CHENNAI: Indian Bank, Chennai defeated Income Tax 74-64 in the men’s final of the All India Basketball tournament to bag the 54th Nachimuthu Trophy, played at the VOC Stadium, Coimbatore. Indian Bank pocketed a cash prize of `1 lakh by virtue of their title triumph.
In the women’s final, Southern Railways defeated South Central Railways 57-55 in a thriller. Southern Railways got richer by `50,000 for winning the title. Dr Balaji Saravanan, Deputy Commissioner of Police was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.
Results: Men Final: Indian Bank 74 (Gineeb Benny 12, Hariram 25, Suriya 10) bt Income Tax 64 (Jeeva 17, Boppana 12, Siva Balan 18); 3rd Place: Indian Army 72 (Suresh 19, Gopal Ram 20) bt Indian Air Force 62 (Parveen Dhaiya 14, Rohit Golia 12).
Women: Final: Southern Railways 57 (Soniya Joy 13, Darshini 12, Raja Priya Darshini 16) bt South Central Railways 55 (Diviya Palanivel 22, Aswathy, S Thampi 20). 3rd Place: KSEB 46 (Anjana 14, Stephy Nixon 10) bt Arise Steel 33 Pushpa 11).
Venkat shines
Venkat’s 66 propelled YSCA to a 136-run win over Servion Global Solutions in the GR Kuppuswamy Memorial league-cum-knock-out tournament.
Brief scores: YSCA 264/7 in 30 ovs (Alfred Sam Jose 52, Venkat 66, Vijay Anand 38) bt Servion Global Solutions 128/6 in 30 ovs (VV Manjunath 30, Rajan 33). MoM: Venkat.
Royal Enfield 160 all out in 28.2 ovs (Dilli Babu 34, Ganesh 4/54, Krishnakumar 3/25) lost to Ashok Leyland 161/4 in 26.3 ovs (Mohamed Moinudeen 67, Dilli Babu 3/43). MoM: Mohamed Moinuddeen.
SACA bag Br. Nelson trophy
Sri Ammaiyappan Cricket Academy (SACA), Coimbatore whitewashed Harrington Cricket Academy, Chennai 3-0 in the U-16 limited overs tournament and bagged the Brother Nelson Memorial trophy, played at SACA Palladam grounds, Coimbatore.
Brief scores: Harrington CA 168 all out in 28.5 ovs (T Shiva 71, G Aswath 5/25, C Gokul 3/39) lost to SACA 170/1 in 27.2 ovs (P Khush 85 n.o, C Gokul 51 n.o); Harrington CA 132/6 in 30 ovs (S Sriman 31, S Abinanthan 4/10) lost to SACA 134/5 in 29 ovs (SS Arunesh 37, S Abinanthan 36 n.o). SACA 194/9 in 30 ovs (P Jones 31 n.o, R.Saran 30, N Ranganathan 3/36) bt Harrington Cricket Academy 140/9 in 30 ovs (TS Shiva 53, S Hrithish 47, P Jones 4/23, S Sakthivel 3/9).
TNCA condoles
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association condoled the demise of noted coach PK Dharmalingam. Dharma, as he was popularly known, was a former Ranji cricketer, BCCI and state coach of the TNCA.
He was 84 years and passed away on Sunday morning. Dharma also coached Don Bosco. He was one of the earliest coaches in the state to lend a hand to women’s cricket. “Dharmalingam was one of the senior most and respected coaches of the TNCA. The TNCA recalls his exemplary service rendered to cricketers and to the game of cricket. The TNCA sends it deepest condolence to the family members of the departed soul,’’ said RI Palani, joint secretary, TNCA, in a press release.