Basketball Nationals: Indian Railways dominates, clinches both men’s and women’s titles

It was double delight for the Indian Railways as it clinched both the men’s and women’s titles in the 75th Senior National Basketball championship that concluded at the Nehru Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
In the women’s section, Railways defeated Kerala 75-66 to clinch its eighth consecutive crown and 41st overall.
Meanwhile, in the men’s section, Railways dethroned defending champion Tamil Nadu 77-69, which was going for a hat-trick of titles. For Railways, it was a collective effort led by Arvinder Singh (205-F-2002), who topped the scoring with 18 points. He was well supported by the likes of Kanwar Sandhu (185-SG-1999) and skipper Palpreet Singh, helping Railways reclaim the big prize it last won in 2010. During the pre-match training routine, TN players’ shooting was off-target, almost a sign of things to come. In the first quarter, as Railways nailed its shots, TN fluffed simple ones and allowed the visitor to take a 20-7 lead that it never relinquished. The Railways’ defence too was impressive and never allowed the likes of A. Anantharaj and Muin Bek Muin Hafeez (189-PG-1996) find space to nail the three-pointers. For TN, only Arvind Kumar (173-G-2000) was in form, scoring 29 points, but the others failed to step up.

Courtesy of: sportstar.thehindu.com