Nagpur girls finish second best again; Thane, Pune emerge new state champions

BRAMHAPURI: For the second successive time it was a heart break for the girls from Orange City in the Maharashtra State Senior

Basketball

Championship.


Donning lovely orange and black outfits, the short statured Nagpur cagers went down fighting to Thane in an exciting summit clash 66-74 in the 70th edition of the state meet which concluded here in front of a jam packed twin courts of Bramhapuri on a super Sunday full of baskets.

While Thane won the women state crown, Pune men powered their way past Mumbai South West in a spine-tingling title clash 81-79 to regain the senior inter-district crown.

The interesting women’s final saw, Nagpur had an upper hand in the first half while Thane turned the things in their favour after the change of ends. The quarter-wise progress of the winners read 18-27, 21-13, 16-15, 19-11. With Nagpur badly missing tall players in their unit, Thane’s lanky guard Neha Shahu utilized her height well to fire a game-high 27 points. She was ably assisted by Carina Menezes (17) and Kenny Susan (12). For Nagpur, best shooter of the competition, Abha Lad netted 25 points while Shreya Dandekar (19) and Rasika Pande (12) did well.

Pune men rallied splendidly to win the thrill-a-minute final after Mumbai South West found themselves short of bench and their best forward Sameer Qureshi being fouled out in the last minute of the game. Maharashtra star point-guard and Pune skipper Siddhant Shinde gave an excellent display of his inside-out shooting to fire a tournament-high 48 points. Mumbai’s Sameer Qureshi (27), Ashraf SIddique 21 and Salman Qureshi (17) played their hearts out but missed the title by a whisker.

The five-day inter-district meet was organized jointly by Sanmitra Krida Mandal and Chandrapur District Basketball Association conducted under the authority of

Basketball Federation of India

(BFI).

RESULTS
FINALS (Women): Thane (Neha Shahu 27, Carina Menezes 17, Kenny Susan 12) bt Nagpur (Abha Lad 25, Shreya Dandekar 19, Rasika Pande 12) 74-66 (18-27, 21-13, 16-15, 19-11)

Men: Pune (Siddhant Shinde 48, Yusuf Sayyed 16) bt Mumbai South West (Sameer Qureshi 27, Salman Qureshi 17) 81-79 (19-26, 19-19, 23-13, 20-21)

Third Place (Women): Mumbai North (Susan Pinto 21, Priya N 11) bt Mumbai South West (Maithili Pantawane 19, Aswati J 14) 71-70 (16-16, 14-8, 22-23, 19-23)

Men: Thane (, Tanmay Mali 22, Shubham Yadav 17) bt Mumbai South East (Fauzan SHaikh 17) 87-81 (24-18, 24-20, 17-12, 22-31)
INDIVIDUAL PRIZES

Best Shooter: Abha Lad (Nagpur); Tanmay Mali (Thane).
Best Player of Final: Carina Menezes (Thane); Siddhant Shine (Pune).
Most Valuable Player: Sara Vora (Thane); Sameer Qureshi (Mumbai South West).

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