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Sejin Mathew From Tiruvalla finds his place as National Basketball Association (NBA) picked 21 young cagers for its maiden Academy, an elite basketball training centre in the country. Sejin was Selected over 2,500 players took part in the three-month nationwide tryouts held in six cities over India by experienced NBA coaches as they conducted these open tryouts and selected 45 best prospects for the three-day national final that concluded at the Jaypee Greens in Noida on Saturday. In the shortlisted 45 Pranava Prince from St Josephs HSS Thriuvanthapuram and Joseph Thomas From St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu also find their place to the final camp as they got selected from the 660 participants participated at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium on 6th January.

Country’s first-ever NBA academy will take care of the overall development, besides basketball, of these 21 cagers with three more to be included in a couple of months. With an aim to groom cagers at a young age, the NBA in India will develop the talent to compete at the highest international levels.

At 13, 6-foot-1 tall, Mohammad Ali of Kolkata is the youngest player picked for the academy and will play alongside with 17-year-olds Sejin Mathew and M Shanmugam of Kerala and Chennai. This was NBA’s 5th training centre globally and first of its kind in the country will be fully funded by the NBA and will be launched in April.

Sejin Mathew Who hails from Thiruvalla now studying at St Thomas HSS Kozhencherry and was coached by Anish Thomas is now training Under Raju Abraham of State Sports Council Hostel at MTHS Sports Hostel in Kurianoor

THE CHOSEN ONES FOR THE ACADAMY
Manoj Sisodiya, Virat Dhakad, Brijesh Tiwari (all MP), Mohammad Ali (Kolkata), Riyanshu Negi, Prashant Rawat (Uttrakhand), Amaan Sandhu, Vivek Chauhan, Jagshaanbir Singh (all Punjab), Sejin Mathew (Kerala), Achintya Krishna (Karnataka), Rajveer Bhati, Digvijay Shekhawat (both Rajasthan), M Shanmugam, Arvind Kumar (Chennai), Shaurya Kohli (Delhi), Robin Banerjee (UP), Preshit Pawar, Suraj Phathak, Parth Sharma (all Maharashtra) and Rishabh Jaiswal (Chattisgarh).

The prospects for the NBA Academy India will play against top domestic and some international teams. Each centre will feature Under-18 and Under-16 teams, reported Northbridge Times, with travel sides selected for international events. Ultimately, the most promising players at NBA Academy India will be considered for promotion to the NBA Global Academy, which the league recently established in partnership with Basketball Australia in Canberra as an international hub for the training of elite prospects.

Sejin Mathew the first & Only one from Kerala Selected to NBA Academy in India from Kerala

Sejin Mathew Son of KSEB employee Paul Mathew and Sobha From Tiruvalla finds his place as National Basketball Association (NBA) picked 21 young cagers for its maiden Academy, an elite basketball training centre in the country.

Sejin was Selected over 2,500 players took part in the three-month nationwide tryouts held in six cities over India by experienced NBA coaches as they conducted these open tryouts and selected 45 best prospects for the three-day national final that concluded at the Jaypee Greens in Noida on Saturday.

In the shortlisted 45, Pranav Prince from St Josephs HSS Thriuvanthapuram and Joseph Thomas From St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu also find their place to the final camp as they got selected f from the 660 participants participated at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium on 6th January.

According to NBA . COM

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the ACG Worldwide Group (ACG) on Saturday (Feb. 11, 2017) announced top 21 players from this year’s ACG-NBA Jump National Finals. The selected 24 (inclusive of the 3 players, who will be selected in the months prior to the opening of the NBA Academy) will become the first class to receive scholarships and training at NBA Academy India.

The selection of the 24 players at the National Final, held from Feb. 9-11, marked the culmination of the three-month nationwide program that conducted tryouts in six regions including Mumbai, Delhi, Ludhiana, Kochi, Chennai and Kolkata. The three-day camp held at the Jaypee Greens in Noida featured the top 45 prospects from across the country.

“ACG-NBA Jump has given basketball-playing youth in India a pathway to make a career out of the sport We are committed to growing the program in the years to come,” said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco. “The 24 players will now have a solid platform to prepare for the opportunity to move into the professional ranks.”

“The final pool of players represented the very goal of the program that was to identify, hone and create a pathway for the untapped talent pool of basketball players in India,” said ACG Director Karan Singh. “We wish the 24 winners all the very best for their future and hope they make the best of this unique opportunity they have earned through their hard work and dedication.”

The 24 players will get scholarships and training at the NBA Academy India, an elite basketball training centre in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). NBA Academy India, the first of its kind in the country and the NBA’s fifth elite training centre globally, will be fully funded by the NBA and will open in April 2017.

NBA Academies will employ a holistic, 360-degree approach to player development extending beyond the court by focusing on education, leadership, character development and life skills. NBA Academy India builds on the NBA’s existing basketball and youth development initiatives in India. The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program has reached more than 2.7 million youth and trained more than 2,000 physical education instructors nationwide since its launch in 2013. The NBA launched ACG-NBA Jump, India’s first national basketball talent search program, in 2015 and provided the top player with the opportunity to attend the NBA Development League National Tryout in the United States.

Thiruvalla 9th February 2017: Sayan Muhammed of SH CMI Thevra and Anjana Paul Maveli from Christ School, irinjalauda ( U14) category while Dominic D and Olivia T Shaibu both from Shanthal Jyothi Public School Muttam(U17) will lead Kerala at the in U14 and U17 children in both genders for the Khelo India National Level Competitions to be held in Hyderabad Telangana on 11th to 16th of February 2017.

The Team will be accompanied by Prem Kumar from Ernakulam, Ajith AR Thiruvananthapuram, Winny Bestine and Minnu George from Thrissur

Kind Gesture from Team REBOUND

It was indeed a Kind Gesture from TEAM Rebound an organization of former Basketballers who came forward to help the teams with kit and expenses of the camp from the request of Kerala Basketball Association when Kerala Sports Council denied to sponsor their expenses.

The Kit handing Ceremony was done at Little Flower HSS Koratty (Girls) Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kadavanthara Kochi which was attended by Team Rebound President International Muhammed Iqbal Secretary Aji Kumaran Nair Treasurer Hally Itty Ipe and former International Players Leelamma Thomas , Indu Lekha, Mercy Ignatius, Emily K Mathew, Joshyamma George, Alma Nettikkadan, Shibu Hormis, Mathew Urumbath Etc and Ernakulum Secretary Adv KA Salim that itself was a morale boost to the Team

THE TEAM

Boys U14
Sayan Mohammed K.S ©, Thomas Zacharia (Ernakulum)Paul Thomas, Akshay Kumar V A, Abhinav C K (Thrissur) Nithin Baby, AlapuzhaMuhammed Fenzim N. M (Kozhikode) Joseph Roji, Govind Manoj, Jim Paul K(Kottayam) AAlappuzha) Joel Vince Mattom (Idukki)

Boys U17
Dominic Varkala (C), Gordy Jais, Tom Jose, Edwin Thomson (all from Idukki) Muhammed Salih, Edwin John Joseph (both from Kottayam) Arjun S Nair (Thiruvananthapuram) Allan Gladwin, Jeffen Jolly (Ernakulum) Abhishek Jaison (Kozhikode) Amal Stenny (Thrissur) Charly VS (Kannur)

Girls U14
Anjana Paul Mavely © Aleena Antony, Aagy Jaison (Thrissur) Gouri . Chinnu Koshy ,Abhirami R(Trivandrum) Ann Mary Zachariah, Swapna Marin, Aksa Thankam Sajan (Kottayam) Jesly PS (kannur) Avanthika S Biju (Kozhikode)Ann Mary Saji (Enakulum)

Girls U 17
Olivia T Shibu (C) (Idukki) Jayalakshmi V J, Neethu S, Anagha Shaji,Anasooya Sanal G.N (all from Alapzuaha)Dona Elsa Zacharia , Kavya Jayakumar ( Kottayam) Lakshmi K Lalu,Sandra K A & Aparna Sadasivan ( Thrissur) Mahima Shibu M (Thriuvanthapuram) Anu Maria CS (Kannur)

The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program, a comprehensive school-based youth basketball program has which started with the Train the trainer’s programme at Kochi on Nov 18th, 2016 at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi with the active participation of 300 schools over Kerala culminated with the basketball Competitions at the Rajagiri Indoor stadium In Kalamasserry.

Returning for the fourth consecutive year, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program nearly doubled its number of participating cities, expanding from eight to 14. The program took place in Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kottayam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad etc.
Loyalty points(Calculated according to Participation) introduced this year for the teachers at the schools as Arup Viswanth of St Philomina Public School in elanji grabbed the LED TV as the topper and Anu from Devagiri Public School got the TAB and Joshi from Kristhu Jayanthi got the Smart Phone.

5 on 5 Title for St Josephs Pulicunnu and Little Flower Koratty

St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu defeated Girideepam Bethany Kottayam 46-31 taking the Boys Title while Little Flower HSS koratty bagged the Girls Title defeating Shantha ljyothi Public School Muttam 41- 26 in the 5 on 5 City Championship
Earlier in boys division St, Joseph made the final stunning Ephrems Mannam 40-34 whie Girideepam beat MTHS 48-23.

In 3on3 competition in Boys Under 16 Division St Ephrems HSS Mannanm took the Boys Title defeating MTHS Kurainoor 5-3 while in Girls Division Little Flower HSS koratty took the title defeating St Josephs GHS Alapuzha 5-1.

In 3on 3 under 13 division, Assisi Vidhyanikethan took the Boys title defeating SH CMI Pub School Thevra 3-2 _ in boys section while in Girls a repeat of U16 division Little Flower HSS koratty took the title defeating St Josephs GHS Alapuzha 4-2.

In the Hot Shot competition which is new to the state where they have to score as may as within 30-seconds from 5 spots for Under 10, under 13, under 16 from both boys and Girls Category.

Little Flower HSS Koratty again this year took the Best School award.

5 on 5 Competition Detailed Scores Boys Final
St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu -46(Amal Raghu23) bt GirideepamBethanny Kottayam-31(Shanzil14))

5 on 5 Competition Detailed Scores Girls Final
Little Flower HSS Koratty-41(Aparna Sadsivan11, Festy PJose10) bt Shanthajyothi Public School Muttam -26(Olivia T Shaibu11)

5 on 5 Competition Detailed Scores Boys Semi Finals
St Josephs HSS Alapuzha-40 bt St Epjrmes HS MAnanam-34
Girideepam Bethany Kottayam-48(Shanzil14) bt MTHS Kurainoor-23

5 on 5 Competition Detailed Scores Girls Semi Final
Shanthal Jyothi Muttam- 32((Olivia T Shaibu14) bt Vimal Hridaya Kollam-9
Little Flower HSS Koratty-27 bt St Josephs HSS Alapuzha-26

The Trophies and Certificates were Distributed by P J Sunny Selection committee Basketball Federation of India Mathew Urumbath, Adv Salim KA and Dr Princ K Mattom

Hot Spot Competition Results

About Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA India Development Plan

SUMMARY

This plan is anchored in a school-based program which provides PE instructors/coaches with the resources to teach the game and grow participation. The key goals of the program are to create a significant increase in youth basketball participation at the grassroots level and showcase the benefits of exercise to youth development by inspiring children to play.

