Defending champions Southern Railway women maintained a clean slate to clinch the women's title while ONGC got the better of Indian Army to make the men's final on the penultimate day of the fourth annual Jeppiaar All-India Invitation Basketball tournament here today.
Southern Railway registered their third victory in the tournament. After a six-point lead (33-27) at half-time, the Chennai team went on to log 62 points as against Western's 49 in the final.
International Geethu Anna Jose (24) and Kokila (19) were prominent among the winning team while Renu Maurya (13) and Smruti (11) played well for the runners-up.
Renu Maurya was adjudged as the best player of the match.
Earlier in the morning, Chhattisgarh met Kerala State Electricity Board in the play-off for third place. After trailing by two points (24-26) in the mid-way stage, Chhattisgarh recovered in the last two quarters to win the match 53-48.
Junior international Swaranjeet Kaur and the tournament's tallest girl Poonam Chaturvedi put in some exemplary skills to aid their team's victory. Swaranjeet was declared as the "Most Valuable Player" of the tournament and will receive a Scooty Pep for her effort.
Oil and Natural Gas Commission entered yet another final in the Jeppiaar Trophy men's division by overpowering Indian Army 68-55 in the first semi-final.
ONGC, last year's runners-up, led right from the beginning and were 40-23 at half-time. The match was interrupted for about five minutes due to a drizzle in the third quarter.
Riazudeen played a stellar role for the Dehradurn-based team with 25 points while Sridhar netted 20 points for the Army.
