Railways favourites for national basketball titles
December 15th, 2011 - 5:01 pm ICT by IANSChennai, Dec 15 (IANS) Indian Railways would be looking at an encore by winning both the men’s and women’s titles at the 62nd senior National basketball championships commencing here Friday.
The tournament returns to Tamil Nadu after a lapse of 38 years, but it would take a brave man to back the hosts, fielding a young team that is short on experience, to be the last team standing on Dec 24 when the competition concludes.
While Tamil Nadu’s glory days when they won the men’s title five times on the trot are a thing of the past, the Railways can expect a strong challenge from Uttarakhand who have roped in Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Briguvanshi besides a bunch of India players.
Mohammed Nazar, the newly-appointed coach of Tamil Nadu who last won the title in 2003, said: “Since we are playing at home, the expectations will be high. We will be fielding the youngest team in the championship.”
Also having a realistic shot at the trophy are the Services, the only other institutional team apart from the Railways. Finalists last year, the Services will be among the front-runners for the title along with last year’s semi-finalists Punjab and Kerala.
In the women’s section, the Railways, winners for the past 14 years, enjoy a huge advantage with the array of India players in their ranks, notably Geetu Anna Jose who all but made it to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Such has been Railways strength that in last year’s final, they drubbed Delhi 95-55 with Jose notching 29 points for the winners. In a league game against Punjab, the Railways won 142-41 which emphasised their overwhelming superiority.
The top 10 teams from the previous championship have been clustered in two Level 1 Groups while the rest (Level 2) are placed in four clusters for the preliminary league.
The groupings (Level-1):
Men - Group A: Indian Railways, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Group B: Services, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, Delhi.
Women - Group A: Indian Railways, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh. Group B: Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan.
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- National Basketball: Services, Tamil Nadu rally to make semis (Lead) - Dec 23, 2011
- Basketball nationals: Punjab notch two wins - Dec 18, 2011
- National Basketball: Services rally to make semis - Dec 22, 2011
- Uttarakhand, Haryana in quarters of National Basketball - Dec 21, 2011
- National Games: Punjab and Tamil Nadu triumph in basketball - Feb 22, 2011
- National Volleyball: Easy win for Railways - Dec 13, 2010
- Kerala spike Haryana, enter volleyball semis - Dec 17, 2010
- National Volleyball: Easy win for Tamil Nadu, Railways (Lead) - Dec 13, 2010
- National volleyball: Tamil Nadu, Railways bag titles - Dec 19, 2010
- Uttarkhand, Services in quarters of National Volleyball - Dec 15, 2010
Tags: basketball championships, basketball titles, brave man, clusters, dec 24, front runners, glory days, groupings, indian railways, kerala, league game, level 1, men group, national basketball association, overwhelming superiority, playing at home, punjab, semi finalists, uttar pradesh, uttarakhand