BENGALURU: Several weeks of preparation and hard-fought wins over some of the country's best teams has finally paid off for a bunch of talented young women basketball players from Bengaluru, who will now represent India at the Jr. NBA World Championship to be held near Orlando, Florida, in August.
After a gruelling three-day league phase, the city girls overcame favourites Kerala 47-41 in the semifinals and then sealed a 41-38 comeback win over Chennai in the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA National Finals at the NBA Academy in Greater Noida on Wednesday. Among the boys, Delhi defeated Kolkata 81-71.
Both Bengaluru and Delhi teams, along with international teams from Africa and West Asia, Europe, Mexico, Canada, Asia Pacific, China and South America will take part in the first-of-a-kind global youth tournament for U-14 cagers which will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando from August 7-12.
The National Finals featured the country’s top eight boys and girls’ teams from Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Kerala, Mumbai and Punjab, based on their performance during the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Programme held in January. The programme consisted of several individual skills contests and 5v5 competitions and following the city finals in March, each city picked its 10-member All-Star teams (boys & girls) for the National Final.
“The competition was tough, we were facing some of the best in the country. But the girls were confident. We had a good preparatory camp in the run-up to the tournament,” coach Prasanna Venkatesh told TOI on Wednesday. “In the league phase, we finished second behind Chennai and therefore faced Kerala in the semifinals. Kerala, with their tall players, were tough but we still beat them in the end by six points.”
In the final, however, facing old nemesis Chennai was not going to be easy. “There were some nerves because we had lost to them earlier in the league phase and at the 2017 Sub-Junior Nationals,” Sunishka Kartik, one of the team’s top performers, said.
Trailing 2-17 after the first quarter, the Bengaluru girls never lost hope and pushed hard to surge ahead at the break and then defend the lead for the win. “Seven of us have played together before for Karnataka so we rallied together as a team, fought hard and defended well. It was a victory to cherish forever,” said the Baldwin Girls’ High School student.
Asked if they had received any cash award for their achievement, Sunishka quipped, “It doesn’t matter. There is no award bigger than representing India.”
Winning squad: Sunishka Kartik, Diya J Kothari (Baldwin Girls’ HS), Smriti Vemula, Vedaa Anand (Greenwood High), Hamsa R, Meghana M (Carmel Convent),
Shreya Ashok
(Bishop Cotton), Shreya Bose (NPS HSR Layout),
Moumita Mishra
(Vibgyor High), Nuha Asif Masood (JSS PS). Coaches: Prasanna Venkatesh, Palani M, Jyothi Rao S.
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