Railways and Tamil Nadu have made into the semifinal of the 60th Senior National Basketball Championships after winning their respective matches at the Guru Nanak Stadium indoor arena in Ludhiana.

Tamil Nadu defeated Services 80-77 in a nail biting quarterfinal match in the men’s category to move into the last four. Hareesh Kumar, S Robinson and V Suresh Kumar scored 24, 21 and 12 points respectively for Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu was trailing 74-75 in the last two minutes of the match but Hareesh scored six points with two free throws to help his team to win the match.

Los Angeles - Memphis Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson, unhappy with his role as a bench player, has been given permission to leave the team to deal with a personal issue, a newspaper reported.

Iverson, a 10-time All-Star signed as a free agent during the off season, met with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley in Los Angeles after a 114-98 loss to the Lakers, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Saturday.

According to the report, Iverson again met with Heisley Saturday morning before leaving for Atlanta, where he lives in the off season.

Love Twenty20 cricket and futsal? Now get ready for the shorter version of basketball (the 3-on-3), a faster and more athletic form of the game, which will be making its debut at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games to be held at Hanoi, Vietnam, from Oct. 30 to Nov 8.

Also called FIBA 33, this version is played only on half of the conventional basketball court and comprises three players in each team (unlike 5 in normal game).

Los Angeles  - During the off-season, the Eastern Conference's top three teams added stars they believe will help them return to the NBA Finals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, who reached the 2007 Finals, traded for superstar centre Shaquille O'Neal. The Boston Celtics, who won the 2008 title, signed forward Rasheed Wallace. And the Orlando Magic, who went to the 2009 Finals, traded for guard Vince Carter.

Which acquisition will have the biggest impact? Right now, it's Wallace, who already has started making bold statements.

Indian team registered their first win as they defeated Malaysia 90-74 in the playoff match of the 23rd FIBA women’s Asian Basketball Championship (ABC) at the JL Indoor Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday.

India dominated throughout the match except the second quarter in which they were trailing by 20-26. Indian team was leading by 47-32 at the half time. Harjeet Kaur was top scorer in the match with 31 points.

Indian team faced yet another defeat as Japan routed India 108-58 to advance into the semifinals of the 23rd Asian Basketball Championship for women at the JN Indoor Stadium, Chennai on Tuesday.  

India was trialing by just one point at the end of first quarter (20-21) but Japanese girls’ stroke back to take lead by 55-31 at the half time. Japan dominated the third and fourth quarters to race away with the match.

Belgrade  - Serbia's press Monday hailed the rejuvenated national team as a force for the future despite their 85-63 defeat to Spain in Sunday's Eurobasket final in Katowice, Poland.

"A Serbian tale," "title to Spain, future to Serbia" and "Spain wins gold, Serbia wins glory" were the typical headlines, euphoric over the end of an eight-year drought.

Geneva  - A Swiss basketball player said she was set to fight a ban on her Islamic headscarf which would force her to either remove the covering or quit the sport, local media reported Wednesday.

Sura Al-Shawk who plays for the team STV Luzerne, was informed by the regional basketball association that International Basketball Federation rules banned headscarves.

"I've been playing wearing my scarf for almost a year and a half. Many of the players have Christian tattoos and religious symbols on their bodies and nobody objects to that," Al-Shawk said, according to the swissinfo. ch news portal.

Belgrade  - Serbia departed home for the Eurobasket in Poland amid lower-than-ever expectations, but all that has changed after it routed world champions and main title contenders Spain in the opener Monday night.

"Serbia devastates Spain," screamed a headline in Sportski Zurnal. "Serbia is again a force in basketball - one match was enough to demonstrate it... The youngest team at the Eurobasket conquered the world champions, Spain," the sports daily said.

Madrid - Four players on Cuba's national basketball team have defected and requested asylum from Spain, Spanish authorities said Wednesday.

Officials in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria, said the four turned up at a police station and made their asylum request.

