Jharkhand Men & West Bengal Women win the East Zone Basketball Championship

The East Zone Basketball Championship for Men & Women, held from January 4-7, 2012 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, came to a conclusion on last Sunday with hosts Jharkhand winning the Men's title while West Bengal taking home the Women's championship.

A total of seven Men's and three Women's sides had taken part in this four-day tournament. Both the finals came down to the wire with thrilling games on Sunday evening: West Bengal Women defeated Uttar Pradesh in the final game 44-40. UP's Men's team also reached the final, but was defeated in a close game by the hosts Jharkhand, 48-46.

Earlier, in the 3rd/4th place games, Jharkhand Women beat Orissa 47-36 and Orissa Men beat West Bengal 65-44.

The team's that took part in the competition were:

Men: Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand.
Women: Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand.

Basketball tournament at the National Games set to tip off Friday

The 34th National Games 2011, set in Jharkhand, is being held from February 12-26th in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Dhanbad, as intimated by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). With over 30 different sporting events taking place, the tournament is featuring some of the best Indian athletes in the different fields.


The Basketball tournament at the National Games is set to be held from February 18th-22nd at the Harivansh Tana Bharat Indoor Stadium at the Mega Sports Complex in Ranchi. The tournament will feature the seven best teams in both the men’s and women’s divisions from the previous year’s Sr. National Basketball Championship, plus the team representing the state that host’s the tournament. Indian Railways are excluded from this tournament.

Thus, the top ranked teams from the 60th National Basketball Championship (Ludhiana) that will take part in this year’s tournament. Hosts Jharkhand qualify automatically as the eight seed in both divisions.

Men

1. Punjab
2. Tamil Nadu
3. Uttarakhand
4. Services
5. Andhra Pradesh
6. Chhattisgarh
7. Karnataka
8. Jharkhand

Women

1. Delhi
2. Chhattisgarh
3. Karnataka
4. Kerala
5. Tamil Nadu
6. Punjab
7. Maharashtra
8. Jharkhand

The last National Games were held back in February 2007 in Guwahati (Assam). Services (Men) and Tamil Nadu (Women) were the winners of the basketball tournament at this competition.