Develop Network of Partner Schools/Organizations and Coaching Development

Here in Kerala we have identified 300 schools in Kochi, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kannur, Kozhikode, Thriuvanthapuram, Pathanamthitta and they have send their Ptd for a one day Basketball :train the trainers session lead by Coaches form NBA and have given them with turnkey curriculum and resources to teach basketball to its students and asses to Jr. NBA India website and each Each instructor/coach has received a ‘basketball in a bag’ which contains resources to teach and grow the game (i.e. coaching guide, whistle, ball, cones, etc.).

Culminated with Competitive Programs:
a) Jr. NBA Hot Shot Competition: Shooting competitions will be implemented across various age groups. Coaches in each partner school would run local competitions within their school. The top boy and girl from each age group in each partner school would qualify for a city-wide Jr. NBA Hot Shot Championship to be held at the conclusion of the program in each city.

b) 3×3 and 5×5 Competitions: 3×3 competitions would be run as part of the After-School curriculum. Coaches from each school would select the top 4 boys and girls in specified age groups to participate in a Jr. NBA city-wide 3×3 tournament at the conclusion of the program in each city. 5×5 qualifying tournaments would be run in each zone (see below for zone details) with the top 4 boys and girls teams qualifying for a Jr. NBA city-wide 5×5 Finals to be held at the conclusion of the program in each city.

February 2nd 2016: “The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program which has received an immense response in Kochi and Kottayam with spirited participation of more than 300 schools and 2lakh children and active support of schools and parents. its a great inspiration for young fervent players in India In 2013, the NBA joined hands with the Reliance Foundation to launch the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA programmes in various Indian cities. In the last three years, The best performers from the reliance foundation Jr NBA programme in Kerala over the past 11 weeks were invited to Rajagiri Campus Kalamasserry to the City Finals.

The eight Best Teams from Two Regions Kottayam and Kochi have Invited to the Grand Final of 3 on 3and 5x0n 5 Competitions.

In Boys 5on 5 Matches SH CMI Public School Thevara,Shanthaal Jyothi Muttam, Little Flower HSS Koratty and Assisi School Narakkal and from Kottayam St Ephrmes HSS Mannam, St Josephs HSs Pulicunnu, Girideepam Bethanny Kottayam and MTHS Kurainoor will vie for the top honours

In Girls Little Flower HSs Koratty, Shanthal Jyothi, St Josephs Pulicunnu, St Thoams Perun\manoor and from Kottayam Vimala Hridaya Kollam, GirideepamBethanny Kottayam, Christ School Tiruvalla, and Sh School Kottayam have qualiefied for the City Finals
The Competitions will also be there o 3on3 in both U16 andU13 category and Hot Spot Competitions

The City Finals will start at 9 AM and will finish at 4 PM

Kottayam Regional Title for St Ephrem and Vimala Hridaya

St Ephrmes Mannanam and Vimala Hridaya Kollam won the Regional Title with the score in Boys Division while in Girls Vimala Hridaya School Kollam defeated Girideepam School Kottaym to claim the Kottayam regional Title of the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA Regional matches were .25 teams in boys and 8 teams in Grls took part in this one day five on five competitions which was held at the Three Basketball Courts at the Girideepam Bethanny Kottayam

In Boys Final, St Ephrmes Mnannam beat Girideepam Bethanny 31-13

In Girls Vimalaya Hridaya beat Girideepam 23-6

Earlier In the Semi final in boys, St Ephrmes beat MTHS Kurianoor 22-16 while in an exciting match Girideepam got better of St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu 29-26 to reach the final

In Girls Semi final matches Vimala Hridaya beat Christ Central School 16-6 while Girideepam beat SG 10-5

Detailed Scores Boys Final
St Ephremes HSS Mannanm-31(Chacko C Simom3) bt Girideepam HSS Kotayam-13

Detailed Scores Girls Final
Vimala Hridaya-23 bt Girideepam Betshny-6

Detailed Scores Boys Third Place
St Josephs HSs Pulicunnu-22(Jibin Joseph10) bt MTHS Kurianoor-16(sejin Mathew11)

Detailed Scores Boys Semi Final
St Ephrmes HSS Mannanam-42(Joshua Abraham10) bt MTHS kurianoor-10
Girideepam Bethanny Kottayam-29(Shanzil Muhammed11) bt St Josephs HSS Puicunnu-26(Jibin Joseph13)

Detailed Scores Girls Semi Final
Girideepam Bethany-10 bt SH Changancherry-5
Vimala Hridaya Kollam-16(Elna fernades10) bt Christ Central School Thiruvalla- 6

Veteran basketball players find a way to popularise the game among children

On December 21, 2016, when the game of basketball was celebrating its 125th anniversary the world over, veterans of the game assembled in the 14 district headquarters in Kerala to cut cakes and share a dream: to pass on their passion for basketball to the next generation.

Exactly one month later, they organised a mega event, Hoopathon, under the banner Team Rebound. More than 12,500 children—all beginners—participated in matches on 125 courts in the state. Though the target of the hour-long event was to score 1,25,000 points, the children exceeded expectations and scored more than 1,50,000 points. The Kerala Basketball Association supported the event in celebration of the quasquicentennial.

Said A.M. Iqbal, president of Team Rebound, “Our idea was to introduce young children to the game by giving them a feel of scoring points on the basketball court. Their love and passion for the game was quite overwhelming. All 12,500 children, who participated in the Hoopathon, were given ‘Certificate of Induction’ into basketball on the same day and each school that participated was given six basketballs.’’ Iqbal was part of the national team in the 1970s.

It was a WhatsApp message from a state-level player to another that led to the formation of Team Rebound. Gradually, the group expanded, with most state-level players joining it.

Iqbal recalled Kerala’s long history of playing basketball. “While we were young, there were only three popular games—football, basketball and volleyball. The YMCAs across the state played a very crucial role in popularising basketball,’’ said Iqbal, who had played for YMCA Kottayam, where the first basketball court in the state was built in 1926. In fact, it was in a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, that basketball was conceived. Dr James Naismith, a sports coach, framed the first set of rules on the wall of the YMCA in Springfield on December 21, 1891. The new game quickly caught on after Naismith’s 13 initial rules were spread across the world through YMCA newsletters.

Kerala’s performance in basketball has been consistently good. Its women’s team recently won the national basketball championship. The state is also home to many national captains of either gender.

Said Abbas Montasir, former national player and Arjuna awardee from Mumbai, “Kerala has a strong history of basketball and I was very happy to see the same passion even among the younger generation. There were so many children eager to participate in basketball—something you get to see rarely in other states.”

Montasir, who was dashing and agile on the court four decades ago, was the chief guest at the inauguration of Hoopathon. “India was a team everyone took notice of during the 1960s and the 1970s,” he said. “Since then our standard has been sliding and naturally the game’s popularity got affected. But Hoopathon can give a new lease of life to the game.”

It is exactly what Team Rebound aspires for. Said former national player R. Anil Kumar of Hoopathon, “We want to motivate the younger generation and with Hoopathon our idea was to increase the number of hits. We are happy that we could take the initial step in that direction.’’

Team Rebound, said Anil Kumar, had a reason to focus on scoring rather than on dribbling. “Shooting at the basket gives the kids quite a high, as it gives them a sense of achievement. We wanted to trigger that excitement in kids,’’ he said.

Having taken the first step, Team Rebound wants to focus on enhancing quality. Said Anil Kumar, “Passion for the game has already been created. Now we need to skill them up, and that has to be done quite aggressively.”

If the dreams of these veterans come true, more Indian hoopsters will go places, like the 21-year-old Satnam Singh, who was picked up for the NBA championship in the US.

Kochi 30 January 2017- Sacred Heart CMI Public School defeated Shanthal Jyothi Public School Muutaam 42-40 in an extra time thriller with the score in Boys Division while in Girls Little Flower HSS Koratty defeated Shanthaljyothi 28-20 to claim the regional Title of the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA Regional matches held here at the CMI Public School Basketball Court in Thevara

In Three on Three competition a four Minutes shorter version of Basketball , U16 division Little Flower HSs Koratty took both the title as they beat SH CMI thevara (5-4) and St Josephs H GHS Alappuzha((3-0) in boys and Girls respectively while U13 Title Silver Hill Public School from Kozhikode won defeating SH CMI (4-2) and in Girls Little Flower HSs koratty beat St Josephs Alappuzha (4-3)

Earlier In the Semifinal SH CMI defeated Assisii Narakkal 43-3 while Shanthal Jyothi beat Little Flower HSS Koraty 35-29 to make the final in boys while in girls Shanthal beat St Thomas GHS Perumanoor 26-13 and Litle Flower HSS koratty beat St Josephs GHS Alappuzha 26-21 to reach the final

In boys quarterfinal matches LFGHSS Koratty bt Matha Nagar Kadavanthara28 -8, Assissi Narakal bt SHHSS thevara31-26, Little Flower HSS Koratty bt Don Bosco HSs vaduthala15 -14, Shanthal Jyothi Public School Muttam bt Little Flower LPS Koratty 15-3

In Girls, St Josephs HSS Alappuzha- 28 (Jayalakkshmi17) bt Little Flower LP School Koratty 28 -18
St Josephs HSS perumanoor bt Santa Maria, Mundavelly 22-4

Kottayam regional matches will be palyed at Girideepam Bethanny School Vadavathoor on 1st and 2nd February 2017

City Final will be held on 5th February 2017 at Rajagiri Public School Kalammasserry

Detailed Scores Boys Final
Sacred Heart CMI Public School Thevara –42(AShaun Louis23) bt Shanthal Jyothi Public School Muttam-40(Tom Jose19)

Detailed Scores Girls Final
Little Flower HSS Koratty- 28(Festy P Jose7) bt ShanthalJyothi Muttam-20(Olivia T Shaibu7)

Detailed Scores Boys Semi Final
Sacred Heart CMI Public School Thevara –43 (Mathew10) bt Assisi Narakkal-3
Shanthal Jyothi Public School Muttam-35 (tom Jose22) bt Little Flower HSs Koratty -29 (Antony 11)

Detailed Scores Boys Quarter Finals
LFGHSS Koratty-28 (Abhijith Raju10) bt Matha Nagar Kadavanthara-8
Assissi Narakal-31 (Jaganath10) bt SHHSS thevara-26 (Roy Xaver10)
Little Flower HSS Koratty-15 bt Don Bosco HSs vaduthala-14
Santhal Jyothi Public School Muttam-15 bt LFLPS Koratty-3

Detailed Scores Boys Pre Quarter Finals
MathaNagar – 21 bt SBAOA-15
Don Bosco palluruthy-37 (Mons Joseph11) bt Chavara Dharsan -15

Girls
Detailed Scores Girls Semi Final
LFGHSS koratty-26 bt St Josephs Aapuzha-21(Jayalakshmi11)
Shantha Jyothi Public School Muttam-26(Olivia T Shaibu14) bt St Thoms HSS Perumanoor-13

Detailed Scores Girls Quarter
St Josephs HSS Alappuzha- 28(Jayalakkshmi17) bt LFGHSS Koratty-18
St Josephs HSS perumanoor-22(Mary Pinto Antony8) bt Santa Maria, Mundavelly -4

Detailed Scores Girls Pre Quarter

More than 600 kids from Kottayam, Pathanamthitta turned out for the Reliance Foundation and the NBA’s this year first Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Weekend Festival, an extension of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme, on Tuesday 24th 2017, at the Girideepam Bethany Indoor Stadium

The Weekend Festival is a mini basketball skills challenge for kids U-12 years of age.This was one of the 18 events that will run across the 11 centers during the course of the program in India.

