Tamil Thalaivas overcame a horrendous beginning to turn tables on UP Yoddha and earn its fourth win in 10 games with a narrow 34-33 victory here on Wednesday.
The result, however, did little to lift the struggling Thalaivas, which continue to languish at the bottom of the table in Zone B. UP, though, managed to move up a spot to second place.
Captain Ajay Thakur and impressive young raider K. Prapanjan led the Thalaivas’ charge to bring the team back into contention after UP had raced to a 1-9 lead inside the first three minutes of the game that included an all-out for the Thalaivas. It took the team from Chennai some time to recoup and settle down but once that happened, the young side kept chipping away at the points slowly.
The half time score was a decent 12-18 in UP’s favour but the six-point margin was not big enough to rattle Thalaivas, which came out determined to build on the small gains. It soon managed to all-out UP, sending out Nitin Tomar. The huge lead early on helped UP stay marginally ahead, till the 35th minute, when the Thalaivas managed to earn a second all-out to go ahead 29-28 for the first time in the game.
Rishank Devadiga and Tomar continued to try but Thakur proved his class with a three-pointer in the final minute of play to put his team ahead by two points. With time running out, UP managed to get a couple of points but it wasn't enough.
In the day's other match, host Haryana Steelers went down tamely to Puneri Paltan 38-22 with Deepak Kumar Dahiya scoring half of those for the losing side.
The results: Tamil Thalaivas 34 (Ajay Thakur 8, K. Prapanjan 8, Amit Hooda 4) bt UP Yoddha 33 (Nitin Tomar 14, Rishank Devadiga 8, Nitesh Kumar 5). Puneri Paltan 38 (Deepak Hooda 13, Sandeep Narwal 8) bt Haryana Steelers 22 (Deepak Kumar Dahiya 11).
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