National Invitational Basketball Championships, 2013 tips off in Chennai

After Mumbai, Karur, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and most recently Coimbatore, the professional Indian basketball teams continue plying their trade down south.

The Mohan Breweries and Distilleries National Invitational Basketball Championships 2013 will be inaugurated later this evening at the Sree J Jayalalitha Indoor Stadium in Kilpauk, Chennai.

The tournament will be held between 17th and 22nd August and carries a total prize money of Rs. 3 lakhs. The men’s winner will take home Rs. 1,00,000. The best women’s side will win Rs. 75,000. The runners up will pocket Rs. 60,000 (men) and Rs. 40,000 (women).

There is also a special prize of Rs. 25,000 (details to be disclosed later). Before we cry foul as to the difference in prize money between the men and women, one reasonable explanation could well be that the men’s teams are playing an additional game in the group stage.

The six day extravaganza is being conducted by the Golden Eagle Blue Star Sports Academy and features eight men’s and six women’s teams, divided into two groups.

The group stage will be played in a league format, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the knockout stages. The following are the groupings and scheduled matches for the opening day.

Among the men’s teams, ONGC, Dehradun and IOB, Chennai are strong contenders for the title. In the women’s section, Southern Railway, Chennai featuring international stars Geethu Anna Jose and Anitha Pauldurai among others, is expected to go all the way.

MEN

GROUP A	GROUP B
ONGC, Dehradun	Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai
Indian Army, Delhi	Punjab State
Vijaya Bank, Bangalore	Indian Air Force, Delhi
Tamil Nadu	Cochin Customs

WOMEN

GROUP A	GROUP B
Southern Railway, Chennai	Western Railway, Mumbai
South Central Railway, Secunderabad	South Eastern Central Railway, Chhattisgarh
Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB)	Eastern Railway, Kolkata

SCHEDULED MATCHES ON OPENING DAY (17.08.2013)

4.00 pm Western Railway vs Eastern Railway (women)

5.15 pm IOB, Chennai vs Cochin Customs (men)

6.30 pm Southern Railway vs KSEB (women)

7.45 pm ONGC, Dehradun vs Vijaya Bank, Bangalore (men)