Jeppiaar Basketball  Chennai, 12 October 2011

The 3^rd edition of the annual Jeppiaar All-India Basketball tournament reached knock-out stage as the semi-finalists in men’s section and finalists in women’s division were identified today.

In a crucial league match in pool-A this evening at J.J. Indoor stadium, Punjab Police went down to Indian Overseas Bank in extra time.   After trailing 27-37 at half-time, Punjab Police shown excellent athleticism and climbed the ladder in the second half with the help of Jagadeep Singh (20), who joined the team today after returning from Sri Lanka.  The teams were at level (68-68) at the end of mandatory play time.  In the extra five minutes, the first such occurrence in this year’s tourney, the Bankers added 4 points while the policemen scored one less and thus lost the match.

Today’s win placed IOB alongside another city based team, Sathyabama University, which hitherto remained unbeaten.

From pool-B, ONGC already assured a semi-final spot as board leader while the second team to make tomorrow’s semis from this pool will be decided after this evening last round league matches.

The women’s round robin tournament saw So uthern Railway trounced South Eastern Railway 93-69.

International Geethu Anna Jose, who just retur ned after winning the gold for the country in 3-on-3 basketball in South Asian Beach Games held at Hambantota, Sri Lanka, contributed 14 points to the Southern Railway while teammate Anitha  collect 17 pts.   The same was the case of Jagdeep of Punjab Police, who was part of the gold winning men’s team in Hambantota.

In another match, Bhilai Steel Plant humbled Central Railway 88-80.   Southern Railway will meet again South Eastern in tomorrow’s trophy round while BSP clash again with Mumbai-based C

Central Railway in the play-off for third place.

Results:

MEN

Pool-A:

IOB 72 (Abhilek Pal 23, Harish Korat 17) bt. Punjab Police 71 (Jagdeep Singh 20, Amritpal Singh 15)  HT: 37-27 (FT: 68-68, decided in extra time);

WOMEN

Bhilai Steel Plant 88 (Anjana Daisy 18, Saranjeet Kaur 18) bt. Central Railway 80 (Manisha 30, Girishma 20)  HT: 46-33;

Southern Railway 93 (Anitha 17, Geethu Anna Jose 14) bt. South Eastern Railway 69 (Anju 30, Akansha 23)  HT: 50-38;

Yesterday’s results:

Pool-A:

Punjab Police 73 (Amritpal 26, Gurkirpal 19) bt. Rail Coach Factory 68 (Bijender Kumar 30, Ashutosh 23)  HT: 27-37

Pool-B:

Indian Air Force 88 (Narender 30, Praveen 25) bt. Indian Army 76 (Gopal Ram 24, Rajesh 12)   HT: 33-38.