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IOB and Southern Railway bagged the men’s and women’s crowns respectively in the Rising Star BC annual State-level basketball tournament, which concluded here on Wednesday.While IOB overcame a minor challenge from Chennai Customs to prevail 72-56 in the men’s summit clash, a seasoned Railways team asserted its dominance with a 55-37 victory over Rising Star in the women’s final.The women’s summit clash turned out to be disappointing as a better performance was expected from Rising Star.Aishwarya Natraj, Soumya and Ramya made the contest exciting with their quick-wittedness, but once Railways took charge with Adhirai, Neena, Alagu Tamilmozhi and Apoorva finding the target, Rising Star couldn’t force the pace and wilted under pressure.

Minor scare

In men’s action, IOB had a minor scare in the first quarter as Customs attacked with impunity, with Vinoth being spot on with his two-pointers.

At the end of the first quarter, IOB was trailing 19-23. However, it came back roaring in the second quarter and maintained the momentum till the end with excellent performances from Prasanna Venkatesh and Abilek Paul.

IOB received Rs. 25,000 while Southern Railway took home Rs. 15,000.

Raju Venkatraman, MD & CEO, Medall Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. and R. Devaraj, General Manager, State Express Transport Corporation, gave away the prizes.

The results:

Men: Final: IOB 72 (Prasanna Venkatesh 16, Abilek Paul 15, Hareesh Koroth 10, Vineeth Ravi Mathew 10) bt Chennai Customs 56 (Vinoth 25, John de Platto 11, Saravana Rajan 10).

Third place: Indian Bank 77 (Phuvaneshwaran 17, Thangadurai 16, Amarnath Gopi 14, Praveen Kumar 14) bt JIT 67 (Shashank Rai 20, Ajinkya Mane 17, Arun Harikumar 12, Pawan Kumar 10).

Women: Final: S. Rly. 55 (Adhirai 13, Neena Hareendran 12, Apoorva 10) bt Rising Star 37 (Aishwarya Natraj 12).

Third place: Slammers 60 (Anila 20) bt Madras Nationals BC 31 (Sindoori 14).