Tamil Nadu men and Kerala women reign

Tamil Nadu men and Kerala women won the titles in the South Zone senior basketball championships at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Friday.

Tamil Nadu men beat back a spirited challenge from Kerala in the last league match to triumph. Kerala kept pace with National champion till the start of the third quarter. However, Tamil Nadu upped the ante in the final quarter to win 83-67.

Telangana, which edged out Andhra Pradesh 73-69, finished third. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana qualified for the Nationals.

The Kerala team which won the women’s crown in the South Zone senior basketball championships in Puducherry on Friday
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Kerala women packed off Puducherry 68-32 to keep a clean slate and claim the title. Tamil Nadu finished second while Karnataka came third after easily beating Andhra Pradesh 83-48 in the last league match.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka qualified for the senior Nationals.

The results: Men: Tamil Nadu 83 (Aravind Kumar 24, Hariram 13) bt Kerala 67 (Shanzil Muhammed 15, Jishnu G.Nar 13); Kerala 100 (Jishnu G Nair 18, Sajesh 14,Jerome Prince 12) bt Puducherry 50 (David 17); Telangana 73 (Vijay 21, Nathan Abhishek 14, Kaushik 11) bt Andhra Pradesh 69 (Varma 21, Aravind Varma 14) Karnataka 107 (Harish 21, Anil 17, Mufeez 12) bt Puducherry 82 (Logesh 26, Srikanth 23).

Women: Kerala 68 (C.S. Anumaria 30, Ameesha Jose 20) bt Puducherry 32 (Devasree 17); Karnataka 83 (Niharika 17, Varsha 10) bt Andhra Pradesh 48 (Varsha 12); Tamil Nadu 76 (Vidhyabharathi 17, Neetha 10) bt Puducherry 15).