News

On 26th January at 12 noon the coaches of Kerala State Sports Council assembled at Hotel Merlin in Thrissur to bid farewell to their fellow coach P C Antony who will retiring from Kerala State Sports Council officially on January 31st 2016, after a successful 16 years of Service. He was at the function along with his wife Shiny U.P who is working at Co-operative Bank in Thrissur and their two sons elder Aslin Antony 1st year BA Student and younger Abhishek Antony 6th Std in Chaldean Syrian Higher Secondary school Thrissur
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The prominent coaches who attended includes P J Sebastiaan a State Sports Council who was the assist coach at Asia’s biggest Men’s basketball tournament – the FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China –were India ended the tournament with something to smile about, as India made the quarter-final stage for the first time after 2003 and finished at an encouraging 8th place, other International Coaches Prem Kumar who took Indian women Gold in 3on3 competition couple of years back, Dimal C Mathew who went with Senior Indian women team at the Asian Championship,

Antony Stephan the coach who took Kerala women in to the final after 15 years last month and also first ever Gold in National Games held last year at Kannur along with other coaches of Kerala State Sports Council Jose Philip (Mar Ivanios College) who was instrumental in bringing Kerala University me in to the All India final round , Thomas Chandy (Assumption College), Cigi (Providence College) Praveen (St Josephs Alappuzha) Vijayan (Centralised Sports Hostel Manjeri)Johnson (Giriddepam) Reji Alex (St Josephs Pulicunnu) and Jijo Paul from Kerala Varma College

About P C Antony

P C Antony who hails from Thrissur and now working with Kerala State Sports Council as Coach at St Josephs College Irinjalakuda will be one of the luckiest coaches to retire from service on a winning note as he was able to bring Kozhikode University women the All India Title after a gap of 12 years. He was one of the three coaches in Kerala who is having a certification of FIBA level II. and also an BFI- A panel Referee another feather added to his cap in the retiring year was the Bronze medal for Kerala in the recently concluded youth National Championships at Ludhiana Punjab 2015 ,

He also served India as the Head coach for the Indian U19 junior women team that participated in the Asian Championship in Jordan 2014 and also the asst coach with the India n Boys U 18 team in 2002 at the Asian Basketball Championship apart from the several national Championships for Kerala as coach , he also was lucky to work with the FIBA coach Zoran sorch at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Preparatory camp for Men .

As a player he also represented Kerala junior team & Calicut University in 1979, and also played for Madhya Pradesh and represented Southern Command in Services championships

His students includes Internationals Haressh Koroth( IOB) ,Eudric Perera Manoj & Vivek (Customs) , Smithin Sethu(Services) in Men while in Women has Rollin Sara Kuruvilla(MTNL) , Sharmily Mathew, Jilna Jose(Railways )

Shri K.M. George Deputy Commandant Kerala Raj Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram is awarded with President’s Police Medal for distinguished Service. Shri. George was the Captain of the Kerala Senior Men Team for the 1990-1991 Nationals Calcutta.
Basketball Fraternity of Kerala is proud of you, Shri. George

Silver for Kerala after 15 years & Services Champions after 9 Years
Mysuru, 16th January 2016: Kerala has to satisfy with the silver spot as they went down to Indian railways after a good start and ended the first period with a 15-13 lead before surrendering to railways with the score 55-73 allowing railways to capture the title after a gap of two years while Services took the crown after a gap of 9 years defeating the defending champions Uttarakhand 73-67 here on the last day of the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship here in Mysuru .

In women Both teams entered the final with a perfect 6-0 record and were facing each other for the first time this tournament. Kerala began the game well, with JeenaScaria (14 points) scoring a bulk of the first quarter points for her team. Railways made a crucial change in their defensive strategy to begin the second quarter, with tight man marking on Jeena and double-teaming her whenever she got the ball. This forced the rest of the Kerala players to step up on the offensive end. But only Kerala centre Stephy Nixon (17 points) was up to the task with little contribution from the rest of her teammates. The Indian Railways teams had multiple weapons from inside the paint and outside, with four of their players ending up scoring in double digits. Veteran Railways point guard Anitha Paul-Durai connected on three 3-pointers on her way to 16 points of it two in the second Quarter Completes the change as they ended the first half with a lead of 37-28. Railways centre Rajapriyadarshini had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Navaneeta was efficient off the bench for the Railways with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Coach AparnaGhosh showcased the depth of the Railways team today with 28 points coming from their bench players.

The men’s final between Services and Uttarakhand was expected to be a hard-fought battle for first place. Both teams came into the final on a 5-1 record, after knocking out the more favoured Punjab and Tamil Nadu teams in the semi-finals. The defending champions started off well, with their star player and India captain Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi (20 points) leading the charge. Down by 2 points at the end of the first quarter, Services cranked up the heat with their point guard Joginder Singh shooting lights out from long distance. Joginder (26 points) nailed 6 threes in the game to give Services a double-digit lead over Uttarakhand. The backcourt due of Joginder and Narender Grewal (20 points) Malayalee smithin Sethu (10points) ensured that Services maintained a 10-plus point lead through the third quarter. But entering the fourth, Uttarakhand made a push for a comeback. Uttarakhand centre and Keralite Murali Krishna (24 points) was big in the post scoring crucial buckets down the stretch to cut down the Services lead. Bhrighuvanshi also fought valiantly to bring his team back in the game, but the Services players maintained their composure down the stretch to stave off the Uttarakhand comeback attempt. Services held on to a 6-point lead to end the game with a 73-67 victory and capture the gold medal after a gap of 9 years.

Tamil Nadu men and Delhi women capture third place

Earlier in the day, the Delhi women edged past Telangana 71-66 to capture third place. Raspreet Sidhu led the scoring for the Delhi side with 21 points, while sisters Pratima Singh and Prashanti Singh contributed with 19 and 16 points respectively. Telangana centre Anusha Anto had 24 points in the loss.

Tamil Nadu men bounced back from their disappointing semifinal loss against Uttarakhand yesterday to defeat Punjab and secure third place. Tamil Nadu dominated the game in the second half and ran away to an 82-68 victory. Tamil Nadu forward Aravind Annadurai scored a game-high 33 points in the contest.

Harish Sharma Most Valuable Award to Joginder and Navaneetha
Joginder Singh from Services and Navaneetha from Indian Railways received the Most Valuable Player Award instituted in Memory of late Shri Harish Sharma an amount of $ 15,000/ each

Results from Day 8 (16th Jan)
Finals

WOMEN

Indian Railways (Anitha Paul-Durai 16, Navaneeta 14, Sitamani Tudu 12) bt Kerala (Stephy Nixon 17, Jeena PS 14, Anjana PG 14) 72-55 (12-15, 26-13, 19-13, 15-14)

MEN

Services (Joginder Singh 26, Narender Grewal 20, Setu SM 10) bt Uttarakhand (Murali Krishna 24, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 20, Trideep Rai 11) 73-67 (15-17, 25-14, 16-15, 17-21)

3rd place

WOMEN

Delhi (Raspreet Sidhu 21, Pratima Singh 19, Prashanti Singh 16) bt Telangana (Anusha Anto 24, Jincy Joseph 17, Ramya 10) 71-66 (21-21, 12-20, 15-11, 23-14)

MEN

Tamil Nadu (Aravind Annadurai 33, Rikin Pethani 18, Prasanna Venkatesh 13) bt Punjab (Gagandeep Singh 18, TJ Sahi 17, Rajveer Singh 13) 82-68 (17-17, 15-20, 30-19, 20-12)

5th and 6th place

WOMEN

Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 44, Bharti 18, Saranjeet Kaur 10) bt Tamil Nadu (Nishanti Masi 17, Srividhya 16, Shruti 16) 83-74 (19-31, 20-10, 17-16, 28-17)

MEN

Karnataka (Anil Kumar 29, Isaac I. 12, Karan K. 11) bt Indian Railways (Himanshu Sharma 19, Somvier S. 15, Palpreet Singh 11) 93-86 (22-14, 25-21, 25-24, 21-27)

7th and 8th place

WOMEN

West Bengal (Madhu Kumari 21, Salma S. 21, Anjana Dezy 14, Libina 14) bt Punjab (S. Samriti 23, Nirmal Kaur 15, Gagandeep Kaur 12) 79-77 (30-19, 14-22, 18-18, 17-18)

MEN

Gujarat (Dishant Shah 16, Dhaval 16) bt Kerala (Abhijith 15) 64-58 (19-16, 19-12, 14-18, 12-12)

Final Standings

WOMEN

1. Indian Railways
2. Kerala
3. Delhi
4. Telangana
5. Chhattisgarh
6. Tamil Nadu
7. West Bengal
8. Punjab
9. Maharashtra
10. Rajasthan

MEN

1. Services
2. Uttarakhand
3. Tamil Nadu
4. Punjab
5. Karnataka
6. Indian Railways
7. Gujarat
8. Kerala
9. Haryana
10. Chhattisgarh

Senior Nationals Final Days News From kerala

Nationals News

Final Days News From kerala

In Men Services to meet Utharkhand

Mysuru, 15th January 2016: Kerala women avenged their defeat they had last year in the Semi final as they drubbed Delhi with the score of 82-41 and Sail into the Final of the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship underway in Mysuru. Kerala women will take on Indian railways in the final

In the Men semi-final, Uttarakhand stunned favourites Tamil Nadu and will meet the Services who defeated Punjab

Kerala women lead by Jeena PS drubbed Delhi in the second semi-final after leading 39-15 at the half time for Kerala it was again Jeena with 30 points as the top scorer followed by Stephy Nixon with 18 and Neenumol making 11 and Anjana PG contributing10pts for this victory to the final which they are making it after a gap of 15years . Delhi Prathima Sing was the top scorer with 21 followed rasp reet making 15

Earlier in the first semifinal of the day was between the women’s teams of the Indian Railways and Telangana. Railways have been undefeated in the tournament thus far, while Telangana … The first half was tight with only 4 points separating the teams. For Telangana, it was starter Divya P. (21 points) who was scoring the bulk of her team’s points. On the other hand, the Railways had contributions from multiple players. Telangana relied too much on their starters with little contribution from their bench leading to rising fatigue levels of their main players in the second half. The Railways rotated their players nicely, and their bench stepped up to the occasion scoring 23 points in the contest. Railways also took advantage of their size on the inside, outrebounding Telangana 56 to 39, leading to 20-second chance points. Veteran point guard Anitha Paul-Durai led the Railways team with 20 points as they blew the match wide open to finish with a 78-50 victory to meet Kerala

Uttarakhand triumph over Tamil Nadu with miraculous comeback to meet Services who toppled Punjab

The first men’s semi-final was a clash between last year’s finalists, Tamil Nadu and defending champions Uttarakhand. Tamil Nadu was yet to lose a game entering this match while Uttarakhand had dropped one of their group games to Punjab. There was little to separate the two teams in the first half with Tamil Nadu holding just a slim lead over Uttarakhand. Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi (21 points) led the charge for Uttarakhand with his ability to drive to the rim. India forward Yadwinder (21 points) also contributed with nifty moves in the post. For Tamil Nadu, it was Rikin Pethani (20 points) who provided the major scoring contribution with Pratham Singh (15 points) and Prasanna Venkatesh (11 points) putting in timely buckets. In the third quarter, Tamil Nadu brought on their 6th man Siva Balan, who immediately had an offensive impact, helping balloon his team’s lead to double digits. Tamil Nadu held a 20-point lead at one point in the fourth quarter, but this was when Uttarakhand showed their championship pedigree and started their miraculous comeback. Down by 18 with 4 minutes and 20 seconds left in the game, veteran Uttarakhand point guard Riyazuddin banked in back-to-back 3 pointers. This was followed by two 3 pointers by veteran shooting guard Trideep Rai to bring the lead down to 2 and Malayalee Murali Krishna put a Basket and tied the score with 20 seconds to go for the Final whistle from a pass from riyazudeen .. With 14 seconds left, Tamil Nadu had the chance for a game-winning bucket, but a steal by Uttarakhand on poor inbounds pass led to a layup by Bhrighuvanshi on the other end. Down by 2 points, Tamil Nadu’s final attempt by Akilan Akil went awry and Uttarakhand clinched a 71-69 victory to advance to the final.

Punjab and Services faced each other for the first time in the tournament today in their men’s semi-final. Punjab was yet to taste defeat in the tournament and were looking to continue their resurgent run all the way to the final. But Services had other plans as they began the game with well, led by their point guard Joginder Singh. Establishing an early lead in the contest, Services were the better team in the first half. The Services big men, Ashutosh Rai and Malayalee Setu SM crashed the boards for their team, giving Services a big rebounding advantage (60 to 40). Punjab centre Gagandeep Singh had a below par outing with only 11 points and 9 rebounds. Gurvinder Gill put up a double-double for Punjab with 16 points and 11 rebounds, including a spectacular alley-oop dunk. After a 9-point lead at the end of the first half, Punjab fought back in the third quarter regaining the lead at the end of the third. But the last period completely belonged to Services as they outscored Punjab 30 to 11. Jayram Jat was the main contributor for services with 20 points. Joginder Singh had an all-around game with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Services have set up a title clash with Uttarakhand to be played tomorrow.

