Kerala girls retain national youth title

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Kerala’s female hoopsters, on Thursday night, alley-ooped high to retain their national youth basketball title and at the crest of activities were two young women — Premi P. Lal and Poojamol K.S.
While Poojamol outclassed her opposing guards to shoot 40 crucial points, it was Premi’s defensive skills against the 6’6’’ tall Poonam Chaturvedi that helped the Kerala women trounce Chhattisgarh 70-61 in the final at Nagpur.

“Both the girls were outstanding throughout the championship and I’m glad that we succeeded in retaining the title,” said Jijo Paul, coach of the team.

Captained by Premi, the Kerala women had beat Uttar Pradesh to win the crown last year. It was no surprise that Premi, alongwith Arathy Vimal and Elizabeth Hillarios got selected to the national youth camp.

“We had a definite game plan, Pooja along with Arathy were assigned to score while Premi played a versatile offensive role and when needed, she fell back to defensive position. Everybody played with utmost dedication,” said Jijo.

Indeed, the Kerala State Sports Council coach working at the Centralised Sports Hostel in Kollam could not have asked for more from these talented girls.“Premi is a class player. I’ve been training her and Arathy for the last two-and-a-half years. they are great prospects for the state and the nation,” he added.

Poojamol put on a stellar show scoring more than 160 points from seven games.

She also top-scored with 29 points in the semifinal where Kerala beat Haryana 63-44. Poojamol studies tenth grade at K.S. Mount Carmel Higher Secondary School in Kottayam while Premi finished her matriculation this year.

She is also a regular member of the Centralised Sports Hostel at Kollam. “Throughout the 21-day state camp held at Christ Vidyaniketan at Irinjalakuda, our mantra was to focus on improving fitness and helping them build a perfect rapport among teammates,” said Jijo.

The championship has given the girls, especially, Premi and Pooja the opportunity to impress the national selectors when they join the camp on June 14 prior to the Asian Basketball Championship.

The charismatic play by these two girls reminds the state of Anjana and Jeena, two of whom had reached the senior stage at the national youth last year.

“Anjana was Most Valuable Player last year and Jeena was equally good. I foresee a great future for these girls and it gives me great pleasure to have coached the state to back-to-back wins,” added Jijo.

He further said with no second thoughts: “Kerala has set foot to its golden days in women basketball’.