Western Rly, AP eves causes upsets

Western Railway and Andhra Pradesh eves caused upsets, beating Delhi and Chattisgarh respectively on way to the women's final in the 20th Federation Cup basketball championship at the Fr Agnel Complex, Vashi, in Navi Mumbai, on Friday.

Western Railway, who led 25-17 at half time, beat Delhi 50-38 while Andhra, who were trailing 27-30 at the breather, rallied to pip Chattisgarh 59-54.

Internationals Harika Gujar (13, with one three pointer) and I V Cherian (16) did the bulk of the scoring for the winners while another international Sheeba Maggon (19 with one three pointer) played well for Delhi.

Internationals Sofi Sam (21) and Jetti Jose (15) did the bulk of scoring for Andhra Pradesh while the other two internationals to be seen in action for Chattisgarh -- Poonam Singh (20, with one three pointer) and Anju Lakra (14) -- were top scorers for their team.

In the men's action on Thursday, IOB and ONGC played out a rousing encounter. IOB won 98-79.

ONGC, desperate for a win that would have helped them qualify for the semi-final, threw everything that they had at IOB.

Trailing 20-28, IOB went in overdrive and quickly established the lead, but ONGC never gave up the fight, kept creeping on IOB only to discover that their opponents are indeed the best side in the tournment.

In a late match, Punjab Police pounded Army to confirm their No 1 status in Pool B.

Results:

Women

Semi-finals: Western Railway 50 (Hararika Gujjar 13, I V Cherian 16) beat Delhi 38 (Sheeba Maggon 19).HT: 25-17; Andhra Pradesh 59 (Sofi Sam 21, Jetti Jose 15) beat Chhattisgarh 54 (poonam Singh 20, Anju Lakra 14). HT: 27-30; Chhatisgarh 65 (J Venu 14, Anju Lakra 11, Amreet Kaur 9) beat Delhi 54 (Sheeba Maggon 19, Rameshwary Kaur 11, Prabjot Kaur 8) HT: 33-27.

Men

Group-A: IOB 98 (Shabeer Ahmed 21, R Shivshankar 18, S Sridhar 16) beat ONGC 79 (Desraj 28, Mohit Bhandari 17, Nishant Kumar 9) HT: 47-43.

Group B: Punjab Police 76 (Parminder Singh Sr 21, Parminder Singh Jr 12, Tripal Singh 16, Swaranjit Singh 12) beat Indian Army 48 (Chotelal Sharma 10, Harender Singh 9) HT:38-29.