Results Semi Finals

WOMEN

Kerala -82(Jeena PS30,Stephy Noixon18,Neenumol PS11,Anjanna PG10) bt Delhi-41(Prathima Singh21,Raspreet Sidhu15)
Indian Railways – 78(Anitha Paul-Durai 20, Sitamani Tudu 13, Rajapriyadarshini 12) bt Telangana-50 (Divya P. 21, Ramya 10) (22-19, 15-14, 28-10, 13-7)

MEN

Uttarakhand- 71(Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 21, Yadwinder Singh 21, Murali Krishna 11) bt Tamil Nadu-69 (Rikin Pethani 20, Pratham Singh 15, Prasanna Venkatesh 11) (16-18, 17-20, 14-19, 24)
Services – 83(Jayram Jat 20, Ashutosh Rai 18, Joginder Singh 16) bt Punjab -66 (Gurvinder Gill 16, TJ Sahi 14, Gagandeep Singh 11) (22-15, 18-16, 13-24, 30-11)

5th to 8th place classification matches

WOMEN

Tamil Nadu (CL Rini 20, Srividhya 17, Prithi 14) bt West Bengal (Anjana Dezy 29, Libina 26, Madhu Kumari 14) 83-76 (21-13, 22-24, 22-21, 18-18)
Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 34, Bharti 19) bt Punjab (Nirmal 29, Kirandeep 20, Indu Kumari 14) 79-75 (13-19, 14-24, 26-19, 26-13)

MEN

Karnataka (Anil Kumar 20, Isaac I. 10) bt Kerala (Jishnu Nair 12, Robin 11) 72-50 (22-15, 15-8, 15-10, 10-17)
Indian Railways (Somvier S. 24, Ajay Pratap Singh 18, Gaurav Ohlan 13) bt Gujarat (Kasi Rajan 29, Vinay Kaushik 21, Harpal 13) 87-76 (23-24, 26-12, 15-24, 23-16)

For 9th and 10th place

WOMEN

Maharashtra (Kasturi More 11, Sangeeta Mandal 11) bt Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 23) 61-44 (30-10, 5-12, 11-9, 15-13)

MEN

Haryana (Amit 15, Ravi 12, Vijender 11) bt Chhattisgarh (Dinesh Mishra 10, Palash P. 10) 66-48 (17-9, 21-10, 11-19, 17-20)

Loser Knockout Final

MEN

Maharashtra (Umesh Deshmukh 12, Rohan Jagdap 12, Edwin 11) bt West Bengal (Sagar Joshi 25) 58-55 (10-10, 12-24, 23-14, 13-7)

Mysuru, 14th January 2016: Kerala women had no difficulty in beating Punjab ?to enter ?the Semifinal while a better credit to be given to the Men as they beat Chhattisgarh and ?then ?lost the quarter-final fighting to a mighty Punjab outfit here for the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship in Mysuru, Karnataka.

In the semi-final Kerala women will take on Delhi and Indian railways will meet Telangana

In Men Tamil Nadu will take on Uttarakhand and Services will meet Punjab

The women match were Kerala used his full bench had a comfortable lead in the first half of 33-10 and used their full bench was top scored by Jeena Ps and Neenumol with 10 points each

The men match were the Kerala team was handicapped tall center players played really hard in the morning to beat Chhattisgarh with the score 75-69 with monish Wilson top-scoring with 16 points followed by Young Jishnu Nair contributing 15 points but in the evening after leading 39-38 lost to Punjab 77-104 for Kerala substitute robin made 8 three pointers in his score of 24 came ass the top scorer followed by Manoj R with 21 points and Jishnu making 16 for the lost match

The morning session began with the women’s pre-quarterfinals. The Punjab women bounced back from their below par group stage performance with a victory against Rajasthan. Punjab relied on a team game and contributions from multiple players, with four players scoring in double digits to go with 24 points from their bench. Punjab centre Harjeet Kaur was a major contributor for her team with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Punjab’s used their size to their advantage, outrebounding the Rajasthan team 56 to 40. For Rajasthan, Nisha Sharma put up a game-high 30 points, but she had little support from her teammates. Punjab eventually cruised to an 84-66

In the other women’s pre-quarterfinal, West Bengal registered an emphatic victory against Maharashtra, continuing their impressive run in the tournament. West Bengal’s big three of Madhu Kumari, Anjana Dezy and malyalee Libina all scored above 20 points to lead their side to a blowout 82-50 victory.

The men’s pre-quarterfinals also saw a blowout victory with Gujarat comfortably defeating Haryana 88-69. Gujarat centre/ forward Dishant Shah was on fire scoring 30 points in the game. Gujarat established an early lead, which they maintained for the rest of the contest to secure a place in the quarterfinal, to be played against Tamil Nadu in an evening.

In the quarterfinals, dark horse Telangana picked up an easy win against a young Tamil Nadu team, despite some of the key players playing limited minutes due to injuries during the game. The Telangana side looked like a well-oiled unit, outplaying the Tamil Nadu team in almost all departments. Divya P. top scored for Telangana with 26 points and led her team to a spot in the semi-finals to be played tomorrow.

The other women’s quarterfinal was a rematch of last year’s final between Chhattisgarh and Delhi. This time around, Delhi managed to exact revenge against the defending champions. Chhattisgarh’s Poonam Chaturvedi, 2015 MVP, put up 44 points shooting 83% from the field. But her rebounding numbers were down, as all five Delhi players crashed the boards, making life difficult for Poonam. The rest of Chhattisgarh’s team provided little support to Poonam. Pratima Singh, who scored 36 points and had 7 assists, carried Delhi’s scoring load. Her sister Prashanti Singh put up 24 points and veteran shooter Raspreet Sidhu contributed timely buckets with 12 points in the contest. Delhi pulled away late to close out the game with an 84-76 victory.

The men’s quarterfinals began with defending champions Uttarakhand taking on the talented Indian Railways side. The match was evenly matched till the third quarter when an unfortunate incident led to the ejection of Railways centre/ forward Palpreet Singh for unsportsmanlike conduct. The game turned on its head after Railways lost their centre, and Uttarakhand dominated for the rest of the contest to register and 84-64 victory. Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi had a game-high 26 points in the victory and his teammate Trideep Rai contributed 22 points.

Hosts Karnataka took on the Services team in their quarterfinal match today for a spot in the semis. Karnataka regained the services of their forward and go-to-scorer Aravind Arumugam, who missed yesterday’s game due to injury. Karnataka got off to a good start, leading by 4 points at the end of the first quarter. Services fought their way back into the contest and led 35 to 31 at a half. The second half completely belonged to the Services team as they outscored their opponent 54 to 32, led by Narender Grewal’s 24 points and Joginder Singh’s 17 points and 6 assists. Karnataka’s Anil Kumar had 20 points in a losing effort

Quarterfinal

WOMEN

Telangana -70(Divya P. 26, Ramya R. 19, Anusha Anto 12) bt Tamil Nadu-52 (Varshanandini R. 10, Nishanthi Masi 9) (11-10, 17-5, 20-13, 24-22)
Delhi – 84(Pratima Singh 36, Prashanti Singh 24, Raspreet Sidhu 12) bt Chhattisgarh -76(Poonam Chaturvedi 44, Bharti N. 11, Saranjeet Kaur 8, Sangeeta K. 8) (18-20, 10-20, 32-13, 24-23)
Kerala-58(Jeena PS10,Neenumol PS10) bt Punjab-24(indukumari16) (23-10, 11-5, 14-7, 10-2)
IndianRailways 80(Rajapriyadarshini19,Smruthymenon13, Smruthyradhakrishnan13) bt West Bengal -24(Devi14)

MEN

Uttarakhand-84(Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 26, Trideep Rai 22, Murali Krishna 15) bt Indian Railways-64 (Himanshu Sharma 16, Raj Kalbhor 12) (20-18, 9-12, 22-13, 23-21)
Services-89 (Narender Grewal 24, Joginder Singh 17, Jayram Jat 15) bt Karnataka-63 (Anil Kumar 20, Aravind Arumugam 12) (15-19, 20-12, 27-17, 27-15)
Tamil Nadu -82(Siva Balan 15, Aravind Annadurai 15, Prasanna Venkatesh 14) bt Gujarat-50 (Dishant Shah 14, Vinay K aushik 13) (22-10, 23-19, 21-6, 16-15)
Punjab -104 (TJ Sahi 24, Arshpreet Bhullar 20, Gagandeep Singh 17) bt Kerala -77(Robin S. 24, Manoj R. 21, Jishnu Nair 16) (17-23, 21-16, 34-18, 32-20)

Pre-Quarterfinals

WOMEN

Punjab-84 (Kirandeep Kaur 18, Indu Kumari 18, Harjeet Kaur 17) bt Rajasthan-66 (Nisha Sharma 30, Asha Naik 17) (21-22, 20-10, 20-27, 23-7)
West Bengal -82 (Madhu Kumari 23, Anjana Dezy 20, Libina MJ 20) bt Maharashtra -50(Manisha Dange 18, Shireen Limaye 12) (22-15, 18-16, 15-14, 17-11)

MEN

Kerala-75 (Monish Wilson 16, Jishnu Nair 15, Basil Philip 12) bt Chhattisgarh -65(Dinesh Mishra 16, Shiv S. 15, Rudraksh R. 15) (18-16, 13-19, 26-18, 18-16)
Gujarat-88 (Dishant Shah 30, Dhaval D. 27, Harpal H. 15) bt Haryana-69 (Bejendra Kumar 16, Deepak Rathee 15, Virender 13) (25-19, 21-15, 20-18, 22-17)

Mysuru, 13th January 2016: Kerala women Stay unbeaten in Group A as they went on to beat Telangana in a fashioned way with the score of 72-46, but the men team which was handicapped by a center player went down fighting to a taller Indian railways with the score 70-84 after leading 63-62 till the end of 3rd quarter here for the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship for men and women in Mysuru. Kerala women will now take on the winners of Punjab and Rajasthan in the quarter-final

In the league match in the women which two unbeaten sides met to decide the group topper Kerala started off in good style with leading the first quarter with 26-10 and was again top scored by Jeena with 20 points followed by Stephy making 14 and Neenumol with 13 Shilji also contributing 11 points for the victory

In the men, last league match Kerala played against a much taller outfit of Indian Railways lead 31-26 in the first quarter and even lead till 8 minutes to go for the final whistle .The absence of taller players in the side forced them to play with four of their players on four fouls which in fact helped Indian railways the victory and Kerala the chance to play a quarter-final directly and the result force them to play the pre-quarter final. Eudric Perera was the top scorer for Kerala with 16 points followed by Monish with 14

In an another exciting women match Tamil Nadu women defeating Karnataka in a double overtime thriller on a late match yesterday Gaining confidence on that thrilling victory, the Tamil Nadu women handily defeated Punjab 57-37 to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

The Punjab women have sneaked through to the pre-quarterfinals knocking out hosts Karnataka on the basis of the head-to-head record between the two teams, rendering the result of today evening’s match between Karnataka and the Indian Railways women inconsequential. Maharashtra women are also through to the pre-quarterfinals with a win against Madhya Pradesh today morning. West Bengal and Rajasthan women will also battle it out in the pre-quarterfinals.

In the men’s section, the undefeated Tamil Nadu (Group B) and Punjab (Group A) teams have qualified to the quarterfinals along with the Services (Group B) and Indian Railways (Group A). The fourth placed Kerala men’s team from Group B are through to the pre-quarterfinals, where they will be joined by Chhattisgarh and Gujarat from Level 2. The remaining three spots from men’s Group B are still up for grabs depending on the outcome of today’s games.

In the qualifying matches among the pre-quarterfinalists for the level 2 teams, West Bengal women beat Rajasthan and they have decided to play Maharashtra in the pre-quarterfinal. Gujarat men defeated Chhattisgarh in their decider match, as they are yet to chose their pre-quarterfinal opponent.

