India beat Maldives in the second match of the SABA Championship 2017 on Friday night.
India took the match 84 points to 42, which was a victory for the local team, as this is the first time- in recent history- that India was unable to score over 100 points in a match against Maldives.
While the Maldives team played a strong match, they were unable to equalize the game as India took a big lead from the start of the match.
Best player of the match was awarded to India’s Amrit-Pal Singh by the chief guest of the match, Ambassador of India to the Maldives, Akhilesh Mishra.
Speaking after the match, captain of the Maldives national basketball team, Mohamed Zilaal said that the match was a victory for the team, as they were able to keep India from scoring over 100 points, and that the team is satisfied with the results of the match against India.
However, he added that “this is not the result we want”, and assured that all players will be giving their best throughout the competition.
The 5th SABA championship started on Friday evening, with the first match played between Bangladesh and Nepal, with Bangladesh winning the match 76 points to 66. Chief guest, Minister of Youth and Sports Iruthisham Adam handed over the award to the best player of the match, Bangladesh’s Mithun Kumar Biswas.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Minister Iruthisham had said that the government had been happy to provide all the assistance necessary to the Maldives Basketball Association (MBA) in order to hold the championship in the Maldives.
Five nations are competing in this year’s SABA championship; India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives. India took home the title of SABA Championship 2016, with Maldives taking second place, and Nepal in third place. Sri Lanka had not competed in last year’s championship.
