Punjab boys record facile win over Bihar

In the girls section, however, Punjab arrested any early ambitions that the Orissa girls might have had, particularly after their showing in the first session, by subduing them 51-30 in pool E. But both Haryana and Andhra Pradesh girls had a roller-coaster ride in the same pool as they beat Jammu and Kashmir 63-13 and 51-30, respectively.

The best match of the day was, undoubtedly, the one between Karnataka and West Bengal boys. Both the teams matched in their skills and techniques but what separated them was the Karnataka hoopsters’ solid defence and the ability to convert the free throws.

The Bengal boys were trailing by just five points (20-25) at the start of the second session but soon caught up with their rivals. It was S Abhishek (15) and S Tyagarajan (8) who turned the tables against West Bengal by shooting accurately at the crucial junctions to win by a four-point margin.

Binod Pandey (14) and Amar (10) were the main scorers for West Bengal.In contrast, the match between Punjab and Orissa girls was a lesson of nerves. The girls had arrived only last night and yet did not show any weariness. The half-time score was 27-24 in favour of Punjab. But once the game started after interval, the Punjab girls did not yield an inch of space. For Punjab, Mandeep Kaur (26), Ruby Kathuria (15) were the main scorers while Prithvi (13) was the lone fighter for Orissa.

The others matches in both the girls section and the boys section went on the expected lines with the favourites having an easy time.