Quarterfinal Line-up

WOMEN

Tamil Nadu v. Telangana
Chhattisgarh v. Delhi
Kerala v. [Punjab/ Rajasthan]
Indian Railways v. [Maharashtra/ West Bengal]

MEN

Karnataka v. Services
Indian Railways v. Uttarakhand
Punjab v. [Kerala/ Chhattisgarh]
Tamil Nadu v. [Haryana/ Gujarat]

Detailed Results Level 1

WOMEN

Maharashtra – 73 (Manisha Dange 22, Shireen Limaye 18, Sangeeta Mandal 18) bt Madhya Pradesh-56 (Sakshi Pandey 18, Anubha Thakur 9) [19-13, 22-12, 19-19, 13-12]
Tamil Nadu -57 (R Varshanandhran 20, K Prithi 11, Rejini Peter 10) bt Punjab-37 (Harpreet Kaur 13, Indu Kumari 11) [19-12, 16-10, 16-6, 6-9]
Kerala-72 (Jeena PS 20, Stephy Nixon 14, Neenu Mol PS 13) bt Telangana-46 (Divya P 13) [26-10, 15-11, 17-18, 14-7]
Tamil Nadu-88 (Varshanandhini 32, Ranjini Peter 21, Adhirai 12) bt Karnataka-85 (Bhandavya 34, Savita 21, Lopa Mudra 19) [18-19, 23-16, 20-14, 13-25, 7-7, 7-4]
Indian Railways-68 (Rajapriyadarshini 19, Anitha Paul-Durai 12, Sruthi Menon 10) bt Karnataka-49 (Bhandavya Mahesha 13, Savita S. 10, Lopamudra L. 10) (25-8, 20-6, 10-13, 13-22)

MEN

Indian Railways -84(Somvier S. 28, Palpreet Singh 21, Himanshu Sharma 12) bt Kerala-70 (Eudrick Periera 16, Ashwin Xavier Philip 15, Monish Wilson 14) (26-31, 23-16, 13-16, 22-7
Services-94 (Joginder Singh 31, Narender Grewal 18, Ashutosh 14) bt Kerala -68(Albin 17, Eudrick 10) (26-15, 23-25, 29-20, 16-8)
Tamil Nadu -83(Prasanna Venkatesh 18, Jeevanatham P. 12, Raghuram MA 12) bt Telangana -29(Ambathi Reddy 9)95-29 (35-14, 11-2, 17-5, 32-8)
Punjab-83 (Gagandeep Singh 20, TJ Sahi 18, Rajveer Singh 13) bt Haryana-66(Virendra V. 23, Satyajeet S. 12) (20-16, 18-20, 29-9, 16-21)
Uttarakhand-65 (Trideep Rai 24, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 20) bt Karnataka-58 (Sashi S. 11, Anil Kumar 10) (22-11, 14-18, 13-11, 16-18)

Level 2 Qualifying matches (winner decides who they play in pre-quarterfinal)

WOMEN

West Bengal-74 (Anjana Dezy 25, Madhu Kumari 17, Libina 16) bt Rajasthan-54 (Nisha 27, Kumud Khatri 11) (22-8, 17-21, 17-7, 18-18)

MEN

Gujarat -72(Shafiq 19, Vinay Kaushik 18) bt Chhattisgarh-61 (Dinesh Mishra 20, Kiranpal Singh 12) (22-17, 15-16, 23-11, 12-15)

Loser Knockout Semifinals

WOMEN

Bihar -64(Sravanthi 33, Priyanka 15) bt Haryana-38 (Garima 10) (11-15, 19-10, 18-6, 16-7)
Andhra Pradesh -54(Bhavani 25, Nagadurga 16) bt Himachal Pradesh-53 (Jyotika 16, Naina Devi 12) (13-14, 17-12, 10-8, 13-20)

Level 2 Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1)

MEN

Chhattisgarh-88 (Kiran Pal 29, Rudraksh 16, Dinesh 15) bt Madhya Pradesh -83 (Prakash Mishra 48, Narendra 9) [15-18, 18-17, 26-23, 29-25]

Loser Knockout Quarterfinals

MEN

Andhra Pradesh -73(Tharun Kumar 29, Naveen Kumar 20) bt Bihar-53 (Deepak Kumar 20, Dhiraj Rajan 10) [15-12, 19-8, 10-21, 29-12]
Chandigarh -65(Ravi Bhardwaj 22, Abhishek Rathi 13) bt Uttar Pradesh-59 (Pulkit Sachdeva 17) (22-14, 12-13, 13-16, 18-16)

WOMEN

Haryana -39 (Sanju 11) bt Uttarakhand-35 (Mehar Sandu 9) [10-8, 6-12, 16-10, 7-5]

Mysuru, 12th January 2016: Kerala women drubbed Maharashtra 65-35 for their 3rd straight victory in Group A and qualify themselves to the quarterfinals of the 66th senior national basketball championship here at Chamundi Vihar Indoor Stadium in mysuru. Kerala now has to meet Telangana for the final group match to decide the group winner.

In the league match today Kerala after leading 43-20 at the halftime with Jeena Ps again top scoring for Kerala with 25 points followed by S Anjana Pg with 13 and Stephy Nixon making 11 for Maharashtra Manisha top scored with 17 followed by International Shireen limayae making 13

In women division, there was an another upset as Telangana defeated Chhattisgarh 79-72 with sticking to their fast-paced style of play and knocking down their open shots. Despite last year’s MVP Poonam Chaturvedi putting up huge numbers with 46 points and 19 rebounds, For Telangana Keralite Anusha Anto put up a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds, including 9 offensive rebounds while Divya P. had a big game with 23 points. Then in other women match Indian Railways women remain unbeaten defeating last year’s runners-up Delhi with the score 83-33. Railways completely overpowered their undersized opponents, with forward Apoorva Muralinath leading the way with 20 points.

In men session, Utharkahnd beat Haryana 83-55 while Punjab again showed their class defeating Delhi with the score 99-89 remain unbeaten in the group while Karnataka men fall to DeComing off their first victory of the tournament against Haryana, failed against Delhi with the score 73-84 with forward Gopal Ram top scoring for Delhi with 33 points. On yesterday late match the Services team bounced back after their loss against Tamil Nadu with a comfortable victory against the Railways. Mayur Bhat, the Services sixth man, made a major impact off the bench as he turned the game to his team’s favour with his 20 points.

In the level 2 games yesterday evening, Gujarat men beat Uttar Pradesh in a hard-fought contest. Vinay Kaushik, Gujarat’s international player, led his team with 26 points as they clinched the top spot in Group E. In the other level 2 game yesterday evening, the Maharashtra men beat Jammu and Kashmir 66-54.

Level 2 qualifying matches also took place today. Gujarat continued their good form with a 75-56 victory against Rajasthan. West Bengal women also remained unbeaten in the tournament with a win against Odisha today, while the Rajasthan women defeated the Uttar Pradesh side.

Referees Clinic from 14th
Besides on-court action, the Basketball Federation of India in association with Karnataka State Basketball Association will also be organizing the FIBA Asia Development Plan – Referees clinic at the Chamundi Stadium, Mysuru from 14th to 16th January, 2016. This will be conducted by Mr. Heros Avanesian, Head of Competition – Asia, International Basketball Federation, FIBA Asia.

As per the FIBA Asia directives & guidelines, it is mandatory for all National and FIBA Active referees to participate in the clinic. Non-participants or referees who fail the tests will be deprived of officiating FIBA ASIA events.

Detailed Results Level 1

MEN

Delhi-84 (Gopal Ram 33, Parveen Dovan 22) bt Karnataka -73(Anil Kumar 24, Sashi Kumar 13, Sashi S. 12) (14-18, 28-18, 23-11, 19-26)
Services-78 (Mayur Bhat 20, Jairam Jat 20, Setu SM 13, Ashutosh Rai 13) bt Indian Railways-61 (Ajay Pratap Singh 14, Himanshu Sharma 12) [17-17, 11-20, 12-19, 21-22]
Indian Railways-94 (Somvier S. 21, Raj Kalbhor 15, Ajay Pratap Singh 14) bt Telangana -53(Harish N. 13, David Boon 12, Ambati Prudhvi Reddy 12) (23-19, 21-17, 25-11, 25-6)
Uttarakhand-83 (Murali Krishna 24, Trideep Rai 18, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 11) bt Haryana -55(N Narendran 16, V Virendar 9) [19-12, 30-16, 11-18, 23-9]
Punjab -99(TJ Sahi 24, Ranbir Singh Virdi 17, Gagandeep Singh 16) bt Delhi -89(Parveen Dovan 27, Gopal Ram 27, Sachin Sharma 15) 99-89 (22-25, 24-15, 20-29, 33-20)

WOMEN

Kerala-65(Jeena PS25,Anjanna PG13,Stephy Nixon11, Neenumol PS 8) bt Maharashtra -35(Manisha Dange17,Shireen Limaye13)
Indian Railways -83 (Appoorva Muralinath 20, Anitha Paul-Durai 14, Sitamani Tudu 10) bt Delhi -33(Pratima Singh 9) [6-12, 35-5, 23-14, 19-2]
Telangana-79 (P. Divya 23, Anusha Anto 19, Aishwarya Nataraj 18) bt Chhattisgarh 72(Poonam Chaturvedi 46, Saranjeet Kaur 18) (17-16, 15-22, 23-18, 24-16

Detailed Results Level 2

WOMEN

Uttar Pradesh -42(Vaishnavi Yadav 10, Shruti 9) bt Jammu and Kashmir -12(Pratibha 10) (10-6, 15-0, 14-3, 3-3)

MEN

Gujarat-78 (Vinay 26, Dhawal 14, Kasi Rajan 13, Harpal 10) bt Uttar Pradesh -71(Ashutosh 20, Ankur Anand 19, Bobby 16) [22-19, 12-11, 18-22, 26-19]
Maharashtra-66 (Loveneet 14, Pradeep Chavan 14) bt Jammu & Kashmir-54 (A Ranbir 18, D Iqbal 11) [19-16, 19-15, 16-13, 12-20]
Chhattisgarh -90 (Dinesh Mishra 34, Rudrashk Pandey 16, Rajesh 14, Kiran 11) bt Chandigarh -76 (Ravi 20, Bipin 19, Pulkit Sood 18, Gurinder Singh 15) [25-12, 26-20, 20-23, 19-21]
Bihar-62 (Yogesh Kumar 16, Hemnath Hooda 15, Deepak Kumar 12) bt Himachal Pradesh-43 (Deepak Thakur 14, Ashwani Kumar 14) (11-12, 8-15, 22-10, 21-6)

Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1)

WOMEN

Rajasthan – 77(Nisha 29, Surya 13, Kumud 12) bt Uttar Pradesh -67 (Vaishnavi Yadav 28, Shivani 12, Shruthi 9) (19-18, 21-18, 16-15, 21-16)
West Bengal – 76(Madhu Kumari 24, Anjana Dezy 17, Libin A. 17) bt Odisha-52 (Suvanki 18, Rajashree 12, Jayashree 12) (21-10, 22-9, 13-21, 20-12)

MEN

Gujarat-75 (Dishant Shah 19, Vinay Kaushik 12, Harpal 11) bt Rajasthan-56 (Kamran Khan 23, Saurabh Badaya 14) (25-6, 21-14, 10-16, 19-20)

Loser Knockout Quarterfinals

WOMEN

Bihar (Divya Pandey 17, GS Sravanthi 15) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Amarpreet Kaur 10) 55-21 (16-6, 8-5, 25-5, 6-5)

MEN

Maharashtra (Pradeep P. 32, Ajinkya Mane 17) bt Odisha (Lagnajeet 14, K. Sravan Kumar 11) 79-47 (20-15, 18-9, 22-12, 19-11)

KBA express its heartfelt condolences on passing of Mr. Shashidharan, (61 years),
KBA general council member of Mallapuram district, who expired on 11/Jan/2016.

Mysuru, 11th January 2016: It was a mixed fortune for Kerala on the third day as their women after the opening day win against the defending champions Chhattisgarh, registered another easy victory over a young and inexperienced Madhya Pradesh side with the score 57-31. JeenaScaria, one of India’s best players, shown her class today with 16 points followed by Stephy Nixon making 12 points. but the men went down to favorite tall and Mighty Tamil Nadu with the score of 46-73 after giving a fight only in the first quarter here for the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship for men and women here at Chamundi Indoor Stadium in Mysuru. The Chhattisgarh women also achieved back-to-back victories overwhelming Maharashtra by with a 27-point, the men’s home team registered their first victory of the tournament in dominant fashion against Haryana. Racing off to an early lead, Karnataka maintained a double-digit distance from Haryana throughout the game and ended up with a 92-73 victory. Centre AravindArumugam top scored with 33 points for the home team.

In the level 2 games in the men’s section, Gujarat went head to head against Maharashtra with both teams contending for a spot in the pre quarter-finals. Gujarat’s international guard VinayKaushikstarred in his team’s victory in an evenly matched game. KashiRajan, Gujarat’s point guard, also contributed majorly with 28 points, on 100% shooting from behind the arc. The Chandigarh men also made their push towards the pre-quarterfinals with an 88-59 victory against Puducherry. In the women’s level 2 section, West Bengal defeated Bihar by a massive 43 points while Rajasthan picked up an easy victory against Chandigarh.

