Karnataka girls and Rajasthan boys emerged champions in the 39th Under-17 Youth National Basketball Championship at the Dumurjala Stadium in Howrah on Thursday.

Rajasthan boys successfully defended their title, while Karnataka girls avenged their previous year's loss by defeating Tamil Nadu 61-54.

The five-day tournament, organised by the Basketball Federation of India and the West Bengal Basketball Federation, in association with Young Metro, The Telegraph, featured 30 boys and 26 girls teams from across the country.

"Our girls rose to the challenge. Key players such as Deepika PP and Nidhi Umesh pushed the game," said Karnataka coach K. Sathyanarayana said.

Tamil Nadu coach P. Sathya said: "Most of our players were competing at this level for the first time."

In the boys' final, Rajasthan retained the title defeating Karnataka 85-67. "We were consistent throughout," Rajasthan coach Harjinder Singh said.

The individual awards went to Nidhi Umesh and Yadesh Kumar (both Karnataka), who won the Three Point Shooter award for girls and boys, respectively.

Taarushee Tarun (Karnataka) and Bhupendra Singh Rathore (Rajasthan) were adjudged the Valuable Player of the Year for girls and boys, respectively.

"These players are the future stars," said V. Solomon Nesakumar, president of the West Bengal Basketball Association.