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.

Punjab Men & TN Women win National Games Basketball Tournament

The basketball tournament at the 34th National Games in Ranchi came to an end on Tuesday, February 22nd, as Punjab Men and Tamil Nadu Women won their respective final games at the Harivansh Tana Bharat Indoor Stadium at city's Mega Sports Complex.


Led by explosive and experienced point guard TJ Sahi (28) points, Punjab sped past a hapless Uttarakhand side in the Final, leading the entire way to aa massive 97-57 win. The twin towers for Punjab, Jagdeep Singh and Yadwinder Singh had big games with 20 and 19 points respectively. Muralikrishna had 19 points for Uttarakhand in a losing effort.

The Women's game was a see-saw affair between Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, the winners of the recent Federation Cup in Raipur. After trailing by two at the end of the first quarter, Tamil Nadu's legendary Center Geethu Anna Jose caught fire, scoring at will to end the game with 34 points and dominate the next three quarters. TN beat Chhattisgarh 79-45. Renjini Jose added 21 for TN. For Chhattisgarh, captain Anju Lakra had a valiant 25 points.

Earlier in the day, in the third-place match-ups, Tamil Nadu Men won bronze after defeating Services 81-68. Delhi Women got third place after a win over Maharashtra 79-59.