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43rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior Nationals 2016 –SILVER FOR KERALA GIRLS
Chhattisgarh BFI-MP boys champs
Hyderabad, 7th October 2016: Kerala Girls Satisfied with the second spot as they lost to defending Champion Chhattisgarh 48-57 here for the finals of the 43rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 concluded a short while ago at the SATS Indoor Stadium, Saroornagar in the city.

The winners of the last two sub-junior national championships, Kerala girls and defending champions Chhattisgarh squared off in the final today morning. The game lived up with both teams sticking close to each other till the final minutes. Chhattisgarh followed their game plan of ball movement and finding the open man against Kerala’s zone defence. Kerala’s go-to player, centre Ann Mary Zachariah, struggled in the early going being unable to knock down freethrows. She was frequently double-teamed which opened up the lane for her teammate, Aleena Antony, who kept making tough layups to keep her side within a couple of possessions of Chhattisgarh.Kerala ended the first half with 31-37  Kerala’s Ann Mary found her touch in the third quarter, creating second chance opportunities for her team reduced the deficit to 3 points.

In the final quarter, Chhattisgarh were the more accurate team from the field and found easy scoring opportunities in transition. Kirti (20 points) and Urvashi Baghel (16 points) led the way for their team as Chhattisgarh pulled away from Kerala in the final minutes. For Kerala Ann Mary top scored with 19 points.

BFI-MP* bt Rajasthan 69-66
Defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh* boys were gunning for a three-peat as they entered their final against Rajasthan WITH 69-66 victory  Both teams were unbeaten so far in the tournament.

Mr P Niranjan Reddy, Vice Chairman, Telangana Government Planning Commission distributed the winning boys’ medals and trophy. Mr Aadhav Arjuna, Managing Director of Arise Steel Industries, the title sponsors of this championship, was the special guest for the second day running. Also seen distributing the trophies and medals were Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary-General of Basketball Federation of India, Mr M Rajender Reddy, President, Telangana Basketball Association, Mr R Sridhar Reddy, President, Organising Committee (& also President of the Hyderabad District Basketball Association) and other dignitaries.

Finals
Girls

• Chhattisgarh-57  (Kirti 20, Urvashi Baghel 16) bt Kerala -48(Ann Mary Zachariah 19, Aleena Antony 8) 57-48 (18-16, 19-15, 8-11, 12-6)

Boys

• BFI-Madhya Pradesh-69 (Virat Dhakad 19, Aman Negi 13) bt Rajasthan-66 (Mahaveer Banjara 29, Kamal Singh 10)  (14-6, 17-37, 24-11, 14-12)

Bronze medal match
Girls

• Tamil Nadu-70 (Nitika A 19, Sathya K 19, Sree Varshini J 18) bt Maharashtra-50 (Siya Deodhar 18, Chaitaali Bafna 14)  (16-14, 14-7, 27-16, 13-13)

Boys

• Haryana-73 (Gourav 19, Depender 11, Sahil 11, Vikas 10) bt Andhra Pradesh-42 (Shaik Ahmed 12, Nayeem Pranav 8)  (17-6, 25-10, 12-19, 19-7)