National junior basketball championships | Rajasthan and Punjab take the honours in contrasting style

Rajasthan and Punjab won the boys’ and girls’ titles respectively in the National junior basketball championships here on Monday.

Rajasthan boys trounced Chandigarh 82-61, while Punjab withstood a spirited fightback from Rajasthan (57-52) to win women’s title.

The boys final was evenly matched till the third quarter with Rajasthan holding on to a narrow lead. However, Rajasthan lifted its game a few notches in the last quarter to score a comprehensive win.

Uttar Pradesh beat Karnataka 84-64 to finish third.

In the girls’ final, Punjab started with a bang and took a 10 point lead at the end of the first quarter. It also won the keenly contested second quarter to increase the lead to 13 points at half-time.

However, Rajasthan fought back in the third quarter which it won 15-8 and narrowed the gap to six points.

Rajasthan continued its revival in the last quarter and reduced the lead to a point but Manmeet Kaur scored a decisive three pointer to clinch the issue in favour of Punjab.

Chhattisgarh trounced Kerala 76-59 to claim the third place.

The results: Boys: Final: Rajasthan 82 (Lokendra Singh 30, Jitendra Kumar Singh 15, Digvijay Singh 14, Hemanth Nayak 10) bt Chandigarh 61 (Amarander Singh 18, Abhishek 20).

Loser’s final: Uttar Pradesh 84 (Kushal Singh 25, Rishab Jaiswar 18, Shreyans Raj Singh 16) bt Karnataka 64 (B.M. Manoj 26, Achinya Krishna 18).

Girls: Final: Punjab 57 (Manmeet Kaur 14, Kanishka Dhir 14, Kavya Singla 12, Karan Kaur 12) bt Rajasthan 52 (Rashi Kotani 19, Ankita Kumari 12).

Loser’s final: Chhattisgarh 76 (Riya Kungdhadkar 31, Shanti Yaya 12, Dimpal Dhobi 10) bt Kerala 59 (Seelakshmi 18, P.J. Shilpa 10).