Heartbreak for KSEB; South Central Railways, Indian Bank clinch Feasto basketball titles

Indian Bank, Chennai and South Central Railways, Secunderabad, clinched the titles of the Feasto Golden Jubilee basketball tournament in Kozhikode on Sunday.

It was heartbreak for the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) that reached the women’s final unbeaten, but were upset by the railways side, 55-66. In the men’s final, Indian Bank defeated Young Orions, Bengaluru, 87-73.

KSEB had defeated SCR in their league meeting, but in the title match, the visitors hit back with Pushpa Senthil Kumar scoring 22 points. The Railways side led 23-12 at the end of the first quarter, and barring the third, which KSEB won 19-13, the Secunderabad side had a firm grip on the final.

For Indian Bank, Malayali superstar Pranav Prince scored 22 points, while Arjun Yadav shot a game-high 23 points for the Young Orions. The bankmen took charge from the start, leading 27-16 and 45-23. The team from Bengaluru took the third quarter, 24-16, but a tied (26) final quarter sealed the title for Indian Bank.

Pushpa Senthil Kumar of South Central Railways and Muin Bek of Indian Bank were given the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.

Results (finals): Women: South Central Railways 66 (Pushpa Senthil Kumar 22, Priyanka Prabhakar 13, Ambarshi 13, Gulbhasha Ali 11) bt KSEB 55 (Sreekala 19); Men: Indian Bank 87 (Pranav Prince 22, Prasanth Singh Rawat 20, Muin Bek 15, Hariram 14, Baladhaneshwar 11) bt Young Orions 73 (Arjun Yadav 23, Ajin 20)