BOC was crowned the champions in the women’s category

The Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) claimed their fourth consecutive departmental basketball title beating the Bhutan Olympic Committee  (BOC) team 54-64, on October 21.

The intensely contested game saw both teams customising their offensive strategies on their speed and accuracy. Until the dying minutes, neither team could build a comfortable lead.

The first half of the game ended in favour of RBA, 29-28. In the second half, RBA’s defence proved sturdy, making it difficult for the skilled BOC players to penetrate inside the zone, often losing the ball.

However, the BOC came out more dominant after a timeout, determined to close the gap and fixed its issues in the zone. This became problematic for the soldiers as the score margin narrowed with every passing minute.

Eighteen seconds to end the third quarter and the score tied at 44-44. Both teams looked desperate, resorting to rampant fouls.

The end of the third quarter got ugly as players became aggressive, often ending up in exchanging heated arguments including with the referee too. This resulted in BOC losing one of its players. A couple of more fouls could result in loss of another player and BOC would not have any substitute. The team was compelled to avoid committing fouls. The quarter ended up in favour of BOC leading by a point (45-44).

However, BOC was trailing behind by three points with only three minutes of the game remaining. Team RBA capitalised on its stamina and speed to end the game 64-54.

In the women’s category, BOC defeated Drukair 49-32. BOC took the lead to maintain a huge margin, ending the first half with 21-5.

Drukair stiffened its accuracy on the hoops and came out stronger in the second half. But the recovery came late and turning the game in their favour proved impossible.

The winners in the men’s category took home individual trophies and a cash prize of Nu 40,000 and runners-up took Nu 30,000. In the women’s category, BOC took home a cash prize of Nu 20,000 and Drukair took Nu 15,000.

The inter-departmental basketball tournament was organised by SD events in collaboration with Bhutan Basketball Federation. The tournament is sponsored by Bhutan National Bank, Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited, and Big-cola.

Tshering Dorji 

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