Israr inspires Central Greens to basketball title
KARACHI, Nov 10: A brilliant three-pointer by captain Israr Hasan in the dying moments helped district Central Greens beat district West 41-38 in a pulsating final to win the sixth NBP Cup Inter-district basketball tournament at the Arambagh floodlit court here on Friday night.
The winners trailed 18-19 at the half time.
After leading 9-3 in the opening quarter, the champions fell behind in the next two quarters 9-16 and 12-15 to trail 30-34 at the conclusion of the third quarter.
However, the eventual champions recovered and made good use of scoring to dominate the fourth quarter 11-4 to win the NBPCup for the first time since its inception.
At one stage the two teams were tied 38-all, when Israr played captain’s role and steered his team to triumph. He was the pick of the final with 14 points. He was assisted by Omer seven and Mahad six.
Faisal emerged top scorer for losers with 12 points. Sabih Alam and Fahad Ahmed contributed seven points apiece.
Former Test cricketer and chief of NBP Sports and CSR division, Iqbal Qasim, graced the final and gave away the prizes.
Speaking on the occasion, he announced that from next year onwards the winners will be awarded Rs50,000 and the runners-up Rs25,000.
He also announced to sponsor the Sindh-Balochistan basketball series and technical officials course next year besides honouring former international and secretary of Sindh Basketball Association, Abdul Nasir for his contribution to the game.