2014 National Basketball Championship: Chhattisgarh win historic title; Tamil Nadu score Men's Gold

In one of the biggest surprises of Indian hoops in the last decade, the dominating Indian Railways Women's side were defeated in a heroic comeback win by Chhattisgarh in the final of the 64th National Basketball Championship for Men and Women in New Delhi on Wednesday, March 5, 2014. Chhattisgarh won the Senior Nationals for the first time ever. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu's Men's side played some brilliant basketball through the course of the tournament and defeated Punjab to secure gold in the Men's section. The tournament was held from February 26 - March 5 at the Thyagaraj Stadium in Delhi.

Also known as the Senior Nationals, the championship is India's most prestigious annual domestic basketball tournament and features India's finest Men and Women players representing their states or units. The championship, organized by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG Reliance in conjunction with the Delhi Basketball Association (DBA) this year, also served as a scouting ground to select India's national basketball squads. A total of 51 teams combined in the Men's and Women's divisions from all across India participated in the nationals.

Chhattisgarh finally put an end to the 10-year domination by Indian Railways over Women's basketball in the country, notching a comeback in the fourth quarter of the final to defeat their opponents 81-77 and winning gold. It would've been the shock of the decade... if it didn't already seem a little predestined. For the past decade, there seemed to be no answers for the Indian Railways team that always managed to pick up India's brightest talents and, of late, surround them around the prodigious talents of Geethu Anna Jose. But Chhattisgarh, under visionary coach Rajesh Patel, had been giving a scare to the established order at various levels of the game in recent years, and were finally able to convert their potential into success at the highest stage.

Chhattisgarh's Kavita Kumari, who had 25 points and 13 rebounds in the final, was the star of the show, dominating inside and out to help her team bounce back after trailing in all three quarters. Chhattisgarh were down 65-60 at the start of the final period, but they were able to pace past Railways in the final period and hold on for the victory. For the first time in 10 years, there was an answer for Geethu Anna Jose, who was held to 17 points in the final. For Chhattisgarh, another rising star Sharanjeet Kaur added 20 points while Bharti Netam had 16.

The Men's final evoked a comeback of sorts too, a promise of a comeback of a late 90s/early 00s dynasty of Tamil Nadu that won five consecutive nationals. After a decade without the gold, TN finally charted their way to the top again by playing smart defense against the physical Punjab side. TN trailed by four points in the first quarter, but took the advantage in a commanding second period and held on for a 74-57 victory. Rikin Pethani and Pratham Singh, who had been TN's strongest players all tournament, led their squad with 22 and 18 points respectively in the final.

It was the third consecutive finals appearance for Punjab, but for the second straight year, they had to settle for a silver medal. Punjab's young big man Palpreet Singh, who had enjoyed a breakout tournament so far, scored 19 points in the finals loss.

Tamil Nadu's Rikin Pethani and Chhattisgarh's Kavita Kumari were given the Harish Sharma Most Valuable Player trophies at the end of the tournament, an award named in honour of the BFI's former CEO who passed away two years ago.

Earlier on Wednesday, the battles for the bronze medal for Men and Women were also held. Gopal Ram scored 16 points to lead Services to a rout over last year's champs Uttarakhand in the Men's game.

In the Women's matchup, hosts Delhi took away a consolation prize as they outlasted Maharashtra for a 79-66 victory. Delhi's Prashanti Singh had a team-high 22 points, while Shireen Limaye (22) and Krittika Divadkar (18) led the way for the losing side.

For each division, the winner took home 1 lakh rupees, while the first and second runners-up received Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.

A day earlier, Delhi's Women's side had been defeated by eternal rivals Indian Railways in the first semi-final, as Geethu Anna Jose scored 27 points in the 100-65 blowout. After a high-scoring first half, Railways held Delhi to just 23 points in the third and fourth periods combined. Anju Lakra and M. Pushpa had 19 points each for Indian Railways. Prashanti Singh had 17 for Delhi. In the second game, MVP Kavita Kumari scored 20 points and Deepa added 16 as Chhattisgarh defeated Maharashtra 75-65. Shireen Limaye had 20 for Maharashtra.

The first Men's semi-final was a rematch of the 2013 Finals as Punjab got their revenge over Uttarakhand with a 80-68 win. Palpreet Singh and Ranbir Singh each had 27 for Punjab, who bounced back from a five-point third quarter deficit to shut down Uttarkhand in the final quarter. Yadwinder Singh led Uttarakhand with 24 as the past holders were denied a chance to repeat this year. For Uttarakhand, star talent Vishesh Bhriguvanshi missed the tournament. Pratham Singh scored 28 and SP Venkatesh added 22 to help TN beat Services 92-85 in the second Men's semi-final. Joginder Singh and veteran Jairam scored 18 each for Services.

Earlier in the tournament, former NBA Coach of the Year Del Harris held a 'Train the Trainers' clinic for attending and local coaches and players.

Final Scores

• Women: Chhattisgarh (Kavita 25, Saranjeet Kaur 20, Bharti Netam 16) bt Indian Railways (Anju Lakra 23, Geethu Anna Jose 17) 81-77 (12-23, 26-23, 22-19, 21-13).
  
