TN tie-up with supremacy

March 18: Tamil Nadu pipped holders Bihar and Railways to emerge Pool A leaders on quotient after a three-way tie in the men's Super Leag...

March 18: Tamil Nadu pipped holders Bihar and Railways to emerge Pool A leaders on quotient after a three-way tie in the men8217;s Super League of the National Basketball Championship at the SMS Stadium here this evening.

The teams were tied with three victories and one defeat each in the five-team league programme. Tamil Nadu scored 116 points and 109 against; Bihar got 129 points and had 122 against while Railways totalled 112 points and conceded 126 points. After the quotient was applied, Tamil Nadu emerged the leaders with 1.064 while Bihar had 1.057 and Railways 0.888.

Bihar, after a slow start in the initial stages of their last Super League match, rallied to down West Bengal 56-43 after the teams were locked 30-30 in the first half. If West Bengal had upset Bihar, the defending champions would have been relegated to the fourth place.

Tamil Nadu, Railways, Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka and Services qualified for the knockout stage quarter-final. Rajasthan will play Madhya Pradesh and the winner in that match will clash with Pool C winners Uttar Pradesh, to determine the other pre-quarter-finalists. The winners of Rajasthan-MP vs Uttar Pradesh will determine the placing for pre-quarter-finals.

The following are the positions in Men8217;s league programme

Super League Men:

Pool A: 1. Tamil Nadu, 2. Bihar, 3. Indian Railways, 4. West Bengal

Pool B: 1. Services, 2. Punjab, 3. Karnataka, 4. Maharashtra.

Andhra Pradesh and Delhi have been relegated to the qualifying league for the next nationals.

Qualifying league

Pool C: 1 Uttar Pradesh, 2 Haryana, 3 Himachal Pradesh, 4 Pondicherry.

Pool D: 1 Rajasthan, 2 Orissa, 3 Jammu and Kashmir, 4 goa.

Pool E: 1 Madhya Pradesh, 2 Kerala, 3 Gujarat, 4 Chandigarh.

In the women8217;s section, Railways, Kerala, Punjab Pool A Super League, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh Pool B Super League qualified for knockout quarter-finals stage. Karnataka and Delhi were pushed to qualifying league for the next Nationals.

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Chandigarh have already made the grade. A fighting fit Services recorded two victories today in their pool B Super League men8217;s matches. In the morning they defeated Karnataka 65-52 and later in the evening, the Armymen accounted for Maharashtra to top their pool. Services won 52-33.

An incredible 65 league matches, both in the men8217;s and women8217;s sections, were conducted in three-and-a-half days on three courts, including two floodlit ones. G M Sampath Kumar, chairman Technical Commission, Basketball Federation of India, gave the credit to the teams, who fully cooperated despite playing in difficult conditions with temperature touching 32.7 degree Celcius.

Sampath strongly advocated the Nationals going indoor. Surprisingly, the timings of the finals are yet to be finalised as Doordarshan has not intimated the organisers. However, it is reliably learnt that the title clashes will be around 12.30 pm with sun over the head. The organisers are at the mercy of the Doordarshan authorities.

As per the latest FIBA rules, the 30-second device must be operated during the match along with the stop-and-go watch Electronic timing. There is a lot of resentment among the team officials. Manual services are in operation.