Cuba's national basketball team had played a match against the Spanish national team last Friday in Las Palamas.

Jayram Jat of Services has been named as captain of Indian basketball team for Asian Basketball Festival 'Great Ball of China Tournament', which will be held at Beijing from July 31-Aug and for FIBA Asia basketball championship to be organized at Tianjin City, China, from August 6 to 16.

The Indian team is currently training in Bangalore for last one and a half month under the guidance of the chief coach Aleksandar Bucan.

Washington - Yao Ming's foot injury continued to make waves Tuesday after the Houston Rocket's team physician said it could threaten his next season or even his career.

Referring to the hairline fracture that has not responded to treatment, a New York Times sportswriter said there was an "anatomy lesson" here: "Being 7-foot-6 is not good for your feet. And when you're Yao Ming and a broken left foot threatens your career, the pain quickly spreads through an entire franchise, the Houston Rockets, causes aches through the NBA and sends cramps to China."

Los Angeles - Blake Griffin had a pretty good idea where he was going, but he wasn't able to take a deep breath until the Los Angeles Clippers officially selected college basketball's consensus player of the year as the No 1 pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night.

"It's a relief and good to know where I'm going is set in stone," Griffin said after hearing his name called first by NBA commissioner David Stern at the WAMU theatre inside New York's Madison Square Garden.

"I've been dreaming about this day ever since I knew what it was. I'm very excited to be a Clipper."

Los Angeles - "The Big Shaqtus" is changing his address and perhaps his nickname to "LeShaq."

The Cleveland Cavaliers agreed in principle on Wednesday night to acquire four-time NBA Champion Shaquille O'Neal from the Phoenix Suns as part of a three-player deal, multiple media outlets, including the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported.

According to the newspaper, the 15-time All-Star centre will join league MVP LeBron James as the newest dynamic duo looks to bring the Cavaliers a first NBA Championship.

Los Angeles - The Minnesota Timberwolves are stockpiling first-round picks for what could be a very active NBA Draft for them.

The Timberwolves agreed to trade guards Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Washington Wizards late Tuesday night for the No. 5 overall draft pick, along with reserves Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.

Los Angeles - Richard Jefferson is on the move again prior to another NBA draft.

The Milwaukee Bucks dealt Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday in exchange for veterans Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Argentine Fabricio Oberto, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Jefferson's move prior to Thursday's draft is similar to 2008, when the former all-star was shipped to the Bucks from New Jersey for China's Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons on draft day.

Washington - Basketball star Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is seeking custody of a yet-to-be born child of his former girlfriend, according to media reports Friday.

The petition, filed on June 12 in the district court of Dallas County, Texas, also seeks a paternity test to determine whether the child being carried by ex-girlfriend Cristal Taylor was fathered by the German basketball whiz.

Los Angeles - The Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers will make history this fall when the NBA plays its first-ever game in Taipei, the league announced on Friday.

The pre-season contest is scheduled for October 8 at the 12,874 capacity Taipei Arena.

"October 8th will be an historic day for the NBA and for the millions of basketball fans in Taiwan," NBA Greater China CEO Tim Chen said from Taipei. "Taiwan fans are very passionate about the game and we are honoured to be able to present a match-up of these two great teams for them."

Los Angeles - David Kahn's first order of business as Minnesota Timberwolves' new president of basketball operations was a big one, relieving Kevin McHale of his coaching duties.

McHale, who has spent 15 years with the organization, said he got the news during his third formal meeting with Kahn on Tuesday night to discuss the team's coaching job.

"He didn't really give me any reasons, other than the fact he wanted to make a change," McHale told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Kahn made the announcement during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Los Angeles - The Sacramento Kings got their man, and new head coach Paul Westphal will rely on his success to turn around the fortunes of a club that finished with the worst record in the NBA.

"We are really excited to announce that we have reached an agreement in principle with Paul Westphal to become the Kings head coach," team president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie said in a statement late Tuesday night.