Detailed Results Level 1

WOMEN

Telangana-66(Ramya 17, AnushaAnto 14, NatarajAishwarya 13) bt Maharashtra -53 (Sangeeta 16, ManishaDange 15) (17-14, 4-12, 24-13, 21-14
Kerala -57(Jeena PS 16, Stephy Nixon 12) btMadhya Pradesh-31 (RinchenBhutia 9, NimdoBhutia 9) [17-12, 18-8, 14-4, 8-7]
Chhattisgarh-72 (PoonamChaturvedi 23, SaranjeetKaur 17, SangeetaKaur 11) btMaharashtra-45(Sangeeta 13, ShireenLimaye 10, ManishaDange 10) [27-14, 18-10, 16-10, 11-11]
IndianRailways96(Navaneetha20,Rajapriyadarshini16, SruthiMenon13, SmruthyRadhakrishnan11)bt
Tamil Nadu-71(Ranjini Peter19, Varshanandini16, Soniya Joy13, Adhirai13)
Delhi—70(prasanthiongh20,raspreeth 20,prathima singh12) bt Punajab-56(Karamjeeth kaur19,Kirandeep kaur13,Niramal kaur10)

MEN

Karnataka -92(AravindArumugam 33, Anil Kumar 23, Sashi S. 13, Sashi Kumar 13) bt Haryana -73(Deepak 29, Vijender 18) (24-15, 38-27, 12-13, 18-18)
Tamil Nadu-73 (AravindAnnadurai 22, Pratham Singh 16, RikinPethani 14) bt Kerala -46(JishnuNiar 14, Jomon Jose 11) [15-13, 22-2, 24-17, 12-14]
Punjab – 65(Gagandeep Singh 16, Gurvinder Gill 13) bt Uttarakhand 57 (Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 18, Trideep Rai 12) (12-17, 13-11, 26-17, 14-8)

Detailed Results Level 2

WOMEN

Rajasthan -53(Nisha Sharma 25, Surbhi S. Nair 10) btChandigarh-27 (Neha 9) (21-7, 12-8, 13-12, 7-0)
West Bengal -73(Anjana D Ekka 20, Salama Devi 12, MadhuKumari 12) btBihar-30 (GS Sravanthi 14, PriyankaAmbade 10) [25-8, 20-3, 15-8, 13-11]
Haryana-42 (Garima 11, Preeti 8) btTripura -16(Cheshta 7) (7-4, 15-6, 13-5, 7-1)
Himachal Pradesh -41(Naina 9, Jyotiba 8) bt Jammu and Kashmir-10 (Diksha Gupta 6) (10-4, 19-4, 6-0, 6-2)
Bihar – 65(Sravanthi 35, Priyanka 12, Divya 10) bt Gujarat-45 (Patel 13, Dubey 10) [8-3, 9-11, 21-14, 27-17]
Odisha-59 (Rajashree 18, Urbasi Malik 17, Suvanki 10) bt Andhra Pradesh -33(Bhavani 10) [18-13, 12-6, 19-7, 20-7]
Chandigarh – 45(Akshitha 17) bt Uttarakhand-27 (Shailja Aswal 10) (11-5, 19-13, 8-5, 7-4)
Rajasthan -58 (Jyothi 14, Asha Nayak 13, Kumud Khatri 12) bt Goa-11 (Shaheen 3) (17-2, 14-0, 17-5, 10-4)
West Bengal – 66(Madhu Kumari 22, Anjana Dezy 15) bt Puducherry -22(Manjula 8) (21-6, 15-8, 6-2, 24-6)

MEN

Chandigarh -88(Ravi Bhardwaj 18, Kuldip Singh 16, SartajSandhu 14) bt Puducherry -59(Vinod 16) (20-18, 31-9, 23-21, 14-11)
Himachal Pradesh – 63(Ashwani D. 14, Pankaj D. 13, Anoop D. 10)btTripura-38 (Vikram S. 10) (17-14, 12-6, 14-7, 20-11)
Gujarat -78(Kashi 28, Vinay 18) btMaharashtra-66 (Paras 15, Ajinkya Mane 14) [19-17, 18-6, 16-23, 25-20]
Uttar Pradesh -65(Bobby D 17, Abishek F 14) btJammu & Kashmir -42(Shalinder 13, Iqbal 10) [42-11, 0-0, 10-8, 21-15]
Maharashtra -71(Umesh 13, Rohan 13, Anjinkya 12) btArunachal Pradesh-29 (Ashish 9) [21-9, 9-14, 26-0, 15-6]
Chhattisgarh -85(P. Rajesh 16, K. Shiv Kumar 16, Dinesh Mishra 11) btPuducherry -45(Poovanan 14, Vinod PG 9) (26-16, 20-13, 18-8, 21-8)
West Bengal -74(S. Joshi 18, M. Kaswan 17, A. Singh 14) btJharkhand-33(Rounak 8, Rajkumar 7, Allen 7)(21-15, 22-9, 17-6, 14-3)
Rajasthan-73 (Kamaram 16, SaurabhBadaya 12, Satwant S. Dhaliwal 8) btMizoram -27(Sonu Kumar 8, Vishesh 6) (28-12, 17-3, 17-7, 11-5)
Bihar -46(Dhiraj 17, A. Prata Singh 9) btTripura-33 (Vikram 14) (13-6, 8-5, 15-4, 10-15)
Odisha -72(SashiKanta 14, Ashok 9, P. Suresh 9) btGoa -49(Aaron G. 13, Charles 10, Shawn 10)
Madhya Pradesh – 88 (M Parkash 32, Mahendra 21) bt Andhra Pradesh -66(D Vikram 30, N Kumar 9) [27-23, 26-16, 23-14, 12-13]
Chandigarh – 86 (Ravi Bhardwaj 27, Gurinder G. 25, Kuldip K. 17) bt Odisha-70 (Sashikanta Mohanty 29, Ashok Kumar Nair 14, Sravan Kumar 13) (26-19, 24-22, 15-16, 21-13)
Rajasthan -56 (Govind D. Khoiwal 17, Partha Sarathi 12, Saurabh Badaya 11) bt Bihar-33 (Hemanth Yadav 19)56-33 (14-2, 17-9, 16-17, 9-5)
Himachal Pradesh-47 (Prashant 9, Anoop 8) bt Mizoram-18 (Kamant 10) (19-8, 15-3, 4-4, 9-3)

Kerala Women had Good Start with a win over defending Champion Chhattisgarh
Mysuru, 9th December 2016: Kerala women came out firing against the defending champions in a crucial Group A victory on the opening day of the 66th Junior National Basketball Championship here at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium in Mysuru, Karnataka. From the start both the teams went head to head as the Kerala team played aggressive man to man defense and were able to force a couple of turnovers which led them to major fast break opportunities in the third quarter to build a good lead. Jeena PS, one of the top Asian talents, led her team with a high scoring game of 21 points and was assisited well by Stephy Nixonand Neenumol scoring 12 points each . Delhi women spear headed Singh Sisters defeated Tamil Nadu 72-50

TN men beat new look Indian Railways line up
Tamil Nadu entered this tournament with a very strong line up of experienced international players. In the first half both teams were playing hard man to man defense as they limited each others’ scoring in the first half. A physical game throughout, Tamil Nadu’s star shooting guard Pratham Singh’s clutch three pointers were hard to stop as he was hot and loaded at the end of the half. In the other men’s Level 1 game, Services ran up a massive double digit lead against Telangana. Their faster tempo and pressure defense restricted young international talent Reddy from Telangana as he had given his best but was short in snatching their first victory.

In the lower Level 2 games, both Men’s and Women’s section teams were looking to do their best to book a spot in the pre-quarters of the main knockout competition. In the men’s section Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh played with aggression as they came ready to regain their spots in the Level 1 groups. In the women’s section Rajasthan and Odisha bagged themselves first wins. Tripura men, with their enthusiastic participation all the way from the north east, played two games in the morning session, losing the first but winning the second against another north-east team Mizoram.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah & Infosys Founder & Chairman Shri Narayana Murthy Guests present on the Inaugural Ceremony in the evening

During an evening inauguration ceremony marked by the presence of several distinguished guests, Shri K Govindaraj, MLC and President of BFI, welcomed the gathering. Introductory remarks were delivered by Shri Om Prakash, IPS and Chairman of the organizing Committee. Infosys co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Shri Narayana Murthy, who hails from Mysuru, conveyed his best wishes towards the successful conduct of the event “I’m absolutely delighted to inaugurate this Championship. For the mental and physical well-being of youth, right from school days, it is necessary to inculcate an active lifestyle. Such an atmosphere needs to created at home and in school.” said Shri Siddaramaiah

Other guests included government of Karnataka ministers Shri Dr HC Mahadevappa, Minister of Public Works Department and Shri Mahadeva Prasad (Minister of Co-Operation). Karnataka men’s international player Arvind conducted the oath taking ceremony.

Shri Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary General of the BFI, RS Gill, former BFI President and Teja Singh, President of Punjab Basketball Association were also present.

B Dayananda, IPS, Vice Chairman of the organising committee delivered the vote of thanks.

A traditional cultural programme followed, but not before CM Siddaramaiah knocked down a ceremonial freethrow.

Results on Day 1

Level 1

WOMEN

Kerala – 67(Jeena P S 21, Stephy Nixon 13, Neenumol P S 12) bt Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 16, Saranjeet Kaur 14, Sangeeta Kaur 14) –54 [16-11, 21-13, 14-18, 16-12]
Telangana- 73 (R Ramya 21, Anto Anusha 16, Divya P 14, Suganya L 10) bt Madhya Pradesh-42 (Pandey Sakshi 15, Bhutia Nimdo 13, Hooda Rimpy 8) [20-09, 15-05, 23-14, 15-14]
Delhi – 72(S Prashanti 19, S Pratima 16, S Raspreet 13) bt Tamil Nadu (Peter Ranjini 11, R Varshanandini 7) –50 [18-9, 16-15, 17-15, 21-11]

MEN

Services-95 (Jat Jairam 14, Singh Joginder 11, S M Setu 11, Singh Mahipal 11) bt Telangana-44 (Reddy Ambatty 9, Yadav Nihal 9, Yadav Shiva 8) [28-10, 21-13, 17-11, 29-10]
Tamil Nadu-71 (Rikin Pathani 18, Aravind A 15, Pratham Singh 14) bt Railways-44 (Palpreet Singh 13, Himanshu Sharma 10) [20-13, 11-17, 29-08, 11-06]
Haryana-75 (Virender 18, Deepak Rathee 14) bt Delhi (Pravin Davon 10, Ramesh Kumar 8) –54 [15-13, 19-16, 19-10, 22-15]
Level 2

WOMEN

Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 21, Asha Nayak 8) bt Uttarakhand (Bhavana Bisht 7) 42-16 [12-3, 10-4, 8-2, 12-7]
Odisha (Rajashreeswain 16, Promodini 6, Bhisnu Priya Malik 6, Sunanki 6) bt Tripura (Kajal 4) 52-11[12-00, 16-04, 08-04, 16-03]
Gujarat (Metha 13, Godhani 11) bt Puducherry (Suganya N 6) 42-18 [16-00, 08-04, 10-13, 08-01]

MEN

Odisha (Ashok Nayak 11, Sahid Khan 11, Sashikanta 9, Sravan Kumar 6) bt Puducherry (Hari Krishan 16, Vinod P G 12) 50-40 [11-10, 12-12, 12-14, 15-04]
Chhattisgarh (Dineah Mishra 19, Rudraksh Pandey 11, Ratat Srivastava 9) bt Goa (Bosco Furtado 11, Shwan Soares 10) 56-34 [17-09, 20-12, 10-04, 09-09]
Tripura (Vishal Vikram Singh 10, Vikram 8) bt Mizoram (Sudir 12) 31-14 [06-04, 09-03, 06-00, 10-07]
Rajasthan (Kamran Khan 13, Govind Khoiwal 13, Partha Sarathi 11, Hirendra 9) bt Tripura (Divya Lamba 6, Vishal Vikram 6) 62-17 [25-04, 08-04, 19-06, 10-03]
Gujarat (Goti 18, Dhawal 17, Dlshant 15 ) bt Arunachal Pradesh (Surit Singh 10) 82-32 [24-10, 16-10, 23-04, 19-08]
Andhra Pradesh (Kumar Naveen 30, Verma Kumar 11, Kumar Tharuna 9, Kumar Shiva 9) bt Jharkhand(Peter Allen 9, Jafry Jawed 8) 77-28 [25-12, 26-07, 16-05, 10-04]
Madhya Pradesh (M Prakash 47, R Mahendrasing 12, M Shubham 9) bt West Bengal (S Manpreet 24, J Sagar 11) 78-65 [32-09, 12-10, 13-16, 21-30]

Mysuru, 10th January 2016:Kerala beat Telangana 81-58 on the second day of the 66th Senior National Basketball , for men and women here at Chamundi Indoor Stadium in Mysuru R Manoj top scoring for Kerala with 19 points here for the followed by Eudric Perera scoring 12 and monish Wilson making11

In the women’s section, one of the tournament favourites, Indian Railways registered an easy win of 72-26 against Punjab. Forward Rajapriyadarshini top scored for the Railways with 15 points in a balanced team scoring effort. While the defending champion Chhattisgarh defeated Madhya Pradesh 84-60 with towering Poonam Chaturvedi, who put up the highest individual score of the tournament thus far with 52 points while Sakshi Pandey put in 18 points in the Madhya Pradesh loss..

Host Karnataka unlike their previous game against Punjab, where Karnataka played catch up the whole time, this time, the hosts led 38-32 at halftime against the seasoned Delhi women. Karnataka centre Kruthika, who has represented India in the past, was virtually unstoppable in the paint, scoring at ease. Kruthika came up with 27 points followed by singh sisters Prattma making 30 points and Prasanthi with 25 points Karnataka’s young leader Bhandavya also scored 16 in the losing effort

Telangana women maintained their winning streak as they beat Maharashtra 66-53 with the score . Ramya R led the team with 17 points followed by the malayalees Anusha Anto with 14 pts and jincy Philip scoring 10 for the victory

Favourites in the men section, Tamil Nadu made a huge statement in the tournament by overcoming the dangerous Services team with the score 83-59 . Aravind Annadurai, who is fast becoming a rising star in the Indian basketball circuit, led the team with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Services international player Narendar Grewal put up 16 points in a losing effort.

While another favourites Utharkahnd after trailing 27-32 came on to bet Delhi with the score 76-65

In the level 2 men’s section today, Maharashtra went head to head against Uttar Pradesh for a spot in the pre quarterfinals. Composed play from Maharashtra resulted in them being able to come back from behind to steal a victory against Uttar Pradesh 88-80 . Edwin Irvin the keralite top scored with 18 points in the Maharashtra win. In other level 2 games, Chhattisgarh men handily defeated Odisha 73-48 , while Rajasthan men got the better of Himachal Pradesh 84-59. In the women’s level 2 games, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal registered one-sided victories against Tripura and Gujarat respectively.

