Men, women teams cruise to semis

Chennai, Apr 29 (UNI) Semifinalists were spotted in the men's and women's section in the Golden Eagle Blue-Star Sports Academy All India Invitation Basketball Tournament here tonight.

In the men's section Tamil Nadu XI defeated Army XI 67-52 in the last league match to finish the four-team pool with an all win record followed by KSEB Thiruvananthapuram which finished with two wins.

Indian Army with one win and two loss and HAL Bangalore crashed out of reckoning.

In the other group, Punjab, ICF, Chennai and Western Railway, Mumbai finished with two wins a piece resulting in a three-way tie.

But Punjab and ICF advanced to the last four stage in view of better point quotient.

In the last league match, ICF, trailing initially, got a ten point lead at the end of third quarter, before winning against Central Excise and Customs, Kochi, 57-52 in a must win situation to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals tomorrow, Tamil Nadu will meet ICF and KSEB will take on Punjab.

In the women's section, strong contenders Southern Railway and Western Railway were qualified for the semifinals from Group A, while Central Railway, Mumbai and SRM-Rising Star, Chennai made the grade from Group B.

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UNI