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Defending champions India re-affirmed their preeminent position in the South Asian region, with an emphatic 93-44 win over Sri Lanka. Both these sides came into this all important last league match of the 4th South Asian Basketball Championship (SABA) 2015 at the Kanteerava Stadium with perfect 4-0 records. India led (46-26 at halftime) it was a constantly slippery slope for the islanders. The third quarter saw the Indian team go on a particularly vicious tear, starting with a 9-0 run coming out of the halftime break. “India had four players in double digits, with Tamil Nadu’s centre Aravind Annadurai top scoring with 22 points, which included one three pointer, surprising for someone playing his position. “We are confident of doing better at the FIBA Asia level this time, as now other teams fear us.” said small forward Prasanna Venkatesh. He has reason to feel optimistic, as India fielded five first time senior team debutants this time, who managed to more than fill in for the absence of missing starters Amritpal Singh, Amjyot Singh Gill, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh.

The winning team was given a cash prize of Rs 35,000 as a personal gesture of Basketball Federation of India (BFI) President K Govindraj. Trophies and medals were handed out to the top three teams of India (gold), Sri Lanka (silver) and Nepal (bronze).

Detailed Scores

• India (Aravind A 22, Pratham Singh 17, Joginder Singh Saharan 13) bt Sri Lanka (Praneeth Udumalagala 13) 93-44 [22-13, 24-13, 29-10, 18-8].
•  Maldives (Mohamed Zilaal 18, Amhed Firaash 16, Ilyas Ibrahim 13) btBhutan (Chimi Wangchuk 11, Karma Wangchuk 11) 97-55 [21-14, 26-18, 30-11, 20-12]Morning.
•  Sri Lanka (Randima Sooriyaachchi 16, Thimothi Thineshkanth 14, Sudesh Ahmed 11) bt Nepal (Ayush Singh 13, Bikram Joshi 12, Sadish Pradhan 12) 76-68[18-23, 18-17, 22-15, 18-14].
•  India (Prasanna Venkatesh 26, Rikin Pethani 21, Akashdeep Hazra 17, A Aravind 17) Maldives (Zakariya Latheef 14) 128-48 [28-8, 39-10, 34-16, 27-14].
•  Bangladesh (Md Tareq Aziz 26 pts & 10 rbs, Mithunkumar Biswas 18 pts & 12 rbs, Mithun Sarkan 17) Bhutan (Rinchen Dorji 21, Tashi Tendhar 12) 82-70 [19-18, 18-15, 25-16, 20-21].