Results from Day 2

Level 1

WOMEN

Indian Railways (R Raja Priya 15, Sitamani 13) bt Punjab (Indu Kumari 6) 72-26 [26-05, 20-4, 14-15, 12-2]
Chhattisgarh(Poonam Chaturvedi 52, Sangeeta 8) bt Madhya Pradesh (Sakshi Pandey 18, Ringhen 15, Nimdo Bhutia 10) 84-60 (19-14, 25-21, 22-18, 18-7)
Punjab (Harjeet Kaur 21, Indu Kumari 11, Harpreet Kaur 10, Kirandeep Kaur 10)bt Karnataka (Bhandavya HM 21, Lopamudra J 18) 68-64 [19-02, 18-19, 16-23, 15-20]
Delhi-78 (Pratima Singh 30, Prashanti Singh25, Raspreet Sidhu 16) bt Karnataka -67(Kruthika 27, Bhandavya 16) [22-21, 10-17, 20-19, 26-10]
Thelengana-66 (R ramya 17, Anusha Anto15, Jincy Philip10)bt Maharstra- 53(Sangeetha Mandal16, MAnisha Dange15)

MEN

Kerala-81 (R Manoj 19, Basil Philip 12, Eduric Periera12, Monish Wilson11,Ashin Xavier 10) bt Telangana -58 (Boom M David 13, Yadav S Nihal 10, Reddy Ambati 8) 81-58 [19-14,24-16, 24-12, 14-16]
Tamil Nadu-83 (Aravind A 24, Rikin 15, Pratham Singh 11, Prasanna 11) bt Services -59(Narendar 16, Setu SM 14, Ashutosh Rai 10)
Punjab- 89(Gagandeep Singh 27, Talwinder Singh Sahi 21, Guvinder Gill Singh 18) bt Karnataka-76 (Aravind A 25, Anil Kumar BK 24, Sashi Kumar 12) [19-19, 21-19, 24-21, 25-17]
Uthar Khand- 76(Vishesh Brighuvanshi18,Trideep Rai17,Murali Krishna12) bt Delhi -65(Sachin19)
Level 2

MEN

Uttar Pradesh-61 (A Anand Singh 14, Bobby 6, Abhishek 6) bt Arunachal Pradesh -36(Ankit 6) [22-12, 10-08, 13-05, 16-11]
Chandigarh -85 (Kuldeep Singh 22, Raul Bhadwaj 17) bt Goa-56 (Marshal Shandu 15, Charles D Souza 13, Shawn Sonares 9) [24-16, 14-10, 30-22, 17-08]
Gujarat – 66 (Vinay 19, Harpal 10) bt Jammu & Kashmir-43 (Shubam 13) [24-16, 16-11, 13-08, 13-08]
Maharashtra- 88 (Edwin Irvin 18, Loveneet Ajwal 16, Pradeep Chavan 16) bt Uttar Pradesh – 80(Ankur Anand Singh 27, Ashutosh Ku Singh 15, Bobby Singh 14) [16-20, 25-19, 22-16, 25-25]
Madhya Pradesh – 51 (Harindra 10) bt Jharkhand-38 (Alen 13) (18-2, 19-12, 11-14, 3-10)
Puducherry-71 (Vinod 32, Harikrishna 11) bt Goa-64 (Shawn Soares 19, Charles D’Souza 8) (22-16, 20-5, 11-28, 18-15)
Chhattisgarh-73 (Kiran 23, Dinesh 12) bt Odisha-48 (Sahid Khan 10) (30-16, 20-15, 13-10, 10-7)
Rajasthan- 84 (Kamran 20, Dinesh 17, Govind 13) bt Himachal Pradesh-59 (Deepak 21, Anoop 16, Ashwani 9) (26-10, 20-14, 17-27, 21-8)
Bihar -69 (Yogesh Kumar 18, Hemant Hooda 16) bt Mizoram-38 (Vishesh 11) (23-5, 12-11, 18-11, 16-11)

WOMEN

Andhra Pradesh-32 (Nikita 10) bt Tripura -12(Chesta 6) (22-3, 6-2, 1-3, 3-4)
Bihar-47 (Shravanthi 32, Kritika 8) bt Puducherry-29 (Manjula 7) (11-10, 17-9, 16-8, 3-2)
West Bengal -64(Anjana 16, Salma Devi 15) bt Gujarat -12(Ria Dubey 4, Nidhi 4) (13-10, 21-0, 15-2, 15-0)
Haryana-50 (Sanju 13, Kafiu Jyoti 7) bt Andhra Pradesh -36(U Naga Durga 10) [10-13, 17-07, 14-06, 09-10]
Chandigarh -54(Sweety Rani 17, Pooja 10, Neha 7) bt Goa-32 (Shaheen Rebello 12) [5-19, 11-4, 20-01, 18-8]

Boy’s finish 4th
Tiruvalla January 7th 2016: Kerala Girls  took the Bronze medal as they  beat Maharashtra 61-46 while the boys Lost their  3rd Position Match to Punjab  81-87 in an evenly poised match rather can say after leading all the quarters then went down to Punjab here for the 61st National School Games U19 Basketball Championship at New Delhi, earlier In the Semi-finals Kerala boys lost to Chhattisgarh  55-81 while the Girls lost their match to Delhi withthe score 26-57

In an exciting quarter final Kerala Boys defeated Rajasthan 87-85 while the girls had an easy victory over Chhattisgarh with the score 72-22

Kerala School Under 19 team

Kerala team was  lead by Nivya Raj from St Michaels Kozhikode and Gineeb Benny from Little Flower HSS Koratty and was  coached by Winny Bestine from Little Flower Hss koratty and Sujitnh C Mandadan from St Josephs Kalady .the team as follows

U19 GIRLS

Nivya Raj(captian), Aswathy Jayasankar(St.Michales Kozhikode) Aiswarya Sabu, Rosemary Sajan, Lithara K C(Govt VHSS Kannur)Sneha Sebastian, Aleena Seby, Ann Treesa Seby(LFCHSS Koratty) Priyatha Devadas, Akhila Mohan(Presentation HSS Kozhikode) Sneha Thomas( Girideepam Kottayam) Gowripriya Satheesh(Mount Carmel HSS Kottayam) Winny Bestine(coach) Jyothirmayee K M(Manager)

U19 BOYS

Gineeb Benny(captian), Indian Nelson(LFCHSS Koratty), Harikrishnan Haridas, Alex Jose(St.Josephs HSS Pulicunoo), Jacob Jaimon, Akhil B(St.Ephrems HSS Mannanam)Amal Nair, Gokul G.( St.Josephs HSS Thiruvanathapuram) Shamil Shamsudeen(Donbosco Irinjalakuda) Gokul Gopinath(Girideepam Kottayam) Ebin wilson(GHSS Muppathedom) Santhosh P. Jiji(Cherupushpam HSS Chanadanakampara) Sujith C. Manadan(coach) Shaju A M(Manager)

DETAILED SCORES BRONZE GIRLS

Kerala -61(Nivyaraj 23,Lithara 11) bt Maharastra-46(shristi18,Rasika Pandey10) (20-9,12-8,11-14,18-15)

BOYS SEMI FINAL

Chattisgargh-55(Midhun21,Arwind12) bt Kerala-31(Gineeb Benny15,AmalNair11) (11-9,18-6,19-16,33-24)

GIRLS SEMI FINAL

Delhi-57(Pllavi Kumari16,Nishita Sabarval14,Sushanthika12) bt Kerala-26(Aswathi Jyasankar8) 13-4,17-9,16-4,11-9)

QUARTER FINALS BOYS

Kerala-87(Ebin Wilson24,Amal 14,akil 12) bt Rajasthan-85

QUARTER FINALS GIRLS

Kerala- 72(Nivyaraj38,) Chhattisgarh-22

LEAGUE ROUND BOYS

Kerala-55(Gineeb Benny14) bt Meghalaya – 4
Kerala-52(Jacob Anil10,Anil Nair10) bt Karnataka- 36)

LEAGUE ROUND GIRLS

Kerala- 38(Nivyaraj12) bt  Himachal Pradesh 14
Kerala- 40(Lithara12,Akhila Mohan10) bt Madhyapradesh 05

Thiruvalla ,6th January 2016 :Jenna PS and Albin Baby from Kerala State Electricity Board will lead Kerala Senior State Team at the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship for Men and Women to be held at Chamundi Vihar Stadium complex Mysuru from 9th to 16th January 2016.Kerala men is placed in Group.B along with Services ,Tamil Nadu, Railways and Telengana while women placed in Group A along with Chhattisgarh, Maharastra, Telengana nad Madhya Pradesh The team will be Coached by Antony Stephan (women) & Dimal C Mathew (Men) both from Kerala state Sports Council while Rinku Joseph from Alapuzha and M Chandran from Kasrgod will be the Managers in Women and Men respectievly . The team was selected after an 21 day camp at Kannur University Indoor Stadium (men) and women at Agricultaral College Indoor Stadium , Vellyanai, Thiruvanthapuram The 2014-15 edition was held in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, with Chhattisgarh women and Uttarakhand men being crowned champions.

WOMEN

Jeena PS (c) Stephy Nixon,,Anjanna P G ,Shilji George , Grima Merlin Baby (all from KSEB Thiruvanthapuram) Neenumol PS, Athira M, and Sonumol Soman (all from Kerala Police) Rhea Jinedran(Providence College Kozhkode) Minnu Marium Baby (Assumption College Kottayam) Aswathy S Thampu (St Josephs Irinjalakuda ) Chippy Mathew (St Xaviers College Aluva).

MEN

Eudric Perera, Basil Philip, Manoj R ,Monish Wilson, Robin S (all from Central Excise Kochi) Albin Baby(c) & Ashin Xavier (KSEB,Trivandrum ) Joemon Jose (Kerala Police) Abhijith Vijayan, & Jishnu G Nair (both from Mar Baselios Engineering College Thiruvanthapuram ) Akhil A R (Mar Ivanios Trivandrum) and Akshay Asok ( Nehru Arts and Science College Kanghagad).

About the Championship
The “City of Palaces” Mysuru appears all set to host the 66th Senior National Basketball Championship for Men and Women from 9th to 16th January 2016. The Chamundi Vihar Stadium complex, with its 2 indoor and 1 outdoor court will showcase the nation’s various state teams vying for the coveted title of National Champions.

The Karnataka State Basketball Association will be organizing the event under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India. Mysuru will be hosting the event after a gap of nearly 30 years. The last Senior National Basketball Championship to be held in the city was the 39th edition way back in 1987.

Over 140 matches will be played in this premier league cum knockout gala that will see the country’s top international stars in action. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Indian men’s teamcaptain), Anitha Paul Durai (veteran Indian women’s captain) Jeena PS (Kerala).

Another year has come to an end and every passing moment leads the countdown to 2016. But before we look ahead at the future, let’s look back and celebrate the past. Indian basketball’s stock has been rising exponentially for the last few years, and 2015 became one of the biggest years for the sport in the country so far.
 
There were several major individual success stories, crucial off-court developments, and national and international team triumphs over the past 12 months, news that has been good, bad, ugly, or inspiring. It was defiantly   a year to remember for India’s individual potential, as the big Punjabi Singhs – Satnam, Amjyot, Amrit Pal – took big strides to further their careers as professional players. Satnam Singh, the 7-footed teenage basketball phenom from Punjab in India, declared for the 2015 NBA Draft He was selected 52nd by the Dallas Mavericks. And played in the  NBA – D league. – Amrit Pal Singh and Amjyot Singh dominated Japan’s Summer League and, as a reward, were both signed by Tokyo Excellence of Japan’s Basketball D-League
 
Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian-origin to play in an NBA game, featuring in the dying seconds of the Sacramento Kings’ game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 7. 
 
Harshwardhan Tomar – a 14-year-old center/forward from Madhya Pradesh – joined the Stellazzurra Basketball Academy in Rome (Italy).He was the member of India’s U16 national team . If he performs will, he could land a full scholarship to study and play basketball in Italy on a long term basis.

Meanwhile, the NBA continued to expand its presence in India, while the UBA introduced themselves as new players in the puzzle. India’s international FIBA performances were a mixed bag, but even the positives abroad were overshadowed by drama at home, where the fighting factions of the BFI placed politics ahead of basketball. 

Six Indian coaches were chosen for Basketball Without Borders programme in South Africa by NBA  from July 29-August 1.and Jeevanraj Sebastian from CMI Publi School Thevara finds a place among them. Overall, the outlook for the future looks better than the past, and hopefully the smog of political drama can clear up so that Indian basketball can continue soaring higher in 2016. Happy New Year everyone!. 

The NBA in India partnered with ACG Worldwide Group to launch the ‘ACG-NBA Jump’ from October 26 in New Delhi. The programme is set to provide basketball players between the ages of 18-22 from around the country the opportunity to develop their skills and one top player from the programme would also receive the opportunity to attend the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) National Tryout in the United States Over three phases in the course of several months, the programme will choose the best players from six Indian cities, and then, sieve out the best from among the best to train him for the D-League tryout apart from NBA Jam and Reliance Foundation Jr NBA Programme

Our Players

Jeena PS along with Poojamol KS from Assumption College Changancherry ,Anjanna PG and Stephy Nixon from Kerala State electricity Board also Smruthy Radhakrishnan fron Southern Railway Thiruvanthapuram participated for India at the 2015 FIBA Asia Women’s Championship again in Wuhan (China). Mohammed Shiras from  St Ephremes HSS Mananam , Joshua J George from Sacred Heart CMI Public School  Thevara  represented India at  the 4th FIBA Asia U 16 Championship for Men  held in Jakarta ,Indonesia  from 29th October to 7thNovember 2015 .
 
