IOB & Southern Railway defend Jeppiaar title in Chennai

For the second consecutive year, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Southern Railway won the Jeppiaar All India Basketball Tournament in their home city of Chennai. The invitational tournament, which is a prestigious club competition in India and recently concluded it's 4th edition, was organized by the JIT Institute of Technology Basketball Club and held from May 26-31 at the college grounds near Sriperumpudur.

Southern Railway - led by India's legendary center Geethu Anna Jose - defeated Western Railway 62-49 in the Women's final on Friday after leading by six at halftime. Jose had 24 points in the game and S. Kokila added 19. Earlier on the same day, Chhattisgarh Women defeated Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) 53-48 behind 26 points by Swaranjeet Kaur to win third place.

The Men's final was a rematch of last year's finale between IOB and ONGC, and once again, the result was the same. IOB held on to a 10 point lead at halftime and continued their dominance in the second half to close in on a 59-45 win. IOB's Vineeth Ravi Mathew had 19 points. Indian Army beat Indian Navy 66-55 to finish third in the tournament; Sridhar had 18 points for Army.

In the Men's semi-finals earlier, ONGC had gotten through by defeating Indian Army 68-55. Legendary guard Riyazuddin had 25 points in a throwback performance for ONGC while Sridhar fought back with 18 for Army. In the other Men's semi, IOB blew by Indian Navy 54-34.

JIT's Shashant Rai (Men) and Chhattisgarh's Swaranjeet Kaur (Women) were named the Most Valuable Players of the tournament.