sachin Rao (Capt), Rohan Kumar (both Mumbai Central), Rayumand Irani, Vineet Hingwe and Girish Chopda (all Pune), Anap Shardul and Bibin David (both Thane), Urjit Patil (Kolhapur), Viraj Kadam (Mumbai Central), Manoj Rakshak (Nagpur), Suleman Patel (Mumbai South-East) and Anil Sankpal (Sangli). Coach: Mathew Fernandes (Pune). Manager: Kishore Kulkarni (Nasik).

Girls:òF39ó Shweta Shitole (Capt), Sayali Leole, Pranati Surve and sHWETA Shirsat (all Pune), Inez D’Souza, Yolinda Johnson and Kiran Patil (all Kolhapur), Akruti Desai and Archana Gopalkrishnan (both Mumbai Central), Neha Vaidya and Kirti Pandit (both Thane) and Suchitra Deshmukh (Satara). Coach: Lalit Nahata (Pune) Manager: Mukund Dhus (Mumbai Central.)

TWENTYSEVEN probables have been selected to attend the coaching camp to select the senior state men’s and women’s teams for 51st National Basketball Championship to be held at Bangalore from January 5-12, 2001.

THE PROBABLES: Men: Vijay Naygandhi, Satish Warriar, Shrihari Garge, Stephen Rodrigues and Krishnakumar Sahi (all Mumbai South West), Ankush Raut, Bhavesh Kuchanwar, Sanket Deshpande and Shatrughna Gokhale (all Nagpur), Apoorva Sontakke and Pravin Jadhav (both Pune), Sadat Kharadi (Solapur), Amol Joshi (Nasik), Sanjay Dhone of Ahmednagar and Harpreet Randhawa (Mumbai North).

Women: Pradnya Mane, Mithila Gujar, Rashmi Yewale and Kanchan Nalawade (all Satara), Manisha Kaprekar, Gayatri Monolikar and Kirti Pandit (all Thane), Minal Patil and Poonam Holkar (both Nagpur), Geetali Deshpande (Nasik), Lincy Joseph and Sheejal Mathew (both Mumbai South)