Nimmy George  of St  Josephs College irinjalakuda , represented India and attend the Asian youth 3-on-3 basketball camp, being organised by the Olympic Council of Asia along with the Qatar Olympic Committee in coordination with FIBA.in Qatar.  In September 2015.

Let’s take a quick look  at the biggest Kerala Basketball stories in 2015.

Kerala women won the gold at the 35th National Games at Kannur Kerala on February as well as Calicut University of (Kerala) won the 2015 All India Inter University Basketball Tournament for Women on November 19 at New Delhi which they took after an gap of 12 years. Kerala Women also took silver at the 29th Federation Cup Basketball Tournament for Men and Women concluded at the Shiv Chhatrapati Krida Sankul in Mahalunge, Pune (Maharashtra), on Thursday, 2nd April ,2015. Our Junior Women team also grabbed the Bronze at the 2015 Junior (U18) National Championship in Ludhiana (Punjab) which concluded on October 9. 61st National School Games Championship held at Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh also saw Kerala Girls taking the Silver Medal in U- 17 Catogry .

Successfully for the Third year reliance foundation Jr NBA Programe the Grass root programme of Basketball run over 320 schools over It was a comprehensive basketball development program that imparts positive values of the sport to impact lives of the Indian youth which Enable the youth to learn and play basketball via in-school, after-school and competitive programs that Provide coaches/PE instructors with resources and turnkey curriculum which guides them to build and develop basketball within schools. Jeevanraj Sebastian from CMI Public School Thevara finds his place among the Six Indian coaches which were chosen for Basketball Without Borders programme in South Africa by NBA from July 29-August 1. He was able to witness an NBA Team at an Exhibition matchas well as his chance to train under NBA Coaches.

Presence of Internationals coaches from Jr NBA

The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program which has received an immense response in Kochi 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 two years, the programme reached more than one million youth in 1,000 schools in eight cities around the country. Now, the programme  which is running in 8 cities now end in Kerala  with the elite camp with more than 300 youths participated in two divisions U13 and U16 catogory and presence of Internationall Coaches from Jr NBA  Jadhe Leitto the professional from USA  and Joan Roacha professional from Portugal which were here in Kerala for 11 weeks along with Carlos the professional from Portugal the  Senior Operational Manager of NBA India has added colour to Kerala Basketball which  inspired the youth Basketballers  in Kerala

Weekend festival the new concept for promoting Basketball among Kids

It was an Newexperience as well as an introduction to Basketball for Kids in Kerala  has   Reliance Foundation and the National Basketball Association (NBA) begin this  Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Weekend festival, a fun-filled weekend basketball activity of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program  in  SN Public School, .Poothotta ,YMCA Alapuzha and Little Flower HSS Koratty more than 2500 kids under the age category of 10 have participated in this 1day festival which was  free for participants, boys and girls between  6-10 years age. This 1-day festival will have kids going through basketball skills challenge like passing, dribbling, shooting, footwork and gameplay.  Participants will have an individual score-sheet where their scores will be updated at the end of every drill. The festival, range will be split in three batches of two hours each.

Jeena P. S Top youngest player ay 2015 Senior Asian Women Championship

Performance of   Jeena PS, from KSEB Thiruvanthapuram  who scored 14.3 ppg for India also was the fifth Best Shooter and was one of the top young players at the 2015 FIBA Asia Women’s Championship again in Wuhan (China)..Her performance was the only positive sign or India as they fall to Level 2 Next year Coach Garcia left India after this tournament. 

Sreekala R the Under 16 Most valuable Player Award

Sreekala  from St Gorettis School Thiruvanthapuram  along with the 22 campers and four coaches attended  the 1st Reliance Foundation JR NBA Elite National Camp with lot of rich experience and happy memories She was  chosen her the most Valuable Player Award which fetch her an Nike Shoe a Basketball and a Bag  She competed here  as part of the BFI chosen kids along with the 140 chosen from other cities  earlier she was also adjusted as the Most Valuable Player of 2014 sub Junior National championship .This  has got a Major attraction as she receive the same from the NBA’s first Indian-origin player Sim Bhullar – who is in India for a promotional and personal trip.

Basil Philip Represented India at 3on 3 world tour in China
Basil Philip from Central Excise Kochi along with Rajesh Uppar, Siddhant Shinde, Jeevanantham  participated  in the Beijing Masters leg of the 3×3 FIBA World Tour 2015 held on 15th-16th August in China. Fresh off their recent South Asian 3×3 qualifiers win in Colombo with his captaincy,

Our Coaches
Sebastian PJ of Kerala State Sports Council was one of the Coaches at Asia’s biggest Men’s basketball tournament – the FIBA Asia Championship in Changhsa, China –India ended the tournament with something to smile about, too. Behind Amjyot Singh’s breakout dominant performances, India made the quarter-final stage for the first time after 2003 and finished at an encouraging 8th place

P C Antony of Kerala State Sports Council was one of the coaches who Bring Calicut University the All India Champions after a gap of 16years

Aju Jacob from Kerala state electricity Board was one of the coaches of Indian U 16 Team that Participated in 4th FIBA Asia U 16 Championship for Men  held in Jakarta ,Indonesia  from 29th October to 7thNovember 2015 .
 
Manoj Xavier from St Josephs School Thiruvanthapuram and Sudheer  from  Kozikode  was instrumental when Kerala Girls took the Silver Medal at the 61st National School Games Championship held at Rajnandgaon,,Chhattisgarh from 20th to 24th November, 2015.

Winny Bestine the Coach from little Flower HSS Koratty  the cradle of Kerala Basketball was chosen as the Best Physical education teacher from 320 schools from the Reliance foundation Jr NBA Camp  programme 2015 he was Instrumental in bringing Gold for Kerala Girls at the 41st   Sub Junior National Championship held at Naskik in Maharashtra on 28th November 2014

Obituary

KERALA BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION LOST THE FOLLOWING STALWARTS DURING 2015.

1. Sri. Soma Roy- 76 years – Former President Idukki DBA & Vice President KBA – 29-01- 2015 (Trivandrum)

2. Tino Thomas Mathew- 30 years- Youth Captain, KBA Referee – PDBA Coach 22-04-2015 (Kuriyannoor)

3. Thomas Mathew -74years – Vice President KBA, Hony. Seretary, Ernakulam DBA 12-06-2015 (Aluva)

4. George Cheriyan – 75 years- Chief Engineer- State & University Player – 22-06- 2015 (Trivandrum)

5. Abhishek Sasi – 28 years- BFI Referee & Coach. 17-07-2015 (Trivandrum)

6. P.K. Chacko- 84 years- National Referee & Chairman Referees Board 05-11-2015 ( Kottayam)

7. Prof. P.O. John- 81 years National Referee & Chairman Referees Board 16-11-2015 (Thiruvalla)

KBA’s Heartfelt condolence

Sri Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan Hon’ble Minister for sports distributed DD of Rs. 4, 42,751/- collected by Kerala Basketball Association to kumari Adhithya D/o Abhishek. Sri. Abhishek Sasi BFI referee who lost his life while trying to rescue 4 students at Kovalam sea on 17-07-2015.

Thiruvalla: Mr PO John–more endearingly called Mr Johny by his peers and dears–formerly basketball BFI Referee, Coach, Player, State Basketball Referees Board Secretary, Vice-President, Kerala Table Tennis Association and Head & Professor, Dept of Physical Education, Titus II Training College, Thiruvalla, succumbed to illness at his residence in Kizhakkanmuttor, Thiruvalla on Tuesday 16 December. His mortal remains will be laid to rest at Sehion Marthoma Church, Varikkat, Thiruvalla, on Saturday 19 December at 12 noon.

An apostle of basketball, Mr John popularized and promoted the game in and around Thiruvalla, starting from the grassroots level, by organizing a number of inter-collegiate tounaments.  A referee of stature on par with the veterans like Mr CS Abraham, Mr Viswappan and Mr PK Chacko, he electrified the court with his quick and dazzlings moves to all the flash points on the court in every neck and neck fight. It was a sight to see him in action.
His organizational skill witnessed the conduct of a number of tournaments, including the prestigious Mar Thoma Trophy, that emptied the entire town and its neighborhood into the playgrounds. It is worth noting that as early as the 1970s he could organize the Senior State Basketball Championships in Thiruvalla on three Flood-lit courts temporarily built for this purpose.

A man of parts, Mr John excelled in music to form a choral society christened as Male Voice and served as its President till recently. A founder-member of YMCA Thiruvalla, he served as its President, and Chairman for Sports and Games several terms. He was also the first President of Thiruvalla Sports Coaching Centre.
Mr PO John accompanied Kerala and Mahatma Gandhi University teams as Manager and Member of Selection Committee in various Intervarsity and National Championships. He is survived by his only son Dr Oommen John while his beloved wife, Rachel John, former Principal of Titus II Training College, and daughter Sherin Ajith left him for their eternal reward a few years ago.

60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium Kanhangad

Ernakulum Men and Thiruvanthapuram Women
Anchored by Three Senior Internationals Jeena PS, Anjana P G and Stephy Nixon Thiruvananthapuram defeated Palakkad 57-44 retain the Women title similarly Ernakulum retained the Men title defeating Kozhikode took the of the 60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women here at the GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium Kanhagad.

Thiruvanthapuarm which lead 39-28 at the half time was top scored by Stephy Nixon with 18 points followed by Jeena PS with 17 and for Pallakad Athira was the top scorer with 18ponts.

In Men division, Ernakulum spearheaded with the experience players from Customs and central Excise Kochi defeated the young outfit of Kozhikode which had with the major contribution from Mar Baselios college of Engineering with the score 54-38 with International basil Philip making 18 points for the victory.

Bronze for Thrissur women and Thiruvananthapuram Men

Thiruvananthapuram Men defeated Kottayam 46-32 while Thrissur women beat Kozhikode 50-45 to secure the Bronze position.

2015-International Players and Coaches honored

Kerala Basketball Association today honored the 2015 international Players as well as the coaches at a function here at GVHSS ground during the State Senior Basketball Championship. The coaches include Sebastian P J who represented India at the 26th FIBA Asia championship for men at Chansha in china and Aju Jacob who went with the U16 team at the 4th FIBA Asia ChamionshipU16 in jakartha Indonesia 2015. The Players who honored includes Jeena P.S, Stephy Nixon, Anjana PG, Poojamol KS (26th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women, 2015in when China) Basil Philip who captained Senior Indian team in 3on3 world tour Beijing China as well as 3×3 SABA qualifying round at Colombo. Muhammed Shiras and Joshua J George (4th FIBA Asia ChamionshipU16 in jakartha Indonesia 2015).Kerala Basketball Association also honors the members of Calicut university team and his coach PC Antony for bringing the All India University title to Kerala after a gap of 12 years. U16 school team which were the runner-up in School Nationals was also felicitated.

P K Parmeswaran Pillai Memorial Cash Award

Cash award Instituted in memory of P R Parameswaran Pillai the 1st General Secretary of Kerala Basketball association went to Rahul Sharath of Kozhikode and Arathy M of Pallakad

P S Viswappan Memorial Gold Medal

PS Viswappan Gold Medal instituted in memory of PS Viswappan former International referee and Coach to the Best Men and Best women Player went to Jeena P S (Thiruvananthapuram) who was the 3rd Best Shooter of the Asian Championship 2015 and Basil Philip( Ernakulum) who captained India at the 3on 3 Asian championship 2015.

DETAILED SCORES WOMEN FINAL

Thiruvanthapuram – 57 (Stephy Nixon18, Jeena PS17, Anjanna PG12) bt Palakkad – 44 (Athira M14)

DETAILED SCORES MEN FINAL

Ernakulum – 54 (basil philip18) bt Kozhikode – 38 (Ajith VG12)

BRONZE MEDAL MATCH MEN

Thruvanthapuram – 46 (Ashin Xavier 12, Tony Mathew11) bt Kottayam – 32 (Abhilash12)

BRONZE MEDAL MATCH WOMEN

Thrissur – 50 (Grima Merlin Baby22, Rojamol 11) bt Kozhikode – 45 (Mayuka15, Rhea Rajendran)

WOMEN SEMI FINAL

Thiruvanthapuarm – 63 (Jeena PS16, Anjanna PG16) bt Kozhikode – 34 (Rhea rajendran 10)
Palaakad – 53 (Ashey Mathew16, Neenumol PS16) bt Palakkad – 43 (Asawthy S Thampy15)

MEN SEMI FINAL

Ernakulum – 49 (Manoj R14, Monish Wilson13, Eudrick Pereira10) bt Thiruvanthapuram – 45 (Albin Baby12, Tony K Mathew 11)
Kozhikode – 54 (Jishnu G Nair19, Ajith VK 14) bt Kottayam – 47 (Robin s14, Sudharshan11)

QUARTER FINAL WOMEN

Thiruvanthpuram – 58 (Jeena PS21, Anjanna PG13) bt Kottayam – 41(ArathyVimal15, NishiMarium Baby10, Minnu Marium baby10)
Palakkad – 69 (Surya PR25, Neenumol PS15, Athira10) bt Kollam – 53 (Merlin Baby14, Sonumol Soman14, Anjnna PG13)
Kozhikode – 35 (Rhea Raendran12) bt Kannur – 20
Thrissur – 41 (Grima10, Roja10) bt alapuzha – 15

60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium Kanhangad
Defending champions Thiruvananthapuram will take on Palakkad in the women division which will be a repeated last year while I men division defending champion Ernakulum will take on Kozhikode in the Final of the of the 60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women at the twin Basketball courts of the GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium here at Kanhangad.