The enthusiastic children introduced by NBA coaches to five basic basketball skills stations: passing, dribbling, shooting, footwork, and game-play. The camp was led by Vic President of NBA Asia Carlos Barocca (Portugal), Jedh from USA done in two sessions.

Kids participate in multiple basketball based skill challenges will acquire points/scores while each kid will receive an individual score card for their performances in each of their challenges. The Top 20 performers based on their scores will play a RF Jr. NBA All-Star game and got the NBA merchandise

For more attraction this year we had

1. Basketball Arcade Concept as you Know Shooting is the most looked-forward to act in basketball gameplay. This setup will enable people to experience and test their shooting skills. The task of this station will be to make maximum points in a minute. Top performers win NBA Merchandise Elements – Pop-a-shot setup,

2. Photo Zone Which will have a panel/ backdrop with NBA players and an empty space for people to stand and take photos. A number of props will also be provided like player masks, basketballs, beard, glasses etc. that students can use while clicking photos.

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.

Puducherry, 14th January 2017: Kerala women crowned the women championship defeating Telengann 68-59 a the team who stunned the defending champions Indian railways title coming to Kerala after a gap of 32 years here at the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship here at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry

In the women final Kerala started with a 7-1 lead but telenganncame back strongly to end the 1st quarter leading 19-14 and end the half time with 34-28 lead and ended the third quarter leading 51-46 but in the final quarter Jeena rose on to the occasion along with Rojamol and Anjanna to level the score at 51-51 and the last minutes of the game Jeena mad her experience to Put kerala the champions with the score 68-59 Jeena lead the scoring chart for Kerala with 20 points followed by Anjanna and Rojamol scoring 10 points each for Telenganna Gayathri was the leading architect with 15 points to her credit.

This was Kerala’s Second ever title last they won was at Cuttack in !984-85 and Find the finals only 8 times Kerala had lost the finals to Indian railways last year

The team was coached by Antony Stephan from Kerala State Sorts Council e who took the Women National Games Gold for Kerala at Kannur last year

Incidentally he was a Player of Kerala Police when K V Alexander who coached Kerala Police at that time was the Coach of Kerala Team that won the Gold at Cuuttack 32 years Back

Earlier Kerala Men a junior Outfit also had a Good game finished 5th Spot bettering last years 8th Spot defeating harayana ys 64-54

Bronze for Indian railways women and Punjab Men

Indian railways dfeated Chhattisgarh 84-77 in the women section and Punjab beat Rajasthan 88-70 to take the bronze

Detailed Scores: Women Final

• Kerala (Jeena PS 20, Rojamol G 10, Anjana PG 10, Greema Merlin 8) bt Telangana (M. Gayatri 16, Ramya R. 15, Suganya 12, Aishwarya Nataraj 8) 68-59 (14-19, 12-15, 20-17, 22-8)

WOMEN: 3rd & 4th Place Match:

• Indian Railways (Navaneetha PU 21, Sruthi Menon 16, Madhu Kumar 15, Sitamani Tudu 11) bt Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 31, Sangeeta Kaur 13) 84-77 (25-18, 17-15, 25-14, 17-30)

MEN: 3rd & 4th Place Match:

• Punjab (Talwinder Jit Singh Sahi 21, Rajveer Singh 18, Gurvinder Singh Gill 16, Arshpreet Singh Bhullar 14) bt Rajasthan (Vinod Kumar 22, Sharad Dadhich 18, Mohamad 13) 88-70 (22-22, 23-9, 18-17, 25-22)

5th & 6th Placement Match:

• Kerala (Albin Baby 28, Akhil AR 21) bt Haryana (Vikas Kumar 15, Pardeep Chauhan 12) 64-54 (17-15, 18-16, 16-13, 13-10)

7th & 8th Placement Match:

• Indian Railways (Somvir Chahal 37, Vijender Kumar 24) bt Karnataka (Anil Kumar BK 22, Mufeez Ahmed 14) 89-72 (14-13, 23-16, 23-31, 29-12)

Puducherry, 13th January 2017: Kerala women defeated Chattaissgargh 72-70 to Meet Telangana who stunned Indian railways 56-74 while the Men rather an young output defeated Karnataka 71-40 to play for the 5th Spot against Haryana on Day 7 of the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship here at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry.

In the women Semifinal Kerala had their own plan to curtail 6 ft 11 inches Poonam Chaturvedi in absence of International Stephy Nixon who was not in the team but managed some way other for this Victory into the final Kerala who trailed 16-23 in the first quarter came back strongly through substitute Grima and Anjana and lead the First half with 40-34 and ended the 3rd quarter with 68-51 before winning it at 72- 70 Jeena PS was the top scorer along with Anjana PG with 20 points each. Poojamol and grima Contributed 12 and 10 points fo Chhattisgarh Poonam made 36.

The other women semi-final was in fact a match between two railways as the Indian railway team was stunned by Telangana virtually the South Central Railway team who is also making the first debutant Final for Telangana as they beat Indian Railways 71-40 with Gayathri who was omitted from the railway side came as the top scorer for Telangana with 29 points and Tritty mol the Keralite was good in defence and contributed 10 points for the Victory for Indian railways malyalee Sruthy menon came up as the top scorer with 15 points.

In the Men 1st semi-final, Utharkhand defeated Punjab 78-53 to Meet the winners of Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan in the final. Men Second Semi Final Tamil Nadu beat Rajasthan 108-77

Detailed Results
Semi Finals:Women
1. Kerala -72 (Jeena PS 20,Anjanna P G20, Poojamol KS12, grima Merlin]varghese10) bt Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 36, Sharanjeet Kaur 15)
2. Telangana-71 (M. Gayatri 29, R. Ramya 17, Trittymol Joseph10) bt Indian Railways –

Semi Finals:Men
1. Utharkhand -78(Vishesh Brigub vanshi20, Tris deep rai 16, Amrithpal Singh13) bt Punjab-53 (Talwinder Jit Singh Sahi 14)

Classification for 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th:
1. Kerala (Albin Baby 20, Akhil AR 15, Gineeb Benny 10) bt Karnataka (S Karthickeyan 12, Anil Kumar 9, Navin Raj 7) 71-48 (15-11, 28-11, 14-14, 14-12)

Puducherry, 12th January 2017: Kerala women had sailed safely in the Semifinals As they drubbed Maharastra 72-52 to face Chattaissgargh while the Men bow out of the quarterfinals with a loss over Tamil Nadu with the score 52-72 here on the on Day 6 of the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship here at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry.

In the omen quarter-final Kerala had an easy start of 18-2 lead hen the first quarter ends and Scoring was lead by Jeena P S scoring 18 points followed by Poojamol and Grima making 12 points each Now the fate in the Semi final will depends upon how they block 6 ft 11 inches Poonam Chaturvedi in absence of International Stephy Nixon and in their last match in League defeated Tamil Nadu

Earlier the first result was no surprise as Chhattisgarh booked a semi-final berth winning their game against Delhi. Poonam Chaturvedi put up another MVP-type performance with 60 points in the game. Chhattisgarh’s strategy was simple – put the ball in Poonam’s hands in the post and she took care of the rest. Delhi was unable to contain the Chhattisgarh center and fell to a 99-67 loss. Delhi captain Raspreet Sidhu put up 27 points.

Earlier in the day, on the outdoor courts, the Madhya Pradesh women’s team qualified for the quarterfinals with a tight win against Rajasthan (77-74). MP’s Sikkim import Nima Doma Bhutia was on fire pouring in 24 points in the game, including 9 straight down the stretch. Her teammate Namrata scored the last four points to put her team up by 3 and close out the game. MP will have an uphill task against defending champions Indian Railways in the quarterfinals.

In the other women’s pre-quarterfinal, Karnataka fell to a spirited Maharashtra side in another nail-biter of a contest. Maharashtra’s international player Shireen Limaye was the difference between the two teams as she took over the game in the second half. Her 34 points in the game included 20 second-half points that kept her team in the contest. A couple of clutch triples by her teammate Rupali Tripathi (12 points) gave Maharashtra a 1-point lead, downing Karnataka 62-61. Maharashtra will face Kerala in the quarterfinals.

Telangana has entered the semi-finals of the Senior Nationals for the second year in a row with an 81-70 win against Tamil Nadu. R. Ramya and M. Gayatri combined for 58 points. Tamil Nadu attempted a late comeback, but it was not enough, as Telangana built an insurmountable lead in the first 3 quarters.

In the men’s pre-quarterfinals, Rajasthan and Haryana sealed quarterfinal berths with victories against Gujarat and Odisha respectively. Rajasthan will take on Karnataka in the quarters, while Haryana will square off against last year’s finalists Uttarakhand, later in the day.

The first men’s quarterfinal of the day saw Punjab shake off its poor run to put on its best performance of the tournament against the Indian Railways. The first half was a close affair with both teams putting up an offensive show. Railways center Gagandeep Singh remained consistent down low, putting up 25 points in the game. For Punjab, forward Gurvinder Singh Gill (20 points) was effective in the post against the big Railways frontcourt. But in the second half, former India international TJ Sahi (27 points) came out all guns blazing and took over the game. The Railways team were unable to contain his drives and transition play as he turned the game on its head, giving Punjab a double-digit lead. He was ably assisted by guards Rajveer Singh (27 points) and Arshpreet Bhullar (22 points), who maintained Punjab’s 10+ point lead with timely buckets. Despite winning only one league game, Punjab has managed to qualify for the semi-finals where they hope to continue the momentum from this performance.
Detailed Results
Women Quarterfinals
1.Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 60, Sharanjeet Kaur 9, Sangeeta Kaur 9) bt Delhi (Raspreet Sidhu 27, Sushantika 23, Vinti 12) 99-67 (27-18, 24-16, 24-14, 14-19)
2.Telangana (R. Ramya 34, M. Gayatri 24) bt Tamil Nadu (R. Varshanandini 29, V. Srividhya 11, KK Sruthi 11) 81-70 (23-15, 22-19, 26-13, 10-23)
3.Kerala -73(Jeena PS 22,, Poojamol PS12,Anjanna P G 11) bt Maharastra-52(sakshi Arora10
4.Indian Railways – 96(Sruthimenon19,Anjanna ekka 12, Preethi Kumari12,MadhuKumari10) bt Madhya Pradesh -46(Nima Doma19 namrata 17)

Pre-Quarterfinals
1.Madhya Pradesh (Nima Doma Bhutia 24, Sakshi Pandey 16) bt Rajasthan (Nisha 32) 77-74 (16-14, 19-17, 21-22, 21-21)
2.Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 34, Rupali Tripathi 12) bt Karnataka (Priyanka P. 22, Bhandavya Gowda 16) 62-61 (15-12, 17-14, 15-19, 15-16)

MEN: Quarterfinals:
1.Punjab (Talwinder Jit Singh Sahi 27, Rajveer Singh 27, Arshpreet Bhullar 22, Gurvinder Singh 20) bt Indian Railways (Gagandeep Singh 25, Himanshu Sharma 20, Vijender Kumar 13, Palpreet Singh 10) 101-83 (21-23, 29-20, 20-18, 31-22)
2.Tamil Nadu -72(sivabalan11,ratham Singh9,Prasanna90) bt Kerla -52(Albin Baby19,Ajeeth Sugunan10)

Pre-Quarterfinals
1.Rajasthan (Sharad Dadhich 25, Vinod Kumar 22, Bharatdeep Singh 11) bt Gujarat (Shafiq Shaikh 19, Harpal Sinh 12, Indervijaysinh Gohil 9) 83-64 (27-14, 18-13, 17-21, 21-16)
2.Haryana (Vikas Kumar 19, Pardeep Chauhan 17) bt Odisha (Ashok Kumar Nayak 21, Sahid Khan 12) 73-63 (18-20, 21-24, 22-8, 12-11)

WOMEN: League yesterday Late Match: Level 1: Group B
1.Kerala (Jeena PS 24) bt Tamil Nadu (R. Varshanandhini 11, KK Sruthi 10) 57-37 (19-12, 20-7, 13-6, 5-12)

MEN: Level 1: Group B
1.Uttarakhand (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 26, Amritpal Singh 11, Trideep Rai 10) bt Indian Railways (Gagandeep Singh 14, Palpreet Singh 12, Vijender Kumar 8) 71-55 (18-9, 8-11, 19-18, 26-17)

Puducherry, 9th January 2017: It was an glorifying day for Kerala as younger outfit absence from the players of central excise and Kerala Police with the college lad Akhil Ar leading the scoring with 29 points defeated Punjab 88-77 to make live their hopes into the quarter-final while the women celebrates jeenas Birthday as the India team star put up 22 points and confirmed their place into the Quarterfinals with their 3rd Straight Victory in group B drubbing Delhi 80-44 here for the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship, here at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry.

