Punjab boys drub Kerala lads to storm into U-21 final

Khelo India Youth Games

Our Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 19

Punjab scored an emphatic 95-58 victory over Kerala to storm into the boys’ U-21 final in basketball in the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games being held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Guwahati in Assam.

In the semifinals played today, Punjab boys faced a little challenge from Kerala whom they edged out easily to set up the title clash with Tamil Nadu who got the better of Delhi 89-81.

At the end of the second quarter, Punjab established a comfortable lead (46-24) and went on to clinch the issue. Princepal Singh was the main scorer for the winning side, chipping in with 36 points while Kanwar Gurbas Sandhu and Rajan contributed 17 and 15 points, respectively.

However, in the girl’s section (U-21), Punjab waged a spirited battle against Maharashtra before going down by a whisker 76-77 while Kerala beat Tamil Nadu convincingly 64-45 to book berth in the final.

In the girls’ semifinals (U-17), Rajasthan beat Kerala 78-67 and Tamil Nadu thrashed Karnataka 78-48 to settle for the summit clash.

Similarly, in the boys’ U-17 semifinals, Delhi outperformed Kerala 81-69 and Rajasthan outclassed Tamil Nadu 103-84 to make it to the finals.