In men section 1st Men semi-final the fight between two professional sides ended up Ernakulum the team which had major participation from Customs and central excise defeated Thiruvananthapuram contribution from KSEB 49-45 while in the second semi-final it was a fight between the two younger sides ended up with Kozhikode making a final in the senior division after a long interval defeated, Kottayam with the score 54-47

In the women division, Thiruvananthapuram which had in the rank three internationals Jeena Stephy and Anjana defeated Kozhikode n63-34 while the second semifinal Palakkad defeated Thrissur 53-43 to reach the final

Earlier In the quarter final matches, Thriuvanthaurm women defeated Kottayam 58-41 while in an exciting women quarterfinal Pallakad has to fight against Kollam before winning the matches at69-53

In men division quarterfinal matches defending Champion Ernakulum defeated Kasargod 72-59, Thiruvanthapuram beat Pathanamthitta 42-22, Kottayam beat Alapuzha 67-54, Kozhikode beat Thrissur 69-56 to complete the Semi-final Lin- up

Kerala Basketball Association to Honor 2015 Internationals

Kerala Basketball Association will honor the Coaches as well as the International Participants of Kerala in the Year 2015 on the Final day of the State Senior Basketball Championship here at Govt Vocational HSS in South Kanghagad, Also, will be honoring the All India Inter University Champions Kozhikode University

DETAILED SCORES WOMEN SEMI FINAL

Thiruvanthapuarm – 63 (Jeena PS16, Anjanna PG16) bt Kozhikode – 34 (Rhea rajendran10)
Palaakad – 53 (Ashey Mathew16, Neenumol PS16) bt Palakkad – 43 (Asawthy S Thampy15)

DETAILED SCORES MEN SEMI FINAL

Ernakulum – 49 (Manoj R 14, Monish Wilson13, Eudrick Pereira10) bt Thiruvanthapuram – 45 (Albin Baby12, Tony K Mathew 11)
Kozhikode – 54 (Jishnu G Nair19, Ajith VK14) bt Kottayam – 47 (Robin s14, Sudharshan11)

QUARTER FINAL WOMEN

Thiruvanthpuram – 58 (Jeena PS21, Anjanna PG13) bt Kottayam – 41 (ArathyVimal15, NishiMarium Baby10, MinnuMarium baby10)
Palakkad – 69 (Surya PR25, Neenumol PS15, Athira10) bt Kollam – 53 (MerlinBaby14, Sonumol Soman14, Anjnna PG13)

QUARTER FINAL MEN

Thrivanthapuram – 42 (Tony Mathew12) bt Pathanmthitta – 22
Ernakulum – 72 (Manoj r29, Monish Wilson10) bt Ksrgod – 59 (Abhijith21)
Kozhikode – 69 (Arun17, Abijithvijayan15, Ajith10) bt Thrissur – 56 (Sijomathew13,Abdul12)
Kottayam – 67 (SohulKlal19, Arunbabu15, ArunAlexander12) bt Alapuzha – 54 (Subash J Shenoy15, Jomon jose12)

Victory for Kollam and Ernakulam Men Quarter Finalist Spotted in Women
In two Exciting matches of the day in Group A and Group B men division defending Champions Ernakulum after trailing 30-36 at the half time came on to beat Alapuzha 64-53 while in a group B match Kollam who lost to Thiruvananthapuram on yesterday today in an exciting encounter defeated Kozhikode 61-56 here for the 60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women at the twin Basketball courts of the GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium here at Kanhagad.
In women section quarter finalist were Spotted ?last year champions Thiruvananthapuram along with Alappuzha from group A Palakkad and Kannur from B, Thrissur and Kottayam from C , Ernakulum and Kozhikode from D confirmed the quarter final line up

On the second day in women section defending champion Thiruvananthapuram anchored by internationals Jeena P S and Anjana P G had no difficulty in beating Wayanad 46-12 while Kottayam beat Malappuram 53-13

In Men division in the morning Thrissur beat Wayanad 37-23 , Idukki beat Kannur 78-50 and on late yesterday matches Ernakulum beat Pathanamthitta 59-41 and Thiruvananthapuram beat Kollam 60-52

DETAILED SCORES MEN

Idukki – 78 (Aswin Binu17, Abhilash13) bt Kannur-50(Shajahan14, Muhammed F11, Muhammed R10)
Thiruvananthapuram – 60 (Albin Baby18, Ajeeth Sygnana16) bt Kollam-52(RahulKrishna19, VijobiVakkachan15)
Ernakulum – 59 (Bony Mathew15, Manoj r10) bt Pathanamthitta – 41(Akhil AR11)
Ernakulum – 64 (Eudrick perera16, Shinumon Augustine10, Nikhil KR10)bt Alapuzha – 53 (jomon Jose24)
Kollam – 61 (Sreejith15, Vineeth mohan11, Vijobi Vakkachan11) bt Kozhikode – 44 (Arun14, Jishnu G Nair13)
Thrssur – 37 (Rijas11) bt Wayand – 23 (ashlySabu10)

DETAILED SCORES WOMEN

Thiruvanthapuaram – 46 (Anjanna PG11, Amrutha EK10) bt Wayanad-12
Kottayam – 35 bt malapuram13

P C Antony Honored
P C Antony who will ?retiring from Kerala State Sports Council on January 31st after? a successful ?16th ?years of Service ?The man
who recently took the Kozhikode University to ?an? All India Title after a gap of 12 years was honored today by the Trikkaripur MLA P Kunjiraman at the venue of the? Kerala ?
State Senior Basketball Championship He was one of the two only FIBA level 2 coaches ?from ?Kerala He was also instrumental in bringing Kerala Bronze in the recently concluded youth ?National Championships?, he also served as the Head coach ?for ?the Indian U19 junior team that participated in the Asian Championship in Jordan and also ? the ?asst coach with the India?n? Boys ?U?18 team in 2002 ?at the Asian Basketball Championship ?apart from the several national Championships

60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium Kanhangad
Kozhikode women entered the semi-final as they beat Kannur 35-20 and will take on the winners of Thiruvanthapram and Kottayam while Thrissur beat Alapuzha 47-15 to meet the winners of Kollam and Palakkad in the semi-final here for the 60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women at the twin Basketball courts of the GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium here at Kanhangad..the men quarter-final will take on Monday morning and all semi-finals will play in the evening

In men division Host Kasargod along with defending Champion Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Kozhikode and Kannur completed the Quarter Final Line-up

On the third day league matches in women section defending champion Thiruvananthapuram had no difficulty in defeating Alapuzha 54-16 to top Group A while Kollam with veteran stars Anjana SS and Soniya defeated Ernakulam 53-32 to make themselves qualify for the quarter final along with Kozhikode from Group D, and from Group C Palakkad and Kannur and from C Thrissur and Kottayam completes the lineup of Quarter-final Complete.

In men division, two exciting matches in Group B were the last year runner up Thiruvananthapuram lost an exciting to Kozhikode with the score 66-65 in a match which went on for two extra periods and top the group while in another group match Kottayam beat Kollam 78-58 to make the quarter final

DETAILED QUARTER FINAL WOMEN

Kozhikode – 35 (Rhea Raendran12) bt Kannur – 20
Thrssur – 41 (Grima10,Roja10) bt alapuzha – 15

LEAGUE MATCHES

Kasargod – 86 (Akshi31,Abijith16) bt Kannur – 67 (Shajahan20)
Thrssur – 50 (Rijas10) bt Malapuram – 19
Thiruvanthapuram – 61 (Arjun GK21, Albin Baby13) bt Kottayam – 59 (Robin17, Sugeethnth11)
Pathanmthitta – 45 (Akhil10) bt Palakkad – 24
Kottayam – 78 (Sugeetnath 18, RobinS15, Arun Alexander13, sohul Lal 12) bt Kollam – 58(Jerald titus14, Rahul Krishna11, Sreejith10)
Ernakulum – 37 (Manoj R12, shinumon Augustine10) bt Palakkad – 18
Alapuzha – 64 (Subash J Shenoy25, jomon Jose19) bt Pathanamthitta – 54(AkhilAR10, PremPrakash10, Sumesh10)

WOMEN

Thiruvanthapuaram – 54 (Jeena PS17, Anjanna PG11) bt Alapuzha-16
Thrssur – 56 (Grima Merlin26) bt Kottayam – 47 (Minnu Marium13, Arathy Vimal10)
Kollam – 53 (Anjanna SS13, Merlin13, Sonia10) bt Enakulum – 32Vinaya Jseph14, Sruthi12)

Tomorow Morning Men Quarterfinal all Semifinals in the evening

60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium Kanhangad
60th Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women was inaugurated today at the twin Basketball courts of the GVHSS Flood Lit Stadium here at Kanhagad by E Chandrasekharan MLA. This five-day championship will be played on league cum knock out Basis

On the opening day, Alappuzha team had a good run as their men defeated Palakkad 87-66 and Malappuram beat Wayanad 35-22while their women beat Wayanad 24 -10 while in another exciting match in men section Kozhikode beat Kottayam65-43 while Palakkad women defeated Kannur 49-21

DETAILED SCORES MEN

Alappuzha -87 (Jomon jose24, Subash J Shenoy21, Mansoor Ahamed15) bt Palakkad – 66 (Muhammed21, Shabu Kumar20Shan Shoukathali15)
Malapuram – 35 (baluraj13, Jishth J Nair11) bt Wayanad – 22
Kozhikode – 65(Abhijith Vijayan20, Ajith Vk15) bt Kottayam – 43 (Arun Alexander15)

DETAILED SCORES MEN

Palakkad – 49 (Agnes Davis15, Debona13) bt Kannur – 21
Alapuza – 24 (Jincy v10) bt Wayand – 10

A close-fought win in the final handed Calicut University of Malappuram (Kerala) the 2015 All India Inter University Basketball Tournament for Women title on Thursday, November 19. The tournament was held at the Jamia Hamdard University in New Delhi.

This was Calicut’s first victory in this tournament after a gap of 13 years. The final was a well-contested matchup between Calicut and Hindustan University (Chennai). Calicut led 34-27 at halftime and kept up their close advantage to end the game with a 60-54 win. Aswathy S Thampy scored 22 for Calicut, while Elizabeth Hilarious added 16. Hindustan’s leading scorer was Sruthy, who had a team-high 18 points in the loss.

Under 16 runner up Kerala Schools Team

Mohammed Shiras from  St Ephremes HSS Mananam , Joshua J George from Sacred Heart CMI Public School  Thevara  along with Aju Jacob from Kerala State Electricity Board ,Thiruvanthapuram  as Asst Coach of the Team  will be representation from Kerala  in the  Indian contingent   for the 4th FIBA Asia U 16 Championship for Men   to be held in Jakarta ,Indonesia  from 29th October to 7th November 2015 .

India is placed in the strongest Group D along with the defending champion China ,Korea  and Iraq . India will take on China on the Opening match on 29th Oct 2015 Apart from India, Bahrain, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam

Jeena PS , Stephy Nixon, Anjanna P G from Kerala State Electricity Board, Poojamol K S from Assumption College Changanacherry  and R K Smruthy from Southern Railways  Thiruvanthapuram are the Keralites along with Apporva Muaralinath, Indian Railways  whose Mother hails from Kerala  have  found  their place in the final 12 of the Senior Women Team for 26th FIBA Asia  Championship for Senior women at Wuhan in China from 29th August to 2nd September 2015 This younger  team averaging 21-22 years  will be headed by the  head Coach Francisco Javier Garcia from Spain assisted by Dhyan chand Awardee Aparna  Ghosh from Indian Railways  and lead by Anitha Paul Durai the Senior Most Player in the side other members are Shirine Limaye(Maharashtra) Rajapriyadarshini (Indian Railways) Sitamani Tudu (Indian Railways ) Kavitha Akula (Chhattisgarh) Bhandavya HM (Karnataka) .India will take on Chinese Taipei on 29th August in their opening encounter . Indian team will be leaving today

For Smruthy this will be her 3rd Championship and for Jeena and Stephy this is the second time that they are Participating in a Senior Asian Championships apart from Senior Asian Games 2014 along with Poojamol KS . For Anjanna this will be her maiden Senior Indian Cap
The team definitely Miss the Service of Arjuna Awardee’ Geethu Anna Rahul  (Anna Jose) who came as the top scorer in Asian Championship twice in 2007 at Incheon,2009 in Chennai She was  our main player in India  in fact we don’t have a real substitute for her till now said  Garcia who was coaching this side for the past five weeks. He is  the man who led the women’s team to a fifth and the best ever finish in the ABC 2013,  He who have to put up a good show despite everything that’s going on around them .

.”We would have liked some international exposure,” said Garcia.. but “With the infighting in the national federation going on stronger and stronger and without financial support either from Govt nor from IMG Reliance    it hasn’t been easy to arrange any foreign exposure trips they need against women from other countries before the championship  . Instead, the team will play against men now. ?We have to make do with what we have.

“We want to play friendlier matches against men mainly because the opponents we will face in Wuhan are physically strong and quick. Here only the men can offer us that level of competition,” the coach added another  major problem with the women  here is the lack of fitness which we have missing this time with the absence  of strength and conditioning coach Tommy Heffelfinger, who played a vital role in keeping the women fit for major tournaments.

