Sunday, July 2, 2017


34TH YOUTH NATIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TIPS OFF IN HYDERABAD


Don_Bosco_Hyderabad_school_children_with_an_entertaining_basketball_themed_performance_during_the_op_2582243
  • The 34th Youth National Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls tipped off this morning at the Indoor Stadium, Gachibowli in Hyderabad.
  • The opening ceremony was held in the evening with Shri T Padma Rao Goud and Shri Dr Vivek Anand as chief guests, and numerous other guests of honour and special invitees.
  • Defending Champs Tamil Nadu girls have opened with an easy win over Rajasthan, while Punjab and Karnataka boys too have registered important victories.
  • In an exciting overtime game, Haryana boys have beaten Delhi 69-65.
  • Hosts Telangana girls too have got off to a dream start, beating Bihar 42-10, while Andhra Pradesh girls fell to Odisha.
Bengaluru, 1st July 2017:  The 34th Youth National Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls has tipped off at the Indoor Stadium, Gachibowli in Hyderabad.

The Championship is being organized by the Hyderabad District Basketball Association under the aegis of the Telangana Basketball Association and the Basketball Federation of India.

Morning Session

In the morning matches so far, defending champions Tamil Nadu girls have opened with an easy 76-31 win over Rajasthan. In the boys section, Karnataka and Punjab also registered important victories over Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh respectively. Last year’s semifinalists Karnataka trailed at the end of the first and second quarters before a strong showing in the third period saw them outlast their opponents from western India. In the Punjab vs Chhattisgarh boys game, repeated turnovers in the third quarter cost Chhattisgarh dearly as Punjab was able to pull away for the easy double digit win.

Arguably the most exciting match of the morning was between Haryana and Delhi boys. This level 1 Group A league encounter started with Delhi dominating, with 14-7 and 13-9 opening quarters. That’s when the momentum shifted drastically towards Haryana who clawed their way back in the second half. A buzzer beating two pointer by Haryana’s Mukesh pushed the game into overtime and they continued to shine in the extra five minutes to hand Delhi the heartbreaking loss.

In lower level 2 games, Himachal Pradesh boys and girls, West Bengal girls and MP girls too posted victories in their respective bids to get elevated to Level 1.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was in the afternoon, with Shri T Padma Rao Goud (Minister for Sports and Youth Services as well as Excise & Prohibition) and Shri Dr Vivek Anand (Advisor to Government of Telangana & Chairman & Managing Director, Visaka Groups) as chief guests. Guests of honour include Shri G Kishan Reddy (MLA, BJP), Shri Burra Venkatesam (Telangana Principal Secretary, Youth Affairs & Sports), Shri K Govindaraj (President, BFI), Shri Chander Mukhi Sharma (General Secretary, BFI) and Shri Ragothaman (Treasurer, BFI). Special invitees include Shri Ranga Rao (President, Olympic Association of Telangana), Smt Dr Vidya Sravanthi (Co-option Member, GMHC), Shri S R Prem Raj (General Secretary, Olympic Association of Telangana) and Shri Arvind Krishna (Film Actor).

Don Bosco School, Hyderabad were particularly entertaining with their innovative basketball themed performance that was enjoyed and appreciated by all those present.

Later in the evening hosts Telangana girls got off to a dream start beating Bihar 42-10.

Results from Day 1 (1st July 2017) until 7:00 pm


Girls

Level 1
Group A
  1. Tamil Nadu (S Pushpa 14, S Lakshmipriya 13, Monica 10) bt Rajasthan (Ankita Mandia 11, Shatakshi 9, Akshita 8) 76-31 [25-8, 25-10, 14-9, 12-4]
  2. Maharashtra (Suzanne 15, Shruti Bhosale 13) bt Punjab (Heena 17, Radha Rani 15) 57-47 [18-10, 9-7, 7-14, 23-16]
Group B
  1. Chhattisgarh (Elizabeth Ekka 24, M Nagmani 11) bt Gujarat (Naina Patel 16, Hetushree S 6) 69-35 [15-9, 20-7, 19-11, 15-8]

Level 2
Group C
  1. Himachal Pradesh (Pallavi 14, Ramandeep 9, Ananya 8) bt Goa (Katherine Barr 10, Shimei Nathan 6) 49-27 [18-4, 12-6, 14-10, 5-7]
Group D
  1. West Bengal (J Routh 18, B Das 12, M Singh 12) bt Uttarakhand (Srishti Sharma 14) 74-20 [18-0, 15-0, 17-6, 24-14]
Group E
  1. Telangana (G Sandhya 9, Aarya 8) bt Bihar (Kavya 5) 42-10 [18-3, 8-2, 10-2, 6-3]
Group F
  1. Odisha (Lipramayee 23, Swagatika 13) bt Andhra Pradesh (V Satwika 12, R Swetha 11) 46-41 [11-7, 13-8, 12-6, 10-20]

Boys

Level 1
Group A
  1. Karnataka (Prashant T 21, Akshan Rao 13, S Sreenivas 10) bt Rajasthan (Kuldeep Singh 23, Digvijay 16, Rajveer 10) 70-65 [13-18, 21-17, 27-16, 9-14]
  2. Haryana (Mukesh 24, Gaurav 18) bt Delhi (Nitish 29, Aman 20) 69-65 [14-7, 13-9, 16-23, 17-21, 9-5(OT)]
Group B
  1. Punjab (Akashdeep Sharma 27, H Singh 9, Md Singh Gill 8) bt Chhattisgarh (Ayushman Singh 14, Govind 11, Ritesh Yadav 08) 55-42 [16-8, 04-12, 18-9, 17-13]
Group C
  1. West Bengal (Avijit Monkar 37) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Shivam Heer 21, Harithik C 14) 70-51 [25-19, 11-12, 18-9, 16-11]
Level 2
Group C
  1. Himachal Pradesh (Abhay 25, S Singh 13, Sahil 6) bt Chandigarh (Sahaij 15, Jaskaran 15, Harkirat 08) 61-55 [6-18, 16-8, 14-11, 25-18]
Group E
  1. Madhya Pradesh (Uday Veer Yadav 29, Divyaraj Singh 23, Mani Thakur 6) bt Odisha (Chitta Ranjan 8, Harsh Vardhar 7, Soilen Mondal 7) 62-26 [23-06, 17-09, 18-06, 04-05]

About the 34th Youth National Basketball Championship

The Championship is featuring 26 boys’ teams and 25 girls’ teams in the U16 age group, from various Indian States and Union territories, and is being played in a league cum knockout format.

The matches are being played at the Indoor Stadium, Gachibowli, Hyderabad from 1st to 8th July.


The teams are grouped into two levels –Level 1 features the top 10 teams from the previous championship divided into two groups of five teams each (Group A and B), while Level 2 features the remaining teams divided into four groups (Group C, D, E, F).

In the league stages, all the teams play each of the other teams in their group once. The top three teams from each of the groups in Level 1 advance directly to the quarterfinals, while the fourth placed teams play pre-quarterfinal games against the top two teams from Level 2.

The competition is expected to be fierce beyond the immediate prospect of glory, because the teams that finish last in each of the groups in Level 1 are relegated to Level 2 for the next edition of the tournament, while the Level 2 teams that qualified for the pre-quarterfinals will replace them in Level 1 in the next edition.

Over the years, this Championship has provided a platform for the country’s best players in the U16 category to showcase their talents. This allows selectors to identify and shortlist the most promising players and coaches to parachute into national team training camps with an eye towards participation in international events.

About Basketball Federation of India

The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honour of Arjuna Awards. Earlier in June 2015, Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian national to be drafted by an NBA team, when he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks.

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