LUCKNOW, Nov. 4 -- Uttar Pradesh's Under-17 boys' basketball team ended a five-year wait for national glory by winning the gold medal at the 41st Youth National Basketball Championship in Pune, Maharashtra on Tuesday. The final saw Uttar Pradesh face tournament favourites Madhya Pradesh. After trailing 59-50 at the end of the third quarter, UP mounted a decisive final-quarter surge to win 76-71 and claim the championship. They dominated the league group too, registering comprehensive wins over Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Telangana. The side then defeated Chandigarh 94-43 in the quarter-finals to secure a place in the last four. In the semi-final, UP produced a dramatic comeback against Tamil Nadu. Trailing by 10 points entering the third quarter, the team fought back to win 82-80 and advance to the final. Uttar Pradesh's Darshil Singh was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and received a cash prize of Rs 50,000. The champion team was awarded a prize purse of Rs 3 lakh. Top seeds dominated the opening knockout rounds of the AITA Championship Series Under-12 Boys' and Girls' Tournament, at the Kesari Tennis Academy here on Tuesday, All eight seeded players advanced to the boys' Under-12 quarterfinals, with top seed Burhaan Mirza of Uttar Pradesh leading the charge after a 7-5, 6-2 win over fellow UP player Avighna Verma. Second seed Mohd Hamdaan was in commanding form, defeating Advik Singh 6-1, 6-0, while third seed Rudra Chaurasiya overcame Abhiraj Rajput 6-4, 6-2. The biggest result of the round came from Ramansh Singh, who produced an upset by knocking out sixth seed Ritvik Asthana 7-5, 6-3 in an all-UP contest. Other winners included fourth seed Arnav Srivastava, who survived a tight first set against Shivansh before winning 7-6(5), 6-1; fifth seed Asvik Srivastava, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Ajmeet Singh; seventh seed Kumar Shrestha of Assam, who beat Vedant Singh 6-0, 6-1; and eighth seed Pranay Shukla, who defeated Vidit Khandelwal 6-1, 6-1. In the girls' Under-12 singles, top seed Shubhi Ranjan of Uttar Pradesh marched into the semifinals with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory over Aarika Raj Singh. Fourth seed Siya Singh also progressed comfortably, beating Navya Rawal 6-1, 6-1, while third seed Anya needed a stronger second set to overcome Virika Agarwal 6-0, 7-5. Shreeja Dubey completed the last-four line-up, defeating Saanavi Yadav 6-4, 6-1 in an all-Uttar Pradesh quarterfinal. Sudahrma Singh, secretary of the UP Badminton Association, on Tuesday passed away after a brief illness. He was 67 and is survived by his wife, son and a daughter, states a release of the UP Badminton Association....