Chhattisgarh girls, UP boys win basket titles

Ludhiana, June 3 (UNI) Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh claimed the girls and boys trophies, respectively, in the 57th Dhanoa Junior National Basketball Championship at the Guru Nanak Indoor Stadium here today.

Playing with full proper co-ordination, Chhattisgarh defeated Delhi by 81-65 in the final to retain the crown. Uttar Pradesh cagers excelled in all departments of the game as they shocked giant killers Delhi by 83-67 in the boys final.

Delhi had to satisfy themselves with the runners-up positions in both the categories.

Chhattisgarh owed their triumph to Kawaljeet who made a lion's contribution with a score of 32 points. Navneet (19), Pushpa (14) and Akansha (13) also made significant contribution.

For Delhi, Rashpreet topscored with 29 points. Akansha (20) and Harjit (14) were other scorers for the losers.

The title clash in the boys section between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh was expected to produce firework. However, Uttar Pradesh, trailing by 30-44, staged a brilliant rally to down their opponents Delhi who were emerging dark horse of the tournament after they had upset the apple cart of defending champions Chhattisgarh in the semi-final encounter yesterday.

Vishesh (18), Charanjit (16) and Sokander (14) made good combination and scored at regular intervals. Rajnish (12) and Arjun (15) were the other scorers for the winners.

Deepak (20), Sarvan (14) and Humayun (19) reduced the margin for the loser.

NBA legendary coach Robert Keith Reid was the chief guest and distributed the prizes.

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