Sub-junior Nationals: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh girls enter semi-finals

Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh advanced to the girls’ semi-finals of the Sub-junior National Basketball Championship after respective wins over Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. In the boys’ section, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana also progressed with victories over Karnataka and Delhi

Hyderabad: Karnataka put on an impressive performance to defeat Kerala 62-49, powered by Aarushi Anand’s 17-point effort, and booked a place in the semi-finals of the Sub-junior National Basketball Championship on Friday.

Karnataka will face the winners of the Delhi-Maharashtra quarter-final in the last four.

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Uttar Pradesh also secured a hard-fought 68-57 victory over Madhya Pradesh, with Tejasvi Karhana scoring 21 points to lead her team into the semi-finals. Uttar Pradesh will meet the winners of the Tamil Nadu-West Bengal quarter-final.

In the boys’ category, Uttar Pradesh dominated Karnataka 65-40 to advance to the semi-finals, with Shabd Kumar top-scoring with 21 points. They will face the winners of the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra quarter-final.

In another quarter-final, Haryana edged past Delhi 70-65 in a closely fought contest, with Keshav Kaushik contributing 17 points. Haryana will take on the winners of the Rajasthan-Chhattisgarh quarter-final in the semi-finals.

Earlier, the morning pre-quarter-finals set the tone for the knockout stage. In the girls’ section, West Bengal edged past Odisha 57-51, while Delhi defeated Punjab 75-41.

In the boys’ pre-quarter-finals, Madhya Pradesh defeated Kerala 71-51, while Chhattisgarh registered a 74-14 win over Punjab.

Scores:

Quarter-finals

Boys: Uttar Pradesh 65 (Shabd Kumar 21, Sameer Singh 19) bt Karnataka 40 (Taksha Jha 13); Haryana 70 (Keshav Kaushik 17, Haesh Rathee 15, Nikhil 14, Deb Rathee 11) bt Delhi 65 (Jishan Malik 17, Vineet 11, Karthik 10, Arnab Sharma 10).

Girls: Karnataka 62 (Aarushi Anand 17, Dhanya Shree Anand 12) bt Kerala 49 (Anna Elsa George 21, Ananya Aneesh 10); Uttar Pradesh 68 (Tejasvi Karhana 21, Angel Malik 15) bt Madhya Pradesh 57 (Monika Dhakad 13, Eram Khan 11).