In other matches, the Indian Railways men looked like a cohesive unit in their win against Chhattisgarh. Led by the scoring of 2016 NBA D-League draftee Palpreet Singh (30 points), the Railways dominated the second half to close out on a 64-53 win. The Karnataka men continued their good run with a thrilling win against Haryana today. Anil Kumar top scored again for Karnataka with 26 points as his team held on to a slim lead and clinched another win (76-73).

The Railways women matched the performance of their male counterparts with a solid team effort against Chhattisgarh. DepsitePoonam’s 42 points, Railway’s balanced scoring helped them tip Chhattisgarh in a match that was decided in the final minute. Clutch free throws knocked down by Railways’ SitamaniTudusecured a 71-68 win for her team.

On the other hand, last year’s women finalists Kerala broke no sweat in a 64-23 win against the Rajasthan women the match which finished at 12 midnight with the team and officials celebrating the Victory of jeenas 23rd Birthday on the ground as both teams and officials joined the fray cutting the cake a rare occasion coincided.

The younger outfit Kerala men who had narrow losses to Karnataka and Haryana found their victory in group B defeating Punjab

Results from 9th January 2017 up to 1 pm

WOMEN

Level 1:

Group A:

• Indian Railways (Madhu 20, SitamaniTudu 14, R. Rajapriyadharshini 14, Anitha Paul-Durai 11) btChhattisgarh (PoonamChaturvedi 42, SharanjeetKaur 17) 71-68 (15-14, 26-17, 17-19, 13-18)

Group B:

• Kerala (Jeena PS 22, Anjana PG 12, Rojamol 11) btDelhi (RaspreetSidhu 29) 80-44 (22-18, 25-3, 15-11, 18-12)
• Tamil Nadu (Srividya SS 26, M. Keerthi 21, R. Varsha N. 13)btDelhi (RaspreetSidhu 37, SushantikaChakravorty12, Vinti 10) 72-68 (16-16, 22-25, 19-14, 15-13)
• Kerala (Anjana PG 19, Poojamol KS 15) btRajasthan (Nisha 9, Kamlesh 8) 64-23 (23-4, 16-8, 17-3, 8-8)

MEN

Level 1:

Group A:

• Karnataka (Anil Kumar 26, Rajesh Uppar 14, Naveen 13, ArvindArumugam 12) btHaryana (Pardeep 24, VikasMor 16, Naveen 15) 76-73 (23-21, 13-11, 23-24, 17-17)
• Kerala (Akhil AR 29, Albin Baby 20,Gineeb Benny10 ) bt Punjab (Gurvinder Singh 22, Arshpreet Singh 19, Talwinder Singh 16) 88-77 [15-18, 24-18, 25-21, 24-20]

Group B:

• Indian Railways (Palpreet Singh 30) bt Chhattisgarh (Rudraks M 22, Amit Rai 9) 64-53 (14-9, 8-17, 25-14, 17-13)

Level 2:

GroupB:

• Uttarakhand (Amritpal Singh 28, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 18, Trideep Rai 14) bt Tamil Nadu (Prasanna Venkatesh 24, Akhilan Pari 12, Vineeth Revi Mathew 10) 69-67 [17-19, 13-12, 14-18, 25-18]

Group C:

• Chandigarh(Sahil S 13, AmitBishla 12, Jungsher 10, Karandeep Singh 10) btSikkim (Abhishek 10) 77-18 (21-6, 21-7, 15-1, 20-4)
• Telangana (Nikhil Sai Kumar 17, A. Muthukumar 15, Chris Viresh 13) btBihar (Sanjeev Kumar 12, Manvendra 12, Vishnu Kumar 8) 65-39 (16-19, 15-7, 12-8, 22-5)
• Delhi (Sachin Sharma 14, Himanshu Sharma 10)btGoa (DillanoMarchon 10) 63-31 (19-8, 13-7, 19-16, 12-0)

Group D:

• Himachal Pradesh (Sushant 18, Aman 10) btTripura (Ratandeep Singh 14, Sahil 12) 56-34 (18-8, 13-6, 11-8, 14-12)

Group E:

• Odisha(Sheikh Aftab 23, RK Sahu 15) btArunachal Pradesh (Himanshu 14) 63-33 (12-2, 13-11, 12-9, 26-11)
• Haryana (Pardeep 18, Vinit 13) bt Kerala (Gineeb Benny 14, Ashwin Philip 9) 72-67 [15-20, 21-20, 20-17, 16-10]

Level 2:

Group D:

• Telangana (A. Muthukumar 26, M. Vijay Kumar 15, Nikhil Sai Kumar 10) btTripura (Ratandeep Singh 10, Sahil 10) 59-33 (19-7, 19-11, 19-2, 2-13)

Kochi 7th January 2017: It was a massive turn out at ACG-NBA Jump at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi when 660 children’s below the age of 17 years participated in the one-day selection trails. which ultimately brings to provide the top 24 prospects with scholarships and training at the recently announced NBA elite basketball training centre set to open in Delhi-NCR by April.

These players will get fully-funded scholarships. The critical part for us is education; along with coaching and player development, the prospects will be provided academic and personal development, too. One can’t be without the other. We will have academic scholarship: the idea will be to find a school of a certain level and in a reasonable vicinity of an academy for our students.” Said Carlos

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the ACG Worldwide Group (ACG) expanded the programme’s second year. The first session, which took place in Mumbai on the 3rd of December has already been completed in, Delhi, Ludhiana and now in Kochi and is moving out to Kolkotta on 14th of this month

NBA coach, Carlos Barroca, senior Vice president Basketball Operations of India, conducted the camp.

. It’s been a year of rapid growth for NBA India, and young Indian talents can now have realistic dreams of seeing their potential recognised, honed, and improved to take the jump to the next level of the game

The first phase of the program across six centres in India as 40 from Kochi were shortlisted to determine the 40 prospects who will advance to the next phase .the second Phase of the programme a 3day national training camp will culminate with the selection of 24.

NBA Acadamy in India will be an elite basketball training centre in Delhi National Capital region for the top prospects throughout India ..NBA academy in India This will be the fifth such elite training centre globally. So far, the NBA has similar academies in Hangzhou, Jinan and Urumqi in China and one in Australia.and is fully funded by NBA and will open in April.

A year ago, NBA India teamed up with ACG Worldwide to launch a first-of-its-kind talent search programme, the ACG-NBA Jump. Since then, the following things have happened:

• The NBA saw hundreds of young players from around the country and picked 32 for the Finals in Delhi, attended by former NBA coach Brian Shaw.
• Palpreet Singh Brar won the contest.
• With help from NBA coaches and rigorous training, Palpreet attended the NBA D-League tryouts.
• Palpreet became the first Indian to be drafted directly into the D-League.
• The NBA launched a massive Academy for elite Indian talents to boost up top-level talent from the country.

The NBA has invited individual players to participate in the ACG NBA Jump Official Tryouts. The entire tryout session in 2016 consists of six sessions, across the span of a couple of weeks. The ACG NBA Jump officials invite players from every school/ district/ city and state to come and participate in the tryouts. NBA scouts will be present at the tryouts, too.

We want basketball to be the clear number two sport in India: NBA India’s managing director Yannic Colaco

Indian basketball is still lagging behind at the international stage. Despite being the world’s second-largest population, FIBA – the international basketball federation – ranks India 53rd and 40th in the men’s and women’s divisions respectively worldwide. But India is starting to show some improvement: they have beaten Asia’s highest-ranked team China twice in the last three years, made it to the quarter-finals of Asia’s top basketball tournament – FIBA Asia Basketball Championship – last year, and feature individual players like Palpreet Singh, Amjyot Singh, Amrit Pal Singh, in addition to Satnam Singh, who have made a mark professionally overseas.

Colaco hoped that the NBA’s involvement will help improve the national team’s progress and add to the international and domestic exposure for India’s top players.

“We think that competitions are critical for the growth of players in the Academy,” said Colaco, “We will be working closely within the national system to ensure that these kids are constantly playing in competitions and work with the BFI and state associations to increase the competitive events in India.We hope to take our players abroad for international exposure, too.”

While the Academy will deal with players at the elite level, the NBA has been holding a grassroots level programme for several years along with Reliance to make basketball an important part of the lifestyle and sporting habits for young Indian kids. This year, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme will open in 19 Indian cities and reach around 35 lakh children.

“We believe that we continue doing the right thing both for grassroots and elite level, there will be a steady stream of high-quality basketball players from India,” said Colaco, “Where they take their career from that point will depend eventually on how good they are and how hard they work.”

“Everything we do in India is towards the goal of growing our fanbase and pushing basketball to the number two spot.”
With so many other contenders in the game, basketball’s place as India’s top substitute to cricket is a longshot. But with the support of the NBA and a nation brimming with potential future stars, Indian basketball has the promise to shoot past the odds.

Thiruvalla 5th January 2017 : Athira M of Kerala Police and Ashin Xavier Philip from Kerala State Electricity Board will lead Kerala Senior State Team at the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship for Men and Women to be held at Puducherry from 7th to 14th January 2017. . The team will be Coached by Antony Stephan (women) & Jose Philip (Men) both from Kerala state Sports Council while Anjali PG from Kollam and will be the Managers in Women and Men respectively. The team was selected after a 21 day camp at Mar Ivanios College Thiruvnthapuram (men) and women at Agricultural College Indoor Stadium, Vellyanai, Thiruvananthapuram.

