Kerala: Kerala, on the likes of junior international stars like P.S. Jeena, Stephy Nixon and Soniya Joy, would have expected to cruise past Tamil Nadu in its opening encounter of the Federation Cup basketball tournament on Wednesday. However, the host women were forced to sweat and slog for a 47-31 victory at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium.

Apparently, there was a story behind the disappointing opening show. The Kerala team had just three hours' practice before the tournament and only an hour on a wooden court!

Tamil Nadu's preparation was no better. The girls from Chennai landed in the city just a couple of hours before the match.

The Kerala girls clearly looked out of touch. When the Tamil Nadu girls, with seven of them coming from Chennai's Rising Star Club, baffled them.

Kerala had a slender 7-6 lead after the first quarter and moved to a healthy 25-13 in the next but almost threw away the advantage in the third quarter (28-26) when it went into a shell for about eight minutes.

However, Kerala got its act together in the last 10 minutes with senior India camper P.S. Jeena playing a major role in the recovery.

By Indian Sports News Network