PANJIM: ONGC Dehradun kept up their dominance in the Federation Cup, winning the tournament for a record fourth time in a row registering a 73-57 victory over old foes Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai (IOB) while runners-up from the senior Nationals Kerala squared off against Chhattisgarh 80-71 in the women final to emerge champions at the 30th Federation Cup National Basketball Championship at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, Goa University, Bambolim, on Monday.
The two best club teams in the men’s category in India have been sharing honours for the past several years and know each other’s style of play pretty well.
ONGC got off to the best possible start they could hope for, coming out all guns blazing after tip-off. Internationals Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Bhrighunvashi provided the early scoring. The India captain was especially fired up, aggressively driving to the basket in transition and somehow finding a way to finish.
In the men’s third place match, Army Red edged past Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru to clinch the bronze medal.
Poonam Chaturvedi was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the women’s category and India captain Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi won MVP honours in the men’s section.
The Basketball Federation of India also befittingly chose the finale of the Federation Cup to felicitate yesteryear Senior India basketball legends.
The players felicitated were Hanuman Singh (Arjuna Awardee), Hanif Patel, Mohammed Rizwan, G Dilip Murthy, Siraj Ahmed (all former India men’s players), Ajay Sud (Vice President-BFI), K Govindaraj (President-BFI), SK Kataria, Mr Abbas Moontasir (both Arjuna Awardees), Sat Prakash Yadav (current head coach of the Indian men’s team and former India men’s player), Mr Reginald Rajan (former India player) and Mr Parminder Singh (Arjuna Awardee).
K Govindaraj, president-BFI announced a cash award of Rs 25,000 to each of these players as a token of appreciation towards their contribution to Indian basketball.
In the women’s final, after a blowout loss in the league stages, Chhattisgarh were keen to exact revenge today. The game was a battle of contrasting styles of play. Kerala got off to a quick start with forward Jeena Scaria knocking down mid-range jumpers in transition. Guard Neenumol found her touch from outside the three-point arc, draining three long-range jumpers in the first quarter.
Chhattisgarh’s 6 foot 9 inch centre Poonam Chaturvedi struggled in the early going with Kerala putting multiple bodies on her and denying her the ball. Kerala centre Stephy Nixon ensured that Poonam did not get into easy post position, pushing her away from her comfort zone.
Kerala also played tight man-to-man defence on Chhattisgarh’s guards, hounding their passers and putting extra pressure on the lobs to Poonam inside.
On the offensive end, Stephy came out to play, putting her post skills on show. Poonam was too slow to match Stephy’s array of moves in the post. But Chhattisgarh never managed to fall far behind Kerala.
Entering the fourth quarter, Kerala held a 9-point lead. But in the first five minutes of the fourth, Chhattisgarh fought back led by Poonam’s scoring. Riya Verma knocked down a crucial triple for Chhattisgarh with around five minutes left in the game to cut Kerala’s lead down to 4. That was the closest they got to Kerala though. Kerala sustained their scoring in the final minutes, while shutting down Chhattisgarh on the defensive end.
Jeena’s mid-range jumper in the dying minutes was the final nail in the coffin for Chhattisgarh.
Earlier, the South Central Railways team from Telangana won third place defeating the South-Eastern Central Railways, Bilaspur women 65-56.