WOMEN
Athira M © Neenumol PS (both from Kerala Police )Jeena PS ,Anjana P G , Grima Merlin Baby,Rojamol G,Minnu Marium Joy (all from KSEB Thiruvananthapuram), Elizabeth Hillarios (Providence College Kozhikode) Kavitha Jose (Assumption College Changancherry) Nimmy George (St Josephs Irinjalakuda ) Chippy Mathew (St Xavier’s College Aluva)Poojamol KS (Kottayam)

MEN
Ashin Xavier Philip Albin Baby,Arun Babu, Ajeeth Sugunan (KSEB,Trivandrum ) Rahul Sharath ( Mar Baselios Engineering College Thiruvananthapuram ) Akhil A R,Tins Thomas Sumesh Joseph,Prem Prakash (Mar Ivanios Trivandrum) Ginneb Benny & Amith Sebastian (Sree Kerala Varma,Thrissur ) Sugeethnth A(S B College Changancherry)

Keralotsavam Title for Pathanamthitta men and Palakkad Women
Host Pathanamthitta represented by Tiruvalla YMCA the champion club of Pathanamthitta defeated Thrissur represented Kunnamkulum Basketball here for the Kerala State keralotsavam held here at public Stadium Basketball Ground

In the final absence of Sejin, Shibil and Jishnu Nair who has to leave to the State Assignments but the bench Prove that they are still a better players to reckon as they beat Thrissur Virtually Kunnamkulam basketball Club 49-24 who was anchored by State and Customs Star Abhilash TS, Sohul K lal was unstoppable as he top scored for Pathanamthitta with 21 points and was well assisted by Anwin Abraham and Akhil G with 10 points for Kunnamkulam Abhilash T S was the top scorer with 13 points

In the semi, Final Pathanamthitta defeated the defending Champion Kasargod 38-21 to meet Thrissur who scrape past Kottayam 53-48

In women session as walkovers march the proceedings Palakkad beat Thrissur 18-9 to clinch the Women Tile

Detailed Scores Final Men
Pathanamthitta-49(Sohul K lal 21,Aswin Abraham10,Akhil G10) bt Thrissur-24(Abhilash TS 13,Greeves Kottayial10)

Detailed Scores Final Women
Palakkad-18(sujitha18) bt Thrissur-9

Semi Final
Pathanthitta-38(Aswin A varghese16,Sejin Mathew10) bt Kasargod-21(jithesh10)
Thrissur-53(Abhilash16,Greevs 15) bt Kottayam-48(Abin Babu18,Thomas10,Sijimon Pappachan10)

Quarter Final Matches
Pathanamthitta-39(Shibil Varghese10,Sejin Mathew10) bt Kozhikode-24(Shati Krishna10)
Kasargod-40(Sudharsan12) bt Palakkad-14
Thrissur-44(Greeyas15,SijthKumar12) bt Ernakulum-32(Dini Paulose12)

Pre Quarter Final
Pathanamthitta-31(subin Jacob8) bt Kollam-7
Kottayam- 26(Siju pappachan8) bt Malapuram-14

Tiruvalla 29th December 2016: Defending Champions Calicut University defeated Hindustan University Chennai  70-59 to retained  the tile  of the All India Inter University Basketball for Women here at KIIT Bhuvaneswar in Orissa.

M G University took the Bronze as they beat Kannur 66-41
 
The final was an avenge for Calicut as they lost to Hindustan last month in the South zone qualifier at Calicut . the Final match were Calicut lead 32-20 at half time was lead by ever constituent  from Koratty Aswathy S Thampi who lead the scoring chart with 22 points followed by tall younger International another from koratty Nimmy George with 16 points and was well controlled by Athulya N who also contributed 15 points for the victory. The team was coached by PC Antony former coach of Kerala state sports Council who also had his International experience as  a coach and was assisted by another coach from the state sports council Siji  Jose and managed by Thushara from St josephs College Irinjalakuda
 
Earlier In the Semi final Calicut had an easy   win over Kannur University with the score 68-26 and M G University after trailing26-50  went down to  Hindustan University Chennai  65-70 to make the final
 
 In the Quarter final matches  Calicut defeated LNIPE Gwalior 64-45, Kannur beat   Punjabi University 55-41, Hindustan University beat Nagpur University 67-43 and lastly M G University   Uthkal University 41-23.
 
The team members- Aswathy S thampy, Minnu George,Nimmy George ,Aswathy jayasankar,Niya Raj,Bony Mathew,Femi Poly(all from st Josephs irinjalakuda) Rhea Jinendran,Elizabeth hillarios,Mayuka K.T,Shilpa K,Athulya N (all from Providence College Kozhikode)

Detailed Results

Final

• Calicut university-70(Aswathy S Thampy22, Nimmy George16, Athulya N15) bt Hindustan university-59(VarshaNandhini 23, Srivihya S sekhar 17, Hemalatha 12)

Bronze

• M G university – 66(Nimmy george 20, Kavitha jose 16) bt Kannur-41(sanika Saju10)

Semi Final

• Calicut University-68(Aswathy S Thampy 22) bt Kannur University-26(Sanika Saju 10)
• Hindustan University-70(VarshaNandhini 23, Srivihya S sekhar 17, Hemalatha 14) bt MG University-65(Kavitha Jose22,India Nelson10)

Quarter Finals

• Hindusthan University Chennai-67(Varshanandini 18, Hemalatha 10) bt Nagpur-43
• M G university -41(kavitha 15, Nimmy Mathew 11) bt Utkal-23
• Kannur-55(Sanika Saiju 23, Minnu renny 11) n bt Punajabi-41
• Calicut University-64(Athulya n 20, Aswathy S thampy 10) bt LNIPE-45

Dec 22nd Tiruvalla- It was Dec. 21, 1891 when Dr. James Naismith posted his original 13 rules the wall of the YMCA Training School at Sherman and State streets in Springfield, Mass., and he had no earthly idea what he was starting. Now It has been 125 years since Dr. James Naismith climbed a ladder and nailed the first peach basket on a wall inside the Armory Street court in Springfield, Mass.,

It also will Mark as the Countdown to the Mega Kerala Hoopathon on Jan 20th, 2017 making live 125 Basketball Courts over the State participating 12500 kids into Basketball to score 12,5000 points on a day.

Kottayam YMCA lead the celebration at Kottayam as it also celebrates 125 years

In Kerala Basketball incidentally the first Basketball Court was laid at Kottayam 90 years back. The veteran Players and coaches went the extra mile to spread the word about the event to all basketball alumni and Kottayam YMCA along with REBOUND and Kottayam District Basketball Association celebrates this today starting with a Shooting Competition at the YMCA CMS Valley Sports Complex followed by Quasquicentenary rally which was flagged off by the president Abraham Kurian Palampadam and culminated at YMCA hall with a Basketball Sangamam .honouring the past former players of the YMCA

Mohammed Iqbal the former International president REBOUND believes that the event is important for more reasons as he was born and bought up from YMCA Kottayam than just celebrating the 125th anniversary of basketball.

“I think it’s important to have an event that not only honors the anniversary of the game but one that also honors all the former members of the basketball program,” he said. “When you have a chance to bring everyone back, it’s a truly special opportunity for all of us.”

All 14 districts of Kerala joined the celebrations former players joined hands with the support of the District Units

In the capital, Kerala Speaker Sree Ramakrishna Joined the celebration at museum ground along with YMCA Trivandrum and at Ernakulam at Regional Sports center Joined with REBOUNDERS and Ernakulum District Basketball Association and In Kozhikode Manchira Maidan Inaugurated by District Sports council Secretary matai . In Palakkad Internationals T K Sheshadri,VV Harilala and Renny lead Celebrations

In Allapuzha along with YMCA, Sri Thomas J fen former International coach and Referee Little Flower HSS Koratty in Thrissur, Shanthal jyothi Public School in Muttam, Idukki, Nehru College at Kanghagad in Kasargod, St Marys HSS Mullankolly in Wayanad, Kannur Sports Division in Kannur were among the canters which joined the celebrations

The day will be filled with exciting events, but for most attendees, they are just happy to see some old friends and share the memories

The game has evolved in numerous ways from one peach basket nailed to a wall in the Springfield armory 125 years ago, The opportunity for basketball alumni from years past to once again walk through the doors of Basketball, watch Pride basketball, and rekindle relationships with old friends, will be a reminder for all basketball players, past or present, as they chose this Birth Anniversary a moment to rebound their old relationship

The FIBA level 2 Certification Course Conducted first time in Kerala led by FIBA Coaching Instructor Nelson Isley, was Concluded at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kadavanthara in association with Basketball Federation of India, Kerala Basketball Association and with the support of Regional Sports Center Kadavanthara.

This 7 day camp was the Second Time that the FIBA is conducting a Course in Kerala but the first time a Level 2. 14 coaches who successfully completed the Level 1 course over India have been selected to attend this which Include 6 from Kerala.

14 participants were Selected of It Includes two Internationals Meena Latha and Reneesa Beegaum from Southern railway Chennai and an Instructor of NIS Patiala(Punjab) M M Malhan and 6 from Kerala got their chance which includes Prem Kumar V M the International Coach which brings gold for Kerala at the recently concluded Youth National Championship at Haasan ,Dr Prince K mattam FIBA Commissioner and Winny Bestine from the coach from the Cradle of Basketball Little Flower HSs Koratty.

The camp was well supported by the U!7 Schools basketball boys Cagers of Kerala. it was really a learning experience for this Young one who got their opportunity to work with Nelson Isley for 5 days.

The camp was well assisted by two level 3 coaches Sebastian PJ the coach from Kerala State Sports Council coach and Arnika Gujar who came all the way from Poona to support this camp.

The camp also had the finest moments of Celebrating the 125th Birthday of Basketball as Nelson Cut the cake to Mark the occasion which is 21st Dec 2016.

Nelson Isley is the Coaching Instructor for FIBA and has been associated with them since 2000. He is a highly experienced and accomplished FIBA certified Coaching Instructor with a B.S. in History and Physical Education from Louisiana State University. He has over 4 decades of coaching experience and conducting national development programs. This Seven day Certification Course is been supported by the current FIBA level3 Coaches P J Sebastian from Kerala and Arnica from Maharashtra.

It is noted that as per FIBA guidelines starting in 2016 or 2017, no coach will be given a FIBA coaching license without at least passing level 2 course. So it will become Mandatory that FIBA Coaching License is required to Coach at the International Level.

The role of Regional Sports center and the excellent facilities over here was a major factor for the successful conduct of this camp.

About Nelson Isley, FIBA Coaching Instructor

Nelson Isley is the Coaching Instructor for FIBA and has been associated with them since 2000. He is a highly experienced and accomplished FIBA certified Coaching Instructor with a B.S. in History and Physical Education from Louisiana State University. He has over 4 decades of coaching experience and conducting national development programs. Mr. Isley has taught FIBA coaching clinics in Iceland, Mozambique, Swaziland, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, Spain, Chile, Bolivia, England, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Maldives, Canada among other countries. He was also appointed by FIBA to scout and prepare the final technical report on the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Hindustan Chennai Retained the South Zone Title

CALICUT RUNNER UP

Tenhipallam 14 th 2016- December- Hindustan University Chennai defeated  M G university 86-78 in their last encounter in the league round to  claim the South Zone title as they finished winning all their matches in the league here at the . South Zone Inter University Basketball Championship for Women here at the Calicut university Indoor Stadium in Thennipalam.Calicut University Finished Runner Up with 2 Wins and  a Loss and MG with the  3rd Place winning 1 and losing 2 and Kannur in the Fourth Position making three from Kerala to qualify for the All India.

All Four have Qualified for the All India Inter University Basketball  to be held  KIIT, Bhubaneshwar from Dec 25-28, 2016

In the last encounter Calicut defeated  Kannur  51-32

Earlier in the morning when the league round ends Kozhikode and MG ended with a Mixed fortunes as   Kozhikode Lost to Hindustan 78-84  and Won  over  M G University  78-64  while MG Won their match against Kannur 77-36  while Hindustan prevailed over Kannur University whith the score 78-66 to register their 2 straight victory in the four team league

Detailed Scores

QUALIFYING QUARTER FINAL

• University of Kozhikode- 77(Elizabeth Hillarios24,Bony Varghese13, Aswathy Jayasankar10) , bt MG university 64 (Kavitha Jose26,Nimmy Mathew11)
• MG university 77(Vinaya Joseph23,Kavitha Jose16,Arathy Vimal14) bt  Kannur University –36(Sanika saju13)
• Hindustan University Chennai -84(S Varshanandini24,Srivdya S Sekhar18,SruthiKK14) bt   University of Kozhikode- 78(Elizabeth Hillarios  17,Aswathy Jayasankar16, Nivyaraj15,Nimmy George14)
• Hindustan University Chennai -78(Varshanandini18,Sruthi Kk17) bt Kannur Univesity-66(Sanika Saju25,Anritha As12)
• Hindustan University  Chennai- 86(Varsha Nandhini39,Sruthi KK20) bt M G University Kottayam-78(Arathy Vimal28, Nimmy George16, Kavitha Jose14,India Nelson12)
• Calicut University-51(Aswathy Jayasankar13,(nivyaraj11, bony Mathew10) bt Kannur University-32

In Kerala on Jan 6th 2016 at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi Kadavathara
A year ago, NBA India teamed up with ACG Worldwide to launch a first-of-its-kind talent search programme, the ACG-NBA Jump. Since then, the following things have happened: 

• The NBA saw hundreds of young players from around the country and picked 32 for the Finals in Delhi, attended by former NBA coach Brian Shaw.
• Palpreet Singh Brar won the contest.
• With help from NBA coaches and rigorous training, Palpreet attended the NBA D-League tryouts.
• Palpreet became the first Indian to be drafted directly into the D-League.
• The NBA launched a massive Academy for elite Indian talents to boost up top-level talent from the country.

It’s been a year of rapid growth for NBA India, and young Indian talents can now have realistic dreams of seeing their potential recognized, honed, and improved to take the jump to the next level of the game. Earlier this week, the NBA announced the schedule of the second season of the ACG-NBA Jump programme, to continue its efforts in finding the top Indian players and boost up their talent pool for their upcoming Academy, set to open in Delhi-NCR by April. 

The second season of ACG-NBA Jump was officially launched at the Kalina University indoor court in Mumbai in the presence of former NBA champion Shawn Marion, who was in India this week to promote the game of basketball. The programme that commenced this year would go on to provide the top 24 prospects with scholarships and training at the recently announced elite basketball training centre. 
 
“The ACG NBA Jump programme, a feeder to NBA Academy India, has potential and a great opportunity for all the kids here in India,” said Marion, “I wish we had a similar setup when we grew up. I wish I can be here for the entire programme and see through the talent that comes through. I wish the participants in India make the most of the opportunity created by ACG and NBA. India has a bright future of basketball players.”

“The top 24 prospects from this year’s programme will have the opportunity to receive full scholarships and NBA-level coaching at NBA Academy India when it is scheduled to open in April,” said NBA India’s Managing Director Yannick Colaco, “I encourage players between the ages of 13 and 17 to visit www.acgnbajump.com to learn more about India’s largest national basketball talent search to date.”

The NBA has invited individual players to participate in the ACG NBA Jump Official Tryouts. The entire tryout session in 2016 consists of six sessions, across the span of a couple of weeks. The first session, which took place in Mumbai on the 3rd of December has already been completed. The ACG NBA Jump officials invite players from every school/ district/ city and state to come and participate in the tryouts. NBA scouts will be present at the tryouts, too. 

ACG-NBA Jump Tryouts Schedule:

• December 3, 2016 – Mumbai – Mumbai University Indoor Stadium, Kalina, University Complex.
• December 10, 2016 – Chennai – Santhome School Indoor Stadium.
• December 15, 2016 – Delhi – Thyagaraj Stadium.
• December 17, 2016 – Ludhiana- Guru Nanak Indoor Stadium.
• January 6, 2027 – Kochi – RSC Kadavanthara Indoor Stadium.
• January 14, 2017 – Kolkata – WBBA Grounds, Red Road, Kolkata.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants should be born between 1st Jan 2000 and 31st Dec 2004
• Competition is only for male participants

Check the ACG-NBA Jump website to register first, find out all the eligibility and registration details, and specific timings for each tryout in each city. The second phase of the programme, a three-day national training camp, would culminate with the selection of the 24 prospects who would receive scholarships and training at NBA Academy India.

Hassan, Karnataka, 25th November 2016: The Kerala Boys and Girls enter the finals of the 33rd Youth National Basketball Championship 2016. In a virtual repeat of their league round head-to-head, Kerala boys yet again enjoyed a comfortable win over Tamil Nadu boys, leading pretty much from start to finish. And defeating them with the score of 87-50 while in an exciting Girls encounter after trailing 28-31 Kerala went on to beat Madhya Pradesh 77-72 to Mke the twin final

Kerala boys began on a 12-0 run before K Surya finally broke Tamil Nadu’s scoring drought with a solitary free throw. Defensively, Kerala’s athletic center and captain Sejin Mathew was a dominating presence in the paint, repeatedly swatting away Tamil Nadu’s drive in attempts. At the end of the first period, Kerala led 22-9 Amal Raghu again was the top scorer with30 points followed by Sejin Mathew with 17 points . Kerala now will take on Uttar Pradesh in the final.

But not like boys Kerala girls survived a massive scare from Madhya Pradesh before eventually pulling off the heart-stopping win. Madhya Pradesh girls started off brilliantly on both ends of the floor, building up a 17-13 first quarter lead. MP’s bigs were able to contain Two minutes into the fourth quarter, MP led 55-44, before the much awaited scoring spurt by Kerala Sreekala who scored 19 ponts in arrow in the last quarter Shreekala Kerala’s superstar centre Swho had a massive 36 points scored for this Victory She was well assisted by Angha Shaji with 14 points and Aprna Sadasivan making 10 points for this Sweet Victory Keral Girls Now will take in TAmil Nadu in the Final

Girls: Level 1 Semifinal matches
1. Tamil Nadu (Avanti Vardhan 21, T Dharshini 18, S Pushpa 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 16, Shivani Gupta 11) 75-50 [21-12, 10-9, 15-20, 29-9]

2. Kerala (Shreekala R 36, Anagha Shaji 14, Aparna Sadasivan 10) bt Madhya Pradesh (Isha Chouhan 21, Divyani Gangwal 18, Divya Sam 15) 77-72 [13-17, 15-14, 16-20, 33-21]

Boys: Level 1: Semifinal matches
1. Kerala (Amal Reghu 30, Sejin Mathew 17) bt Tamil Nadu (L Karna 15, R Akash 10) 87-50 [22-9, 21-23, 24-10, 20-8]

Hassan, Karnataka, 26th November, 2016: Keral had an Mixed fortune ass the Boys after a Gap of 29yeras won the Tile while the girls had to satisfy withSilver here for the 33rd Youth National Basketball Championship 2016 concluded a short while ago at the Hasanamba Indoor Stadium here in Hassan.

The top three teams in both sections awarded cash prizes of Rs 75,000/-, Rs 50,000/- and Rs 25,000/- respectively.

Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 82-66

The only two undefeated teams in the championship, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, went head on in the girls finals.

In the first quarter, Tamil Nadu dominated the offensive boards early, but its players, specifically centre S Pushpa was unable to convert from under the basket. On the other end, Kerala was more efficient and able to rake up a 14-6 early lead. The match was much closer than what the scoreline suggested through.

At the end of the first quarter, the score read 18-16 in favour of Kerala.

In the second period, both teams were guilty of turning the ball over often, as either side’s man to man defence made offence hard for the other. Kerala was able to create some separation, leading 30-22 with 5 mins of play left for halftime. But Kerala’s Aparna Sadasivan’s sloppy turnovers allowed Tamil Nadu to bring it back within 2, 32-34. At halftime, Kerala held on to a slender 37-35.

The third quarter began explosively for Tamil Nadu, as guard T Dharshini showed tremendous hustle to win back the ball repeatedly. Thanks to her work, Kerala’s team offence was completely undone and its dynamic forward Shreekala R decided to do it all by herself, running coast to coast. However, Tamil Nadu had begun imposing its will on the match, outscoring Kerala 21-11, to take a 56-48 lead at the end of the quarter.

In the final 10 minutes, Tamil Nadu turned up its defensive pressure by another notch, double and at times triple teaming Shreekala. The ploy worked as Shreekala turned the ball over, while her teammates were unable to step up in terms of upping their scoring contribution.

Kerala bt UP boys 85-51

Kerala boys capped their dream run with a sensational drubbing of challengers Uttar Pradesh in the boys finals.

Throughout the championship, the undefeated Kerala side seemed to be in cruise control, and the final game simply marked a summation of their best qualities.

From the rock solid presence of captain centre Sejin Mathew in the paint, the natural flair for scoring of shooting guard Amal Reghu, the hustle and energy of backup point guard Shaun Luiz, to the role players Chacko Simon and Akshay Sunilkumar, all its starters played their parts to perfection.

Kerala started off on a 8-2 run. Uttar Pradesh, arguably one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the tournament had their backs to the wall from the get go. The side looked to run most of its offence through centre Bhagyansh Gulati and shooting guard Priyanshu. The strategy helped initially, as UP led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Kerala’s defensive intensity began to cause UP a lot of trouble. Centre Sejin posted two blocks midway through this period, as Kerala stifled UP to just 15 points. On the other end, back to back threes by backup point guard Shaun Luiz helped Kerala to 26 points in the quarter.

At halftime, Kerala now led 42-33.

Midway through the third frame, Kerala’s Shanazil Seeni got fouled out, but that did little to stem Kerala’s offensive onslaught. The side outscored UP 26-10 in the third period and again 17-8 in the fourth to close out the surprisingly easy 85-51 win.

Results from Day 8 (26th November)

Girls: Level 1 Finals
1. Tamil Nadu (Avanthi Vardhan 17, S Pushpa 17, T Dharshini 13, J Monica Jayaseeli 12) bt Kerala (Shreekala R 27, Olivia Shaibu 13, Jayalakshmi VJ 11, Festy P Jose 10) 82-66 [16-18, 19-19, 21-11, 26-18]

3rd-4th match
1. Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 39, Shruti Yadav 12) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divyani Gangwal 22) 71-39 [10-8, 21-10, 26-13, 14

Boys: Level 1: Finals
1. Kerala (Amal Reghu 33, Chacko C Simon 19, Sejin Mathew 16, Shaun Luiz 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Priyanshu 21, Bhagyansh Gulati 21) 85-51 [16-18, 26-15, 26-10, 17-8]

Manjeri, 28th November, 2016: Pathanamthitta Men and Thiruvananthapuram Women were crowned the Champions on Sunday as the 61st Kerala State Basketball Championship was concluded.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/Pathanamthitta-Tvm-triumph/article16713823.ece

61st Kerala State Basketball Championship Scores

The Young outfit under Akhil AR Pathanamthitta shocked last year’s runner-up Thiruvananthapuram 54-48took while the Men while the Women had an Easy match over Thrissur 59-15 to make it a Four in a row here for the 61st Kerala State senior basketball championship at the Government Boys School here on Sunday night.

The State Title came for Pathanamthitta after a Gap of 24 years at the

The Men final between Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram went in an evenly fought 1st half of 43-43 , PAthanamthittas who had a good bunch of outside shooters the three three-pointers from Hari Krishna Haridas, A.R. Akhil, and Tinu Thomas has actually turned the game for Pathanamthitta’s favor in the dying minutes . In fact, half of Pathanamthitta’s points came from long ranges.

