UP girl cagers in their maiden final

Hosts Uttar Pradesh girls continued their winning streak in the 68th Junior National Basketball Championship, defeating Kerala in a thriller to make it to the final for the first time at Noida on Saturday.

Former bronze medalist Uttar Pradesh girls dominated the proceedings despite a tough resistance from the rivals before winning the crucial semi-final encounter by 75-61. They had just two points lead at the lemon beak 38-36.

Leading from the front once again lanky Vaishnavi top scored with 39 points, whereas Shreyashi managed vital 16 points.

“Now, we are hoping to win our maiden title in the national championship,” UP Basketball Association’s secretary Bhupendra Sahi told HT on Saturday.

Now, Uttar Pradesh would take on Tamil Nadu, which defeated Karnataka by 60 -47 in other semi-final of the day. The winners were leading by 30 - 24 points.

In the only semi-final of the boys section on Saturday evening, Punjab defeated Tamil Nadu by 70 – 54.

FIVE IN NATIONAL CAMP

As many as five players from Uttar Pradesh i.e. Prashant Kumar Chauhan, Faraz, Vishal Singh, Rahul Kumar Rajbhar and Shivam Anand made it to the 33-member core group for the junior men’s national hockey camp.

Meanwhile, at the ongoing 7th Senior National Hockey Championship 2017 (Men) ‘B’ Division here on Saturday, Hockey Maharashtra beat Major Port Sports Control Board 7-0,

Central Reserve Police Force beat Hockey Andhra Pradesh 4-0, Telangana Hockey beat Hockey Rajasthan 8-5, Central Industrial Security Force beat Vidarbha Hockey Association 3-2, Hockey Coorg beat Hockey Uttarakhand 5-1 and Delhi Hockey beat Hockey Andaman & Nicobar 21-1.