• Men: Tamil Nadu (Rikin Pethani 22, Pratham Singh 18, S Prasanna 15) bt Punjab (Palpreet Singh 19) 74-57 (18-22, 19-8, 22-14, 15-13).
  

Third/Fourth Place

• Women: Delhi (Prashanti Singh 22, Akansha Singh 15, Raspreet Sidhu 13, Pratima Singh 13) bt Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 22, Krittika Divadkar 18) 79-66 (24-16, 17-20, 14-10, 24-20).
  
• Men: Services (Gopal Ram 16, Narender Singh 13) bt Uttarakhand (Yadwinder Singh 15, Amritpal Singh 13) 82-54 (17-9, 25-16, 21-15, 19-14).
  

Final Standings

Women

1. Chhattisgarh
2. Indian Railways
3. Delhi
4. Maharashtra
5. Kerala
6. Tamil Nadu
7. Punjab
8. Karnataka
9. Andhra Pradesh
10. Uttar Pradesh

Men

1. Tamil Nadu
2. Punjab
3. Services
4. Uttarakhand
5. Indian Railways
6. Kerala
7. Karnataka
8. Haryana
9. Chhattisgarh
10. Rajasthan

Most Valuable Players

• Men: Rikin Pethani (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Women: Kavita Kumari (Chhattisgarh)

Iran win 4th FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo; Last place finish for India

Down by 1 point and the shot clock has been turned off. This is when Iran’s Aren Davoudi sank a clutch 3-pointer with just 19 seconds left in the game to give his side a 53-51 lead against the home side. Urged on by their fans, Japan had one last chance to tie the game or take the lead. With the 4th FIBA Asia Cup gold medal on stake, Iran played perfect defense to hold off their opponents, and as the clock expired, they celebrated as first-time winners of this championship in Tokyo on Saturday.

India also took part, and despite some improved and encouraging performances, lost all of their group games to finish at a shared last place (9th) with Macau.

Click here for my in-depth recap from the tournament!

Southern Railway & IOB (Chennai) win the 3rd Jeppiaar Trophy in Chennai

Shining with the help of some home town advantage, the squad’s from Southern Railway and IOB (Chennai) won the Women’s and Men’s trophy respectively at the 3rd Jeppiaar All India Invitational Basketball Tournament in Chennai. Southern Railway defeated South East Central Railway (SECR) in the Women’s final on Thursday to win the championship, while IOB lifted the title after beating ONGC in a closely contested Men’s final on Friday evening at JJ Indoor Stadium.

Only in the third year since its inception, the Jeppiaar Tournament in Chennai has gained a reputation as one of the most exciting and competitive basketball championships in India, featuring some of the best club sides from across the country. The tournament, which was held from October 9-14th this year, also plays as a fitting precursor to the Senior National Basketball Championship which will be taking place in Chennai in two months.

The tournament was organised by the Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumpudur.

The Woman’s championship featured four teams: Southern Railway, SECR, Billai Steel Plant, and Central Railway. Southern Railway had an exceptional tournament, as they won all three of their round robin games before entering the final versus SECR. After a closely-contested first quarter, the result of this final also soon became a foregone conclusion as SECR had no answers for Southern Railway’s three-pronged attack of Anitha Paul Durai, Geethu Anna Jose, and Kokila S.

Anitha was the best player in the final, leading the way with 31 points as Southern Railway won easily, 89-40. Kokila S. was rewarded for her consistent play and named as the player of the tournament in the woman’s section.

The Men’s competition featured a much wider spread of eight teams: Chennai Customs, RCF Kapurthala, Punjab Police, Indian Air Force, ONGC, Sathyabama University, Indian Army, IOB (Chennai), Integral Coach Factory (ICF) (Chennai), and hosts, Jeppiaar Institute of Technology. After the group stage, four teams: IOB, Indian Army, ONGC, and the surprise package Sathyabama University qualified for the Semi-finals. IOB and ONGC defeated Indian Army and Sathyabama in their semi-final clashes respectively on Thursday.

The Men’s final saw two experienced sides, IOB and ONGC, face off against each other in a classic encounter. The game was close throughout, with IOB leading by two at the end of the first quarter and ONGC leading by three at the end of the second. IOB began to improve their game in the third period and slowly stretch the lead in this tough, defensive match-up. By the end of the game, ONGC found it hard to close the gap as IOB won 55-48 to lift the Jeppiaar trophy for the first time.

Sathyabama won the third-place game, defeating Indian Army 74-67 behind efforts by Rikin S Pethani (22 points), Vignesh (18), and Raghu Ram (17). Pethani was named the Men’s Player of the Tournament.

The Men's winning team was awarded with Rs. 1.1 lakh, runners-up with Rs. 80,000, and 2nd runners-up with Rs. 50,000. In the Women's section, the winning team was awarded with Rs. 80,000, runners-up with Rs. 50,000, and 2nd runners-up with Rs. 30,000.