The victory was a big surprise for Pathanamthitta the words from Akhil AR itself reflects because they had earlier lost to Thiruvananthapuram by seven points in the league phase .

The Trivandrum team had all professionals from the KSEB, and the Pathanamthitta team compromise the majority from Mar Ivanios College Thiruvananthapuram.

While the Thiruvananthapuram men looked shaky, the women produced a commanding performance. Thrissur, almost all of them from Irinjalakuda’s St. Joseph’s College with a couple of guest players — Minnu George and K.S. Poojamol — from other districts, could win its first set of points only after Thiruvananthapuram had raced to a 9-0 lead.

The trio of Three Internationals Stephy Nixon, Ajamnna and Jeena PS made al difference for Thiruvananthapuram women , virtually the KSEB outfit . They were all experienced and knew how to shake off their markers without much fuss.

Anjana drove in freely and scored with lay-ups while center Stephy, despite Thrissur’s youth international Nimmy George running in circles around her, had it all easy this evening. And the point guard Grima Merlin Varghese performed her role creditably.

International Poojamol was the only big name in the Thrissur team but she looked out of touch. With the final being very disappointingly lopsided, the organizers also gave a quick finish to the match, forcing the clock to ‘run’ faster.

PS Viswappan Gold Medal for Anjana and Akhil A R

Anjanna PG of Thiruvananthapuram , who hails from Kollam and Working with KSEB and Akhil AR of Pathanamthitta who hails fromPullad, Tiruvalla, and Studying in Mar Ivanios College was Chosen for the Best Player Award of 2016 , the PS Viswappan Gold Medal , the award Instituted by PS Viswappen Foundation

Other Awards

Best Defensive Player
(Men) – Rahul Sharath
(Women) – Stephy Nixon

Parameswaran Pillai Memorial to Best Promising Player Award Rs2500/-each
Women Kavitha Jose Kottayam
Men – Gineeb Benny Thrissur

Shri John M Chacko Chief Patron of Kerala Basketball Association Gave away the trophies and Mementos

Youth Gold & Silver Medallists Honoured
Kerala team toys then took the boys Title after 29 years and the Silver Medallist Girls Were felicitated at the Venue of the State Senior Basketball Championship here at Manjeri by the Chief Patron of Kerala Basketball Association Shri John M Chacko . The team which came from Hassan were taken from Kozhikode by Bus

The Detailed results:

Men’s final: 
Pathanamthitta 54 (Prem Prakash 16, Harikrishnan 11, A.R. Akhil 10) bt Thiruvananthapuram 48 (Ashin Xavier 11, Sreerag N. Nair 11).

Women final: 
Thiruvananthapuram – 59 (Stephy Nixon 23, P.G. Anjana 14, P.S. Jeena 10) bt Thrissur 15.

Third place:
Kozhikode bt Thrissur 58-53. Semifinal: Thiruvananthapuram 58 (Tony K. Mathew 14, Ashin 10) bt Kozhikode 43 (V.K. Ajith 13, Rahul Sharath 11, Arun Kumar 10).

women
Kottayam -20 bt Palakkad -8.

Semi Finalsits
Men
Thiruvanthapuram-58(Tny K Mathew 14,Ashin C Xavier10,Nithin Paul Stehan9) bt Kozhikode-43(Ajith VK13,Rahul Sharath11,Arun Kumar10)
Pathanamthitta-65(Akhil Ar22,Sumesh11) nt Thrissur-62(Rijas19,Amit Sebastian17)

Women
Thriuvanthapy uram-20 bt Pallakkad-11
Thrissur-50(poojamol KS15,) bt Kottayam-25(KAvitha Jose13,Nimmy9)

Quarter Final Matches
Women
Thiruvanthapuram-23 bt Alapuzha-9
Kottayam-59(Kavitha Jose21) bt Kollam-52(Ashy Mathew24,Anjana SS18)
Thrissur-54(AswathyJayasankar 14,Bony Varghese10) bt Kannur-23(sanika Saju10)
Kottayam-59(Kavitha Jose21,Athira MS12) bt Kollam-52(Ashy Mathew24,Anjana PS18)

Men 
Thiruvanthapuram-61(Arun 15,Vineeth Mohan10) bt Malapuram-34(Baluraj11,Nicewin M10)
Kohikode-63(Ajith AR119,Rahul15,Muhammed Noufel10,Jishnu G Nair10) bt Kottayam-50(Sugethnath15AkhilS11)
Pathanamthitta=57(Akhil Ar16,HArikrishnan10) bt Ernakulum-23

Hassan, Karnataka, 22nd November 2016Kerala boys have sealed a place in the quarterfinals with their fourth win of the tournament today morning against Chhattisgarh (66-54). Similarly, the Girls also put up a bright show won their fourth match defeating the defending Chhattisgarh 79-58

Earlier on a late match yesterday night Kerala girls put on a clinical performance against the upstart Uttar Pradesh girls team. Led by U14 MVP Sreekala’s 33 points, Kerala outscored UP in the second half to cruise to a 60-48 win.

The Kerala boys also showed their class remaining undefeated. Taking full advantage of their length, Kerala picked up an easy victory against Tamil Nadu (77-60). Kerala’s Amal Raghu top scored with 36 points.

Boys

• Haryana (Anil 14, Pankaj Ganghas 12, Anup 10) bt Gujarat (Aman Bothan 8, Gurupurab Singh 8) 51-30 (29-14, 7-4, 5-4, 10-9)
• Kerala (Amal Reghu 15, Sejin Mathew 14, Shanazil 12) bt Chhattisgarh (Binod Rajak 14, Salim Ali 13, Govind 11) 66-54 (21-13, 9-14, 15-17, 21-10)
• Punjab (Jagshaanbir Singh 16, Princepal Singh 12, Vivek Chouhan 12) bt Maharashtra (Shaikh Zaid 19, Suraj Kumar 17) 86-62 (24-10, 19-17, 12-22, 31-13)
• Uttar Pradesh (P. Mishra 22, Bhagyansh Gulati 18, Priyanshu 17) bt Delhi (Adiya Singh 31, Nitish Beniwal 18, Abhishek Sharma 13) 81-80 (15-14, 14-19, 27-16, 25-31)
• Kerala (Amal Reghu 36, Sejin Mathew 14)bt Tamil Nadu (R. Ravi Amaresh 17, B. Tharun Kumar 11) 77-60 (27-8, 18-10, 11-21, 21-21)

Girls:
Level 1:

• Kerala ()Jayalakshmi24,Festy P Jose14,Aparna Sadasivan10) bt Chhattisgarh (Ekizabeth Ekka19) 79-58 (22-11,22-22,2-12,15-13)
• Tamil Nadu (K. Priya 19, Avanti Vardhan 14, S. Pushpa 9) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divyani Gangwal 11, Ruchi Patel 7) 80-43 (19-3, 27-13, 12-13, 22-14)
• Punjab (Sakshi Sharma 18, Prabhjot Kaur 14) bt West Bengal (Taraha Naz 15) 39-33 (10-6, 4-11, 8-4, 17
• Uttar Pradesh (P. Mishra 22, Bhagyansh Gulati 18, Priyanshu 17) bt Delhi (Adiya Singh 31, Nitish Beniwal 18, Abhishek Sharma 13) 81-80 (15-14, 14-19, 27-16, 25-31)
• Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 30, Shivani Gupta 11) bt Maharashtra (Shreya 20, Anshika 13, Sakshi Kotian 11) 59-58 (17-14, 17-10, 15-22, 10-12)

The Stage is all set for the 61st Kerala State Basketball Championship which will be organized by the Kerala BasketballAssociation under the auspices of Malappuram District Basketball Association at the Govt Boys Higher Secondary School floodlit basketball Stadium, Manjeri. from today 22nd to 27th November 2016 It will mark as the prelude of the Senior National Basketball Championship, slated to be held in Pondicherry in January Players to represent Kerala at the Senior Nationals will be selected on the basis of their performance in the State Championship.

Gallery for 5000 people and floodlit are ready according to Sri K Manohar Kumar President of Kerala Basketball Association

Teams from 14 districts from the state will vie for the honors in Men section, while 12 Districts will battle it out for the Women’s title. This 6 days Championship will feature 47 matches from morning 6am and evening at 3 pm onwards are scheduled to be played on a league cum Knockout Basis

A ‘Referee’s Clinic’ and Test will be set up to familiarize the players with the newly implemented laws for the championship. International Referee Fr. Philips Vadakeekalam, Chairman of Technical Commission (Kerala), will lead the clinic .

Ernakulam and Trivandrum are the Defending Champions,
In Women, Section favorites will be Trivandrum International Players Jeena PS ,Stephy Nixon, Annjamm PG while in Men Basil Philip

Groupings Men
Group A – Ernakulam, Kottayam, Thrissur, and Kasargod
Group B – Trivandrum, Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha & Kozhikode
Group C – Kollam, Kannur & Wayanad
Group D – Malapuram, Palakkad & Idukki

Groupings Women
Group A – Trivandrum, Kannur & Malapuram
Group B – Ernakulum, Palakkad & Kollam
Group C – Alapuzha, Kasargod & Thrissu
Group D – Kozhikode, Kottayam & Wayanad

Kerala Boys also Start well

Hassan, Karnataka, 20th November 2016: Kerala Boys also  started well as they beat a tight high-scoring game 80-71 against Haryana.  and again dubbed Gujarat 76-52 on the second day of the  33rd Youth National Basketball Championship 2016, the

In other matches in girls beat Punjab 60-24, while the boys defeated Jammu and Kashmir 64-31. Later in the evening, the Kerala boys won

On the morning of Day 2, joint defending champions Tamil Nadu girls got off to a winning start after handily beating West Bengal 68-19. The Odisha girls also won their game today morning with a 48-14 drubbing of Puducherry. Joint defending boys’ champions Tamil Nadu fell to a 79-67 defeat against Chhattisgarh, who were led by Binod Rajak’s 16 points.

The level 2 boys’ games saw some close encounters that were decided in the final minutes. West Bengal edged past Uttarakhand 73-69 with a strong fourth quarter showing. The Goa boys came from behind against Telangana outscoring them in the third quarter to reclaim the lead and finish with a 65-59 win. Andhra Pradesh steamrolled Tripura (50-14), while Odisha registered a comfortable 71-52 win against Himachal Pradesh. Puducherry had a reason to cheer today morning as they registered their first win in the tournament in their match against Bihar that ended 69 to 56. Sathyavanam led the way for Puducherry with 29 points.

Detailed Scores  
Boys
Level 1:
Kerala Boys also Start well

Hassan, Karnataka, 20th November 2016: Kerala Boys also  started well as they beat a tight high-scoring game 80-71 against Haryana.  and again dubbed Gujarat 76-52 on the second day of the  33rd Youth National Basketball Championship 2016, the

In other matches in girls beat Punjab 60-24, while the boys defeated Jammu and Kashmir 64-31. Later in the evening, the Kerala boys won

On the morning of Day 2, joint defending champions Tamil Nadu girls got off to a winning start after handily beating West Bengal 68-19. The Odisha girls also won their game today morning with a 48-14 drubbing of Puducherry. Joint defending boys’ champions Tamil Nadu fell to a 79-67 defeat against Chhattisgarh, who were led by Binod Rajak’s 16 points.

The level 2 boys’ games saw some close encounters that were decided in the final minutes. West Bengal edged past Uttarakhand 73-69 with a strong fourth quarter showing. The Goa boys came from behind against Telangana outscoring them in the third quarter to reclaim the lead and finish with a 65-59 win. Andhra Pradesh steamrolled Tripura (50-14), while Odisha registered a comfortable 71-52 win against Himachal Pradesh. Puducherry had a reason to cheer today morning as they registered their first win in the tournament in their match against Bihar that ended 69 to 56. Sathyavanam led the way for Puducherry with 29 points.

Detailed Scores  
Boys
Level 1:

• Kerala (Amal Reghu 25, Chacko Simon 11, Sejin Mathew 8) bt Gujarat (Dvij Tanna 12, Krishnapal Singh 12) 76-52 (19-9, 14-15, 23-13, 20-15)
• Kerala (Amal Reghu 25, Chacko Simon 11, Sejin Mathew 8) bt Gujarat (Dvij Tanna 12, Krishnapal Singh 12) 76-52 (19-9, 14-15, 23-13, 20-15)
• Chhattisgarh (Binod Rajak 16, Ayushman 14) bt Tamil Nadu (Aravind Kumar 27, Akash 11, Prathap 7, Tarun Kumar 7) 79-67 (17-21, 15-6, 25-9, 22-31)
• Chhattisgarh (Binod Rajak 16, Ayushman 14) bt Tamil Nadu (Aravind Kumar 27, Akash 11, Prathap 7, Tarun Kumar 7) 79-67 (17-21, 15-6, 25-9, 22-31)

Girls

• Karnataka (Anagha 13, Aishwarya 10, Astha Vartak 6) bt Punjab (Sakshi Sharma 7, Daljeet Kaur 6) 60-24 (27-8, 12-10, 12-4, 9-2)
• Tamil Nadu (Avanti Vardhan 13, S. Pushpa 12, J. Monica 12) bt West Bengal (Tanya Dheerendra 8) 68-19(22-3, 24-4, 9-8, 13-4)
• Madhya Pradesh (Divyani Ganiwal 17 pts, Varsha Kusawah 15) bt Punjab (Prabhjot Kaur 26, Radha Rani 13) 64-57 [21-17, 15-14, 10-13, 18-13]

Level 2:
Boys

• Odisha (Lipramayee 21, S. Sahoo 6) bt Puducherry (Venus Gloria 4) 48-14 (14-0, 12-5, 9-1, 13-8)
• Odisha (Sarat Nayak 19, SK Jena 11) bt Himachal Pradesh (Rahul 22, Vishal 13) 71-52 (14-11, 21-12, 22-13, 14-16)
• West Bengal (Azaz 17, Janab 10, Aman Dubey 10) bt Uttarakhand (Riyanshu 31, Prashant 15) 73-69 (13-19, 16-17, 15-13, 29-20)
• Puducherry (Sathyavanam 29, Lovan 17) bt Bihar (Dharmender 20, Raunak Kumar 16) 69-56 (19-4, 10-21, 12-17, 28-14)
• Andhra Pradesh (J. Prasad 17) bt Tripura (Mehul Sangwan 9) 50-14 (24-2, 15-0, 2-6, 9-6)
• Goa (Shaun Arango 31, Benedict 8) bt Telangana (Mithil Reddy 23, Aman T. 9) 65-59 (10-15, 10-13, 23-10, 22-21)

Girls

• Rajasthan (Aparna Saini 19, Nandita Choudhary 9, Yakshika Singhal 8) bt Andhra Pradesh (N. Padmavathi 9, P. Uma Maheswari 6) 52-36 (16-10, 13-4, 10-12, 13-10)
• Uttarakhand (Tarini Boparai 31, Mansi Basera 7) bt Bihar (Kavya Singh 6, Nisha Kumari 4) 48-12 (8-2, 19-7, 17-0, 4-3)

The Kerala basketball scene was rocked on Thursday as Kerala forward/center and former State Captain  T Chandrasekaran Nair  passed away due to a massive cardiac arrest while in his office at the Kerala University .He w as the asset combatant with Kerala Police and now serving as the chief security officer with Kerala University .

He was  survived by his mother Susheela , Wife Dr. Sree Latha and Two daughters Arathy(MBA student) Aiswarya (+2) and his brother Shaji TS also a former State player

As the news of his demise broke, his fellow players took it to social media to pay tribute to the hardnosed defender.

Those who consoles includes Arjuna Awardee Geethu Ana Rahul, International Muhammed Iqbal, Jayasankar, Prasanna Jayasankar, International Commissioner Naresh Aneeja   and the people from States Gulf.

He started his Playing days in university college before joining in 1983-84 with Mar Ivanios college and was able to bring the college the University champions later .Chandran was always tough on the Court and to me, I saw him never missing a practise session and was rare missing the practise sessions giving sick. He was a small Post player than others  but he was tough and know how to force the way for a basket and guard them but off the court, he was so friendly and also a regular member at India coffee House Thiruvananthapuram

The remarkable day was in 1991in Trivandrum Senior Nationals as he helped Kerala Senior Men team the first ever Bronze Medal in the senior level  along with C V Sunny and C Suresh the rare for a Senior team at that  period.

After Joining Kerala Police in 1985  he represented the state continuously for 8 years till 1993. He captained the Kerala State Senior Team 1989 at Jamshedpur and also the State  Police and  was  instrumental in making  Kerala police the  Federation Cup champions in 1990 as well as in 1993  .

He also served Thiruvananthapuram District Basketball Association as Secretary in which a Sub Junior National Championship was also conducted at Thiruvananthapuram .

Those who pays homage at home Includes K Muraleedharan MLA, D Vijakumar   Vincent M Paul IPS , State Information officer.Dr. P. K Rada Krishan Vice Chancellor Kerala University, Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Veeramanikkam.

When the body was taken to SAP DGP Sen Kumar IPS, Anil Kanth IPS, Suresh raj purohit IPS, city Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham IPS  etc paid their homage .

The Basketball fraternity  includes  Dr MM Chacko senior vice President Kerala  Basketball Association  and Internationals Muhammed Iqbal, C V Sunny, Sathish Kumar, Unvin J Antony, V V Harilal, Sijimon Kareethra. Johnny Augustine and the seniors Jose Joseph Thomas Varghese, Jose Kurian,  etc and an array of  fellow International from Kerala Police football, Athletics , Swimming and Volleyball.

President Joymon TPaid the Homage for Thriuvanthapuram District Basketball Association

The body was cremated at Santhi Kavadaom in Thriuvanthapuram with complete State honors.

(FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2016) – Anusha IP who hails from Kozhikode Studying St Josephs College Alapuzha and Nimmy George who hails from Koratty and Studying in St Josephs College Irinjalakuda will be the two girls to represent India at the 23rd FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, from Nov 13-19. It will be the qualifying tournament for FIBA Asia at the 2017 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women. In Italy on 2017

India this time b will be Playing along with China ,Japan, South Korea Chineese Thaipai , Thailand in Level 1

About Nimmy George

Nimmy who is Now Coaching Under PC Antony at St Josephs College Irinjalkuda was from the cradle of Basketball Little Flower HSS Koratty under Winny Bestine . She had earlier went to FIBA first ever Asian Youth Camp for 3×3 Basketball at the Gharafa Training Hall, Doha, Qatar from September 5-18, 2015

About Anusha IP

Anusha IP this time is her first International appearance is Coaching Under Praveen from Kerla State Sports Council at St Josephs College Alapuzha is from another girls cradle of Basketball in Kozhikode St Michael’s GHSS Kozhikode trained under Sreejith earlier attended two other national camps in U13 as well as U 16

Comments from India’s Suasanthika Charavorthy

“Our main focus is to maintain our position in level 1,” said Suasnathika Charavortty who helped India to make the Level1 in the Last Edition “And, at the same time, we are going to try to upset the traditional East Asian powerhouses

Being my first international experience, it was really challenging,” she said about her experience last year. “But it was the best kind of exposure especially playing against teams like China, Japan and Korea. We understood what we lacked and how to play against teams that are physically and mentally stronger than us.”

The challenge for India will be similarly difficult in Bangkok, where, again, the East Asians will enter as overwhelming favorites to comprise the tournament’s top four teams. Chakravortty, for her part, is hoping to spearhead India as they hope to remain in Level 1.

The team has been for the past month training Under Sheeba and Suhas at SAI center in Auraghabad

“Luck should be on our side,” said susanthika “Beating one of East Asia’s top four teams will allow us to play the semi-finals, which will be something historic for us. The coaching staff has been working hard in preparing us for this tournament.”

The pressure is certainly on for India in this competition, especially since the sport has seen great growth in popularity at home. That’s something not lost on Chakravortty, who is aiming at, one day, achieving a high level of success for India’s women in the same way guys like Amjyot Singh and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi have led India’s men to new heights.

Regional Matches of group C at Kozhikode(Girls) and Ernakulum (Boys) of the Indian School Basketball League Group c were concluded  at Manchira Maidan In Kozhikode were and Sacred  Heart CMI school in Thevara i a similar fashion

Like in Ernakulum  In Kozhikode girls division  Providence defeated St Michaels 64-56 in their second spell matches making a double tie between St Michaels and with better Goal difference Providence came as Victorious and St Michaels the runner up  as both team qualified to the State Finals to be held at Kottayam in November

Earlier in Group C Boys at Kochi  St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu  and Sacred Hear CMI Public School Thevara  , and at Thiruvanthapuram St Josephs HSS Thriuvanthapuram and St Thomas HSS Kozhencheery and St Ephremes HSS MAnnanam and Girideepam Bethanny from Kottayam  have find their  way to the State Finals in Boys

While in Girls along with St Michaels and Providence from Kottayam  Girideepam Bethany and Mount Carmel  Kottayam , and at Tiruvanthapuram St Gorettis Nalanchira andSt Josephs GHS Alapuzha have confirmed their Place in to the State Finals

Detailed Scores

Girls

• St Michaels HSS Kozhikode-42(Devika Prajosh11) bt Presentation GHS Kozhikode-6
• Providence GHS Kozhikode-25(Adhika8) bt GVHSS Thallasseery-19
• Providence GHS Kozhikode-64((Devika Prajosh20, Anarga Jagadeesh10) bt  St Michaels HSS Kozhikode-56
• Providence GHS -40(Aparna Manoj10) bt Presentation GHS Kozhikode-25(Akhila mohan10)

About the Championship
In an effort to uplift basketball from the grass-root level, Basketball Federation of India in collaboration with Kerala Basketball Association on Tuesday 21st September will start at Manachira maidan In Kozhikode and at Sacred Heart CMI Public School in Kochi  apart from the centers at Koratty,Kottayam,Thiruvanthapuram will  be in October .

The idea is to create a structured, self-sustaining, pan-India school league, which will serve as the platform to increase organized basketball participation at grassroots level and subsequently as the talent development/feeder system for the Indian national teams.

Apart from Kerala 15 other   States are  participating in the league which includes  Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,  Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram

In Kerala   Preliminary round of the tournament will be played at five   centers Kochi, Koratty, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode on  a round-robin format, with the Sixteen (16) teams each in boys and girls are divided into four (4) groups of four (4) teams in five centers . Every team will take on its Three (3) opponents twice in its respective group. 2 teams from each group will advance to the final which will be played at Kottayam. The State finals will be played in a knockout format from the Quarter-Finals, Semi-finals. Final and Third-Place Game