Continuing an annual tradition, two of India's top invitational club basketball tournaments were held in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, featuring top talent from across the country. The
15th CRI Pumps Trophy (Women) and the
Nachibuthu Gounder Cup (Men) concluded at the VOC Park Corporation Sports Complex courts in Coimbatore on Wednesday, June 1, with South Central Railway (SCR) of Secunderabad and ONGC from Dehardun winning the Women's and Men's titles respectively.
In the Women's CRI Pumps Trophy final, SCR trailed for most of the way to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) team from Thiruvanathapuram, and had build up a double-digit cushion. But SCR staged a brilliant comeback behind a 28 point outburst by M. Gayathri to secure a late lead and clinch the 51-48 win.
In the Men's Nachibuthu Gounder Cup final, veteran leaders and young stars of India's international squad came together to overpower Chennai's Income Tax en route to a 78-55 win. ONGC's Vishesh Bhriguvanshi led all scorers in the final with 28, while Amrit Pal Singh - who plays for Tokyo Excellence of the Japanese D-League - scored 18. Trideep Rai added 17 to ONGC's offensive firepower. Rikin Pethani and Ramkumar both added 18 for Income Tax in the loss.
Tipping off on May 27th, the
Nachibuthu Gounder Cup made a comeback to Coimbatore basketball after eight years, replacing the All India PSG Trophy. Eight leading Men's teams - ONGC, KSEB, Integral Coach Factory (Chennai), Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), Income Tax, North Frontier Railway (Guwahati), Kerala Police and Coimbatore District Basketball Association (CDBA) - vied for top honours.
The CRI Pumps Trophy for Women was held simultaneously, in which the reigning champions Chattisgarh, runners-up KSEB, Southern Railway, SCR, North Frontier Railway, South East Central Railway (Bilaspur), Central Railway (Mumbai), and CBDA took part.
Last year,
Indian Army won the PSG All India trophy while Chhattisgarh secured the CRI Pumps title in Coimbatore.
