Maharashtra girls roll over Punjab; boys beat Karnataka

NAGPUR: On a hot afternoon, Maharashtra boys and girls put up a brilliant performance in the cool environs of Divisional Sports Complex to kick start their campaign in style in the 28th Youth National Basketball Championship which began on Thursday.
The opening day had nothing but good news for the hosts as Maharashtra girls prevailed over unfancied Punjab cruising to a comfortable 65-31 victory in the first major basketball event of the Orange City.The host's boys team too started their campaign on a winning note as they put up a fine display of grit and character to get the better of Karnataka 63-50.
The confidence of winning the first match rather easily was clearly evident in the way Maharashtra girls enjoyed themselves at the expense of Punjab. Most commendable was the performance of skipper Shireen Limaye who combined well with upcoming point guard Sruthi Menon. Both the Pune girls shared 34 points between them with Sruthi scoring a game high 19 points while Shireen netted 15 points and also helped her team with 19 rebounds. For Punjab, Nirmal Kaur scored 13 points.
In the boys' section, the hosts' team maintained their lead in all the quarters to outclass Karnataka by 13 points. For the winners, Rohan Jagtap (17), Salim Malik (14) and Salman Qureshi (10) played like a well gelled unit while a valiant 24-point effort of Jeethender for Karnataka went in vain.
In an interesting encounter, Haryana girls rallied splendidly to upset last years runners-up Uttar Pradesh by 9 points (52-43). For the winners, Monika Vats (16) and Bharti Singh (13) scored most of the baskets. For Haryana Garima Singh and Shruti Singh netted 12 points each.
In the boys section too, Delhi hoopsters shocked Tamil Nadu who finished third in the previous edition 85-64. Pankaj Kumar wrecked havoc in the Tamil Nadu camp scoring a game-high 28 points.
Earlier, Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan declared the meet open which is the first being hosted at Divisional Sports Complex.
RESULTS (Day 1)
Girls: Maharashtra (Sruthi Menon 19, Shireen Limaye 15) bt Punjab (Nirmal Kaur 13) 65-31 (22-11, 18-16, 16-2, 9-2); Haryana (Monika Vats 16, Bharti Singh 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Garima Singh 12, Shruti Kaur 12) 52-43 (11-14, 8-8, 16-17, 17-6); Puducherry (K Swetha 21, S Indoori 19) bt Orissa (Anita 12, Promodini 11) 58-48 (15-7, 23-19, 8-14, 12-8); Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 12, Akshpreet Singh 7) bt Jharkhand (B Karpa 13, Barkha 12) 37-34 (12-12, 4-5, 11-9, 10-8); West Bengal (Madhu 21, Rupkatha 10) bt Jammu & Kashmir 56-0 (25-0, 11-0, 10-0, 10-0); Chhattisgarh (Sangeeta Das 25, Poonam Chaturvedi 15) bt Uttrakhand (Shivya Gupta 4) 90-19 (28-10, 28-2, 18-6, 16-1); Kerala (Poojamol 14, Prami P Lal 9) bt Delhi (Aastha 6) 54-13 (21-4, 6-1, 15-5, 12-3)
Boys: Maharashtra (Rohan Jagtap 17, Salim Malik 14, Salman Qureshi 10) bt Karnataka (Jeethender 24, Melver 16) 63-50 (16-13, 20-11, 15-14, 12-12); Delhi (Pankaj Kumar 28, Pawan Rathi 19) bt Tamil Nadu (Anto Betal 14, B Vimalraj 14) 85-64 (17-14, 27-13, 22-22, 19-15); Andhra Pradesh (Srinath 21, Balaji 16) bt Uttrakhand (Pryush 13) 72-28 (18-6, 18-12, 24-3, 12-7); Haryana (Rahul Sharma 18, Vivek Sandhu 11) bt Chandigarh Pratik Singh 10) 64-18 (20-2, 17-6, 9-5, 18-5); Uttar Pradesh (Rahul Yadav 22, Ankit Malik 11) bt Himachal Pradesh (Rohit 9) 77-40 (13-8, 16-10, 15-14, 33-8).