Tough fight: Services’ Sahil (left, in blue) was in great form but Tamil Nadu came up with strong defence in the last quarter to win the day. | Photo: Special Arrangement
For a brief while in the third quarter, as Services took a 52-44 lead against Tamil Nadu, coach C.V. Sunny was very worried. Tamil Nadu had won the men’s National basketball title just a couple of weeks ago but the team’s National Games opener did not start the way he had planned.
Services, riding on Sahil’s impressive form, hung on to that lead and moved to 65-58 midway through the last quarter.
“I realised then that if we didn’t do something different, we wouldn’t win the game. I asked them to go for full-court pressure and our opponents could not bring the ball to the front. And we got a lot of interceptions and converted some baskets,” a relieved Sunny told The Hindu after pulling off a 76-69 victory in the league match at the MPSC indoor stadium here on Tuesday.
The court had a newly-laid, shiny wooden floor but the national champions did not appear very comfortable on it.
“For our sort of game, it was very slippery, that affected us a lot. They could not stand, they were sort of sliding on the floor,” explained Sunny. But in the end, they went home a happy lot.
Meanwhile, a fighting Delhi edged past Chhattisgarh 76-75 in a women’s league match. Delhi was down 33-41 at half-time but managed to stay calm at crucial moments and that made a difference.
“It was our mistake only, we were not playing well. They are good shooters and we allowed them to shoot at will,” said Delhi’s 21-year-old Rashi Kotani who played a big role in her team’s recovery with her shooting, defence and rebound skills.
“In the second quarter, we thought, it’s okay, we still have 20 minutes, but in the end, pressure was building. We were gaining the lead and then conceding it again,” she said.
The results (league):
Men: Tamil Nadu 76 (Lokeshwaran Mohan 16, Muin Bek Hafeez 11, Pranav Prince 11) bt Services 69 (Sahil 22).
Delhi 116 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 17, Sunil 17) bt Madhya Pradesh 61 (Anmol Sharma 15, Rakesh Sharma 12).
Women: Delhi 76 (Rashi Khotani 21, Simran Kour 23, Namrata 16) bt Chhattisgarh 75 (D. Kirtin 18, Neha Karwa 17, Nisha Kashyap 17).
Punjab 96 (Komalpreet Kaur 28, Amolpreet Kaur 19) bt Uttarakhand 54 (Anju 27, Aparna Singh 14).
Published – January 28, 2025 08:27 pm IST
