Chhattisgarh repeat as champions 

In a game of two halves, Chhattisgarh’s 6ft 9 inch centre Poonam Chaturvedi made it a no contest with her effortless scoring in the second half to carry Chhattisgarh to a convincing 84-75 win over Delhi. Delhi women made it to the finals after three years, but if today’s match is anything to go by, their wait for the national crown will continue for a while longer.

Delhi’s opponents Chhattisgarh though underlined its position as the best women’s unit in the country. After beating heavy weights Railways in the semifinals last evening, Chhattisgarh appeared slightly lacking in energy in the first half. They were over reliant on Poonam Chaturvedi on both ends of the floor and slow to assist her when it came to boxing out and rebounding. As a result, Delhi surprisingly got multiple second chance opportunities which allowed it to lead 22-19 at the end of the first quarter.

The second half though belonged to Poonam Chaturvedi. Delhi had committed multiple team fouls trying to defend her in the first twenty minutes of play, as a result of which they had to ease off in the third quarter.  Chaturvedi was unstoppable around the basket, catching the ball high over the Delhi players and finishing with her characteristic poise for her mammoth 48 points.

It is interesting to note that Chhattisgarh was missing the services of veteran Bharti Netam (in the Railways team), Kavita (injured) and Seema Singh who were an integral part of the side in last year’s maiden Championship run. But credit to Coach Rajesh Patel’s system of churning out numerous match ready players, that they were not missed one bit.

Uttarakhand men reclaim national crown

Back to full strength after missing centre Murali Krishna and star guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi last year, Uttarakhand men displayed top class professionalism throughout the tournament to reclaim the national crown by beating defending champions Tamil Nadu. Uttarakhand had last won the Senior Nationals two years ago at the 63^rd Senior Nationals in Ludhiana, Punjab.

A supremely balanced outfit of past and current internationals, Uttarakhand was impeccable on both ends of the floor. Defensively, they out-rebounded Tamil Nadu 55 to 45, restricting them to just 28 points in the first two quarters combined. Offensively, they scored from all parts of the floor. Centre Amritpal Singh who has been hugely effective throughout the tournament, shined with 27 points and 14 rebounds. The moment Tamil Nadu started double teaming him in the post, Singh had the foresight to kick it out to his open teammates for the outside shot.

For Tamil Nadu, the match started off with their lynchpin and captain Amjyot Singh on the bench with an ankle injury. Even without Amjyot, Tamil Nadu had numerous relatively easy scoring opportunities which they missed. Backup centre Jeevanatham was the chief culprit missing easy jumpshots in the paint. With their post players rendered ineffective, the international guards of Tamil Nadu Pratham Singh, Akilan Pari and Pranna Venkatesh fought hard. In the second half, Amjyot Singh finally checked into the match and Tamil Nadu roared back within single digits of Uttarakhand. However, in the last quarter every time Tamil Nadu made a run, Uttarakhand kept scoring mainly through Yadwinder Singh for the memorable 72-63 win.

The winning teams received Rs 1,50,000/-, runners up Rs 1,00,000/- and third place finishers Rs 50,000/-

Final Standings

No.	Women	Men
1.	Chhattisgarh	Uttarakhand
2.	Delhi	Tamil Nadu
3.	Indian Railways	Services
4.	Kerala	Haryana
5.	Maharashtra	Karnataka
6.	Tamil Nadu	Kerala
7.	Karnataka	Indian Railway
8.	Telangana	Punjab
9.	Madhya Pradesh	Delhi
10.	Punjab	Telangana

Results from 5-1-2015

Finals

Women

Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 48 pts & 12 rbs, Sharanjeet Kaur 18) bt Delhi (Madhu Kumari 15, Pratima Singh 15, Akanksha Singh 13) 84-75 [19-22, 21-16, 26-11, 18-26]

Men

Uttarakhand (Amritpal Singh 27 pts & 14 rbs, Yadwinder Singh 16, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 13) bt Tamil Nadu (Pratham Singh 15, Amjyot Singh 11) 72-63 [22-12, 17-16, 10-15, 23-20]

3^rd and 4^th Place Matches

Women

Indian Railway (Smruthi Radhakrishnan 16, Sitamani Tudu 14, R Rajapriyadarshini 14) bt Kerala (Poojamol KS 18, Neenumol PS 16, Jeena PS 14) 81-76 [23-18, 11-13, 19-18, 28-27]

Men

Services (Joginder Singh 22, Narender Grewal 21, Abhishek YP 15) bt Haryana (Deepak Rathee 23, Himanshu S 20, Hemant S 20) 87-70 [19-15, 28-24, 9-19, 31-12]