Senior National Basketball: TN teams in semi-finals

CHENNAI: While the men’s team defeated Kerala 81-57 in the last-eight stage at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here, the women’s side got the better of Punjab 73-70 in a hard-fought contest. Both Tamil Nadu men and women will take on Railways in their respective semi-final matches on Saturday.

In the men’s quarter-final clash between Tamil Nadu and Kerala, captain H Muin Bek led the host from the front by racking up 17 points. A Aravind (15 points) and P Jeevanantham (10 points) were the other top contributors for Tamil Nadu, which is on a six-match winning streak in the championship. Besides Tamil Nadu, Railways, Karnataka and Punjab made the final-four cut.

Meanwhile, in the Tamil Nadu-Punjab women’s last-eight encounter, R Sruthy (21 points) was on fire for the home team. She was ably supported by A Ashmitha and J Ishwarya, who earned 16 and 10 points respectively. Ritika (22 points) put in a shift for Punjab that gave Tamil Nadu a run for its money in the nail-biting fixture. Railways, Telangana and Kerala too qualified for the semi-finals.

RESULTS:Quarter-finals: Men: Tamil Nadu 81 bt Kerala 57; Karnataka 82 bt Haryana 65; Railways 90 bt Services 68; Punjab 90 bt Uttarakhand 64. Women: Tamil Nadu 73 bt Punjab 70; Railways 94 bt Assam 36; Kerala 83 bt Karnataka 79; Telangana 72 bt Madhya Pradesh 64. SEMI-FINAL FIXTURES:Men: Tamil Nadu vs Railways; Karnataka vs Punjab. Women: Tamil Nadu vs Railways; Telangana vs Kerala