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Kerala Hoopathon , a mega event across the State to celebrate the 125th Jubilee of the game of Basketball, was conducted in a grand scale with participation from all major districts of Kerala with more than 12,500 beginners ( below 12 years) attempted to score 1,25,000 points with the support of around 1250 school players across 125 courts in the State. The idea being to introduce young kids into the game by making them get a feel of scoring points on the Basketball court in a 4 session – 1 hour Hoopathon.

This event is being organised by Team Rebound & the Kerala Basketball Association. Former Indian International and 1970 Arjuna Awardee Abbas Moontasir well known for his on court gimmicks during his heydays in the numerous tournaments even in Kerala was the Chief Guest for the Statewide Inauguration of the one day Kerala Hoopathon held at the Global Public School. Kochi this morning at 10.30 am. Several Indian stars including Unwin Antony, Sunny.C.V, Leelamma Thomas, Iqbal and leading State Basketballers from all over the State were part of the event at various locations across Kerala.

The Kerala Hoopathon was targeted to basket 125,000 points during this 1 hour session and ended up with the children exceeding the expectations of the organizers and tallying a Grand total of 131060 points ( as at 4pm). Ernakulam topped the Hoopathon scoring spree with 55130 points from 26 schools while Trivandrum was second with 31254 points from 20 schools and Kottayam was third with 15310 points from 20 schools. Other major districts included Pathanamthitta with 13724 points from 11 schools, Alleppey with 12746 points from 13 schools, Idukki with 2576 points from 3 schools while scores kept pouring in.

In Trivandrum, the event was organized jointly with the Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs and was inaugurated by Sanjayan Kumar IFS, Director of Sports & Secretary, KSSC at the St Josephs Higher Secondary School, Trivandrum. Other dignitaries included Archbishop Thomas Mar Koorilos ( Pathanamthitta), Veteran Basketballer Thomas J Fenn ( Alleppey), former Kerala captain Jose Kurien ( Kottayam).

Among the top School scores in each District, Delta Study Fort Kochi (Ernakulam) top scored with 6592 points : St Josephs Hr Sec School ( Trivandrum) top scored with 4632 points : Lourdes Public School & Junior College (Kottayam) top scored with 2456 points : Christ Central School, Tiruvalla ( Pathanamthitta) top scored with 2586 points : SDV English Medium HSS ( Alleppey) top scored with 1620 points : Shantal Jothi Public School Muttom ( Idukki) top scored with 1070 points.

The Kerala Hoopathon is being supported by H&C, Njuze, POPY, ACC, HDFC Bank, SAI-LNCPE & the Directorate of Sports, Govt of Kerala.