TN men, Railway women are 3x3 national champs

Tamil Nadu men and Railway women underlined their supremacy in the shorter version of Indian basketball, winning the title in the first 3x3 national basketball championship.
NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu men and Railway women underlined their supremacy in the shorter version of Indian basketball, winning the title in the first 3x3 national basketball championship which concluded at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Thursday.
While Pratham Singh kept his cool in crunch moments of the spine-tingling title clash to help Tamil Nadu register a thumping 22-20 triumph in extra time, the experienced women from Railways donning white outfits took the home team Delhi in their strides to take home the crown with a comfortable 21-12 victory.
The men's summit clash saw fluctuating fortunes with every passing minute, but a cool and composed approach from Pratham did the trick for Tamil Nadu in the end. In the winning effort, Pratham scored a game-high 11 points which also included the two free-throws that he successfully made in the extra-time after both the teams netted 20 points at the regulation.
"Playing with a free mindset helped us emerge victorious in this first national tourney. We kept it simple from the start and finished off the things in that very simple manner," said Pratham whose heroics denied Railways a double delight.
Keeping it short and sweet, the star-studded Railway women team registered a 9-point triumph over hosts Delhi to capture the first crown in this shorter version of the game with 1.36 minutes remaining for the regulation. That the Railway women were in a league of their own can be judged from the fact that they finished off all the six games in the first 3x3 nationals minutes before the regulation period of 10 minutes. In the summit clash, Manisha Dange (8), Geethu Anna Jose (7) and P Anitha (6) played like a well gelled unit to post a facile 9-point triumph.
"To be true we were confident as me and Geethu had earlier had the experience of playing together in this format. Still we all were determined to capture the first national event and after winning it comfortably I'm very happy to hold the national crown," said Anitha.
The champion teams took home a handsome prize money of Rs 1,01,000 with a trophy while the runners-up were richer by Rs 30,000.
Earlier in an exciting but low-scoring last-four clash, Pratham Singh (8) and Rikin Pethani (5) gelled well as Tamil Nadu surprised national champions Uttrakhand 14-11, while Railways recorded a relatively easy 18-12 win over Kerala.
Similar results were registered in the women semifinals. Riding high on the 12-point heroics of Geethu Railways drubbed Punjab 21-8 while a combined effort from the sizzling Singh sisters Pratima (6) and Prashanti (5) was enough for hosts Delhi to post a fine 16-13 victory over Maharashtra.
Later in the third place play-offs, Uttrakhand men defeated Kerala 21-13 and Maharashtra women outclassed Punjab 19-10 to take home Rs 20,000 and a trophy. All members from the top three teams in the tourney were also richer by Adidas gift hampers.
RESULTS
Men (Final): Tamil Nadu (Pratham Singh 11, Rikin Pethani 8, CV Dinesh 2, P Axilan 1) bt Railways (Prakash Mishra 9, Arjun Singh 6, Gagandeep Singh 4, Vikram parmar 1) 22-20 in Extra Time (regulation time 20-20); Third place: Uttrakhand (Vishesh Briguvanshi 10) bt Kerala (Manoj R 6) 21-13
Semifinals: Railways (Arjun Singh 7, Gagandeep Singh 7) bt Kerala (Manoj R 7, Subhash Shenoy 5) 18-12; Tamil Nadu (Pratham Singh 8, Rikin Pethani 5) bt Uttrakhand (Vishesh Briguvanshi 5, Yadwinder Singh 4) 14-11
Quarterfinals: Kerala (Subhash Shenoy 13) bt Delhi (Narender Grewal 15) 20-18; Tamil Nadu (Pratham Singh 7) bt J&K (Surender 4) 22-7; Railways (Prakash Mishra 10) bt Chhattisgarh (Shrawan Kumar 11) 21-20; Uttrakhand (Vishesh Briguwanshi 7) bt Karnataka (Rajesh Uppar 4) 21-10
Women (Final): Railways (Manisha Dange 8, Geethu Anna Jose 7, P Anitha 6) bt Delhi (Raspreet Sidhu 7, Prashanti Singh 4) 21-12; Third place: Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 7) bt Punjab (Kiranjeet Kaur 5) 19-10
Semifinals: Railways (Geethu Anna Jose 12, S Kokila 6) bt Punjab (Preeti Rani 6) 21-8; Delhi (Pratima Singh 6, Prashanti Singh 5) bt Maharashtra (Amruta Buskute 6, Larissa Fernandes 4) 16-13
Quarterfinals: Maharashtra (Amruta Buskute 8) bt Haryana Salma Devi 3) 21-5; Delhi (Raspreet Sidhu 7) bt Tamil Nadu (Raja Priya 7) 21-16; Punjab (Preeti Rani 8) bt Chhattisgarh (Sharanjeet Kaur 7) 12-11; Railways (Geethu Anna Jose 14) bt Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 4) 21-6.