Bhavnagar, 6th January 2019: Heavyweights Punjab men and Indian Railways posted impressive wins of the opening day of the 69th Senior National Basketball Championship for Men and Women 2019.
Boasting of a giant frontcourt, Punjab pulled out all the stops with five of its international stars scoring in double digits led by the talisman Jagdeep Singh Bains’s 22 points. Meanwhile, Amritpal Singh marked a successful return from injury with 15 points.
Hosts Gujarat found themselves on the losing side against Rajasthan, falling 71-89.
In Level 2 action, Nagaland made its historic debut at the Senior National Championship, albeit in a losing fashion against Himachal Pradesh.
RESULTS (5/1/19) Men Group A
1. Punjab 85 (Jagdeep Singh Bains 21, Amritpal Singh 15, Gurvinder Singh Gill 14, Rajbir Singh 12, Arshpreet Singh Bhuller 10, Gaurav Patwal 10) bt Karnataka 77 (Anil Kumar B K 20, Harissh M 16, Aravind A 16, Rahul Sarath 10) [19-20,20-16,24-16,22-25]
2. Rajasthan 89 (Sharad Dadich 31,Karan Khan 22, Gaurav Chandel 19) bt Gujarat 71 (Harpalsingh Vaghela 23, Indervijay Gohil 15,Vivek Goti 14) [19-14,24-20,19-20,27-17]
Group B
1. Indian Railways 75 (Rakesh Singh 21, Himanshu Sharma 17, Lovneet Singh 15) bt Chandigarh 74 (Amit 24, Jain Shokhanda 21, Ravi Bhardwaj 17) [13-20,22-15,20-24,20-15]
Group C
1. Delhi 63 (Vishal Hooda 15, Sunil Kumar Rathee 15, Arshdeep Singh 15) bt Mizoram 45 (Zonun Sanga 22, Lalrina Renthlei 16) [27-7,12-2,13-23,11-13]
Group D
1. Himachal Pradesh 54 (Vikram Thakur 26) bt Nagaland 35 (Kevisesituo 9) [9-7,19-10,9-9,17-9]
Group E
1. Maharashtra 73 (Ajinkya Asokrao Mani 18, Subam Yadav 11) bt Jammu & Kashmir 51 (Iqbal 10)
2. West Bengal 59 (Ragunath P17, Bhrigendra 16) bt Puduchery 45 (Achuthan M14) [8-6,12-21,11-13,14-19]
3. Haryana 66 (Rinku 17, Sahil 13) bt Bihar 45 (Sanjeev Kumar 17, Abhishi Pratap 12) [25-5,8-13,17-15,16-12]
4. Uttar Pradesh 63 (Pulkit 14,Tushal Singh 11) bt Jharkhand 27
Women Group A
1. Indian Railways 82 (Madhu Kumari 19, Sitamani Tudu 14, Sruthi Menon 11) bt Karnataka 47 (Lopamudra Timmaiah 14, Anusha I P 11, Varsha Nandini 10) [23-7,19-12,14-19,26-9]
2. Tamil Nadu 64 (Pushpa Senthil kumar 22, S Sathya 15, Dharshini T 14) bt Delhi 49 (Raspreet Sidhu 15) Group C 1. Punjab 83 (Anmolpreet Kaur 24,Rajandeep Kaur 21) bt Uttarakhand 19 [29-8,26-4,12-7,16-0]
Group E
1. Madhya Pradesh 74 (Nima Doma Bhutia 25, Namrata 16) bt Bihar 54 (Divya Pandey 20, Kiran Yadav 12) [21-17,22-10,18-13,17-10]
Group F
1. Rajasthan 64 (Nisha Sharma 33, Rashi Kotani 12) bt Assam 31 (Kiran Kumari 16) [23-2,19-7,14-9,8-13]
2. Jharkhand 59 (Alka Samad 15, Jayakumari 10) bt Jammu and Kashmir 29 (Pratibha 9) [13-10,24-6,11-6,11-7]