But the coach is  confident of an impressive finish at the ABC. “Our goal obviously is to stay in Level I. We need to beat Thailand which is ranked one down than us because beating China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei is not an easy task as they are from another basketball galaxy

• Jeena hails from Wayand  is playing in the centre as well as forward position , came to KSEB from Sports Hostel Kannur and V K Krishnamenon College Kannur represented Senior India in 25th Asian Championship at 2013 in Bangok , 2014 Asian Games in Beiging  and Lusofonia Games at Goa

• Stephy Hails from Koratty  is playing in the centre  position came through Centralised Sports Hostel Kollam and Assumption College Changancherry before Joining KSEB Kannur represented Senior India in 25th Asian Championship at 2013 in Bangok , 2014 Asian Games in Beiging  and Lusofonia Games at Goa

• Poojamol hails from Kottayam Playing as the playmaker came through Mount Carmel HSS Kottayam is the Youngest of the lot now Joined Assumption College Changancherry , she Missed the 2nd Camp due to Injury she sustained during the Junior Nationals in Kochi but was called back by Coach Garcia for the final camp Kannur represented Senior India, 2014 Asian Games in Beiging  and Lusofonia Games at Goa

• Smruthy hails from Vadakara playing as the forward came through Centralised Sports Hostel in Kollam along with now working in Southern Railway in Chennai Kannur represented Senior India in 24th Asian Senior Championship at Omura Japan ,25th Asian Championship at 2013 in Bangok , Captained 2014 Asian Games in Beiging  and Lusofonia Games at Goa

• Anjanna  P G  who hails from Kollam as the forward came through Centralised Sports Hostel in Kollam was her Maiden appearance

“It is the best 15 in my opinion. We have a good balance for every position.” Coach Garcia said after the final selection. “I didn’t have any trouble with respect to coaching these players. I am focused on working with the team. In Bengaluru, there have been fewer administrative deficiencies
Air Asia will be sponsoring the Indian team’s participation at the event. Basketball Federation of India President Shri K Govindaraj distributed the team kits and thanked Mr Mittu Chandilya, AIR Asia MD and CEO, who personally graced the occasion, for his support to India Basketball. Addressing the players he said, “We all have put in a lot of effort in the training camp. Now it is up to you to bring laurels to the country. I wish all the players, coaches and manager all the best.”
.”
INDIAN SQUAD FOR THE 26TH FIBA ASIA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP 2015

• Team Manager: Mr. Rajendar Manthani

• Team Physio: Mr. Radha Krishna Reddy

• Coach: Mr. Francisco Garcia

Learning Basketball the NBA Way – 60 Trainers In Thiruvanthapuram received training from NBA’s International Basketball Operations staff at Central Stadium Thiruvanthapuram
More than 60 Physical education teachers from the District of Thiruvanthapuram with support from thiruvanthapuram Basketball Association  have got their chance to  get training from the Professional of  NBA Carlos Barocca the NBA Chief Operational  Manager and Joan Rocha the Professional Player and Coach of Jr NBA from Portugal as they assembled at Central Stadium in Thiruvanthapuram  in connection with the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program in Kerala .The Participatants  have received Basketball Bags,Taining Carriculam and other equipments to use for Training from NBA

Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program, a comprehensive youth basketball initiative that applies the values of basketball to positively impact the lives of Indian boys and girls, expects to engage more than 1.5 million boys and girls and 2,700 physical education instructors and coaches in 2015-16.  It was  tipped off  in Kerala at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi  last week with more than 250 PT Teachers Participated in the  “Train The Trainers´ programme  which now running successfully in the District of Ernakulum ,Kottayam , Thrissur and PAathanmthitta ,Kozhikode ,Malapuram ,kannur then now  in Thiruvanthapuram at Central Stadium .In Kerala 340 schools have  Participating

Returning for the third consecutive year, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program will nearly double its number of participating cities, expanding from eight to 14.  The program will take place in Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kottayam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad and will run from September 2015 to March 2016.

The program, which remains free for participants, will include a train the trainer initiative for local coaches, in-school basketball clinics, elite training camps and finals in each city featuring 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 competitions.  NBA International Basketball Operations staff will be based in each of the cities for three months to oversee the program.  Each participating school will receive essential equipment to encourage and facilitate participation among its students, including an India-specific coaching guide with curricula for in-school and after-school programs, basketballs, cones, and a Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA poster.  In addition, each participating city will host three youth oriented basketball festivals featuring mini hoops for kids aged 6-10.

“We are delighted that the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program is expanding to more cities and reaching more children,” said Reliance Foundation Spokesperson.  “This program has used the sport of basketball to greatly impact the lives of Indian children.  We are grateful to the NBA for sharing their world-class expertise and resources, and to the schools, coaches and physical education instructors who continue to support this initiative.”

MUMBAI, Sept. 28, 2015 – Reliance Foundation and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced today that the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program, a comprehensive youth basketball initiative that applies the values of basketball to positively impact the lives of Indian boys and girls, expects to engage more than 1.5 million boys and girls and 2,700 physical education instructors and coaches in 2015-16. The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program focuses on inspiring youth to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle by integrating basketball into the physical education curriculum of each of the 2,200 participating schools. Returning for the third consecutive year, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program will nearly double its number of participating cities, expanding from eight to 14.

The program which is running in Kerala with active support from Kerala Basketball Association has more than 340 schools taking part. The Programme which started with 100 schools in Kochi and Kottayam in the First year have increased to 150 schools in the Next year which is now the 3rd ‘zjkjk2w4

The successive year with 340 school which includes 45 schools each from Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram apart from Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad and will run from September 2015 to March 2016.

“We are delighted that the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program is expanding to more cities and reaching more children,” said Reliance Foundation Spokesperson. “This program has used the sport of basketball to greatly impact the lives of Indian children. We are grateful to the NBA for sharing their world-class expertise and resources, and to the schools, coaches, and physical education instructors who continue to support this initiative.” “The Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program continues our goal of providing Indian youth with a platform to stay active and learn the values of basketball, including leadership, teamwork, and healthy living,” said NBA India Vice President & Managing Director Yannick Colaco. “On the heels of Sim Bhullar becoming the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA and Satnam Singh becoming the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the NBA, children in India are as excited as ever about trying the game, and the growth of our program will ensure we get basketballs in the hands of even more boys and girls across the country.” The program, which remains free for participants, will include a train the trainer initiative for local coaches, in-school basketball clinics, elite training camps and finals in each city featuring 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 competitions. NBA International Basketball Operations staff will be based in each of the cities for three months to oversee the program. Each participating school will receive essential equipment to encourage and facilitate participation among its students, including an India-specific coaching guide with curricula for school and after-school programs, basketballs, cones, and a Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA poster. In addition, each participating city will host three youth-oriented basketball festivals featuring mini hoops for kids aged 6-10. More than 1 million youth in over 1,000 schools across nine cities has participated in the program since its launch in 2013. In addition, more than 15,000 basketballs and 300 basketball rims have been distributed and installed through the program, and NBA International Basketball Operations staff has trained more than 2,000 physical education teachers across the country. 2 NBA Legends Bruce Bowen and Muggsy Bogues, WNBA All-Stars Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash, and Sim Bhullar, the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA, have all travelled to India to support and participate in the program. Prospective participants, including children, parents, coaches and schools, can visit rf.jrnba.com for program information, including training resources and tips on staying fit

About Reliance Foundation:Reliance Foundation (RF) aims to play a catalytic role in addressing the nation’s development challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions with its focus in the areas of Rural Transformation, Education, Health, Sports for Development, Disaster Response, Urban Renewal, and Promotion and protection of India’s Arts, Culture and Heritage. Smt. Nita M. Ambani is the Chairperson of Reliance Foundation and the guiding spirit behind the Foundation’s ambitious vision of becoming the leading vehicle for social development, empowering the underprivileged and infusing social transformation in India. Reliance Foundation reaches out to over 5,500 villages and various urban locations across India.

About the NBA:The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA.com and NBA Mobile, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 850 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $260 million to charity, completed more than 3.3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 970 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.

It was a proud moment for India when the two factions are fighting for power in India there in Tokyo Indian Basketballers who were now playing for BJ Challenge Summer for the Hyogo Impulse team , Amjyot Singh Gill and Amritpal Singh, the Punjab players who were groomed from the Ludhiana Basketball Academy by under late Coach Dr. S. Subramaniam have bagged a one-year contracts in the development league for Japan’s National Basketball League have secured professional contracts with Tokyo Excellence, a team in the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) of Japan. Their impressive performances in the B J League have made this Possible.

About National Basketball development League
The NBDL was established in 2013 as a second-tier league below the National Basketball League. Tokyo Excellence has been the team with the best record in NBDL’s brief history, having won both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 championships. Based in Itabashi in the Tokyo metropolis, the team’s vision is to increase the interest of its citizens in sports, energize the people of the Itabashi area, and to strengthen the people’s passion and pride towards Itabashi. The team has active participation in hometown activities and events, including visits to schools and mentoring young basketball teams.

About Amjyot and Amrithpal
After creating history earlier in the year by becoming the first ever Indians to play professional basketball in Japan, Amjyot Singh, 6-foot-9 inch forward workinh Now in Indian Overseas Bank in Chennai , and 7-foot centre Amritpal Singh Working Now with ONGC Derhadun have gone one step further from the BJ Challenge Summer League into a more competitive season-long NBDL. The period of their contracts is from 1st September 2015 to 31st March 2016. Expressing their happiness over the new opportunity, Amjyot and Amritpal said that they felt blessed and will look to do their best to make India proud.

The young cagers have been mainstays of the Indian Men’s National Team over the past two years, leading them to the historic, first ever victory over China in 2014 during the 4th FIBA Asia Cup held in Wuhan, China. Having learnt the fundamentals of the game at Ludhiana Basketball Academy, the duo were quick developed their game and became vital to the Indian National Team’s success under former Coach Scott Flemming.

This significant move has been made possible by the behind-the-scenes effort put in by their managers, RohitBakshi(from YounGuns) and DIME Initiatives, along with well-respected Internationally Certified FIBA Agent Toshi Koga of Japan. “I’m just so happy that these kids are making India proud in Japan. These kids were trained in India and are showcasing their training at a high level. The Indian basketball fraternity needs to support them and help them get further by all means!” said their co-manager, RohitBakshi

Jeena PS , Stephy Nixon, Anjanna P G from Kerala State Electricity Board, Poojamol K S from Assumption College Changanacherry and R K Smruthy from Southern Railways Thiruvanthapuram are the Keralites along with Apporva Muaralinath, Indian Railways whose Mother hails from Kerala have found their place in the final 12 of the Senior Women Team for 26th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior women at Wuhan in China from 29th August to 2nd September 2015 This younger team averaging 21-22 years will be headed by the head Coach Francisco Javier Garcia from Spain assisted by Dhyan chand Awardee Aparna Ghosh from Indian Railways and lead by Anitha Paul Durai the Senior Most Player in the side other members are Shirine Limaye(Maharashtra) Rajapriyadarshini (Indian Railways) Sitamani Tudu (Indian Railways ) Kavitha Akula (Chhattisgarh) Bhandavya HM (Karnataka) .India will take on Chinese Taipei on 29th August in their opening encounter . Indian team will be leaving today

For Smruthy this will be her 3rd Championship and for Jeena and Stephy this is the second time that they are Participating in a Senior Asian Championships apart from Senior Asian Games 2014 along with Poojamol KS . For Anjanna this will be her maiden Senior Indian Cap

The team definitely Miss the Service of Arjuna Awardee’ Geethu Anna Rahul (Anna Jose) who came as the top scorer in Asian Championship twice in 2007 at Incheon,2009 in Chennai She was our main player in India in fact we don’t have a real substitute for her till now said Garcia who was coaching this side for the past five weeks. He is the man who led the women’s team to a fifth and the best ever finish in the ABC 2013, He who have to put up a good show despite everything that’s going on around them.

“We would have liked some international exposure,” said Garcia.. but “With the infighting in the national federation going on stronger and stronger and without financial support either from Govt nor from IMG Reliance it hasn’t been easy to arrange any foreign exposure trips they need against women from other countries before the championship . Instead, the team will play against men now. ?We have to make do with what we have.

“We want to play friendlier matches against men mainly because the opponents we will face in Wuhan are physically strong and quick. Here only the men can offer us that level of competition,” the coach added another major problem with the women here is the lack of fitness which we have missing this time with the absence of strength and conditioning coach Tommy Heffelfinger, who played a vital role in keeping the women fit for major tournaments.

But the coach is confident of an impressive finish at the ABC. “Our goal obviously is to stay in Level I. We need to beat Thailand which is ranked one down than us because beating China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei is not an easy task as they are from another basketball galaxy

• Jeena hails from Wayand is playing in the centre as well as forward position , came to KSEB from Sports Hostel Kannur and V K Krishnamenon College Kannur represented Senior India in 25th Asian Championship at 2013 in Bangok , 2014 Asian Games in Beiging and Lusofonia Games at Goa
• Stephy Hails from Koratty is playing in the centre position came through Centralised Sports Hostel Kollam and Assumption College Changancherry before Joining KSEB Kannur represented Senior India in 25th Asian Championship at 2013 in Bangok , 2014 Asian Games in Beiging and Lusofonia Games at Goa
• Poojamol hails from Kottayam Playing as the playmaker came through Mount Carmel HSS Kottayam is the Youngest of the lot now Joined Assumption College Changancherry , she Missed the 2nd Camp due to Injury she sustained during the Junior Nationals in Kochi but was called back by Coach Garcia for the final camp Kannur represented Senior India, 2014 