Vibgyor, Rajhans are champs

The victorious Vibgyor High 'A' (Malad) boys at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pics/Suresh Karkera

A late flourish by Aditya Keshwani, 10, who sunk two back-to-back baskets, helped Vibgyor High 'A' (Malad) quell the strong determined challenge from Don Bosco 'A' (Matunga) by snatching a thrilling 10-6 victory in an engrossing boys' under-11 final of the MSSA inter-school basketball tournament at Azad Maidan on Thursday.

In a match of fluctuating fortunes and with the lead changing hands, Aditya seemed to have saved his best for last. Towards the end of the third quarter, Aditya converted two free throws to tie the match scores at 6-all.

The Rajhans Vidyalaya (Andheri) girls are all smiles as they pose with the U-11 winner's trophy

That boosted his confidence and a late moment of brilliance saw an alert Aditya pounce on the rebounds and, he twice in quick succession found the hoop in the final quarter and thanks to the poor shooting from the Don Bosco hoopsters, who drew a blank in this period, Vibgyor went on to emerge champions.

Aditya scores eight
Aditya scored eight of the 10 points and Neev Menon scored the other two, while Yadnesh Sarvade managed to score two baskets and Parth Chintal two points for the Matunga side.

Joe lobo with Vidit Damani (left) and Samantha Fernandes

"It feels great to finally emerge champions since last year we lost in the semi-finals and it was very disappointing. I am also very happy after converting the free throws and make the last two baskets which helped the team win and that's what matters most. I received good supports from teammates, especially Neev and Rishav Dutta," Aditya told mid-day.

Super Rajhans girls
However, the Vibgyor High (Malad) girls were not as fortunate as they suffered a 3-4 defeat at the hands of Rajhans Vidyalaya (Andheri) in a low scoring final. For the Andheri girls, their star Samantha Fernandes scored just one point from a free throw early in the match, before Kara Veragiwala scored a basket to give Rajhans a 3-2 lead in the first quarter.

Later, with the scores tied at 3-all Tvisha Lakkashetti converted a free throw in the fourth to help Rajhans snatch a narrow win. Phiu Shah (2 points) and Svia Karnawat (1 point) scored for the losers.

Samantha of Rajhans Vidyalaya and Vidit Damani of Vibgyor High (Malad) won the MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards and they received a cash award of R2,500 each from Joe Lobo, a former state-level basketball player and a technical official.

Earlier, Vibgyor High ICSE (Goregaon) boys and girls teams won their respective third place matches.

The Vibgyor girls defeated Don Bosco International (Matunga) 22-0 and later the boys got the better of St Joseph's (Wadala) 19-11 over extra-time after the match ended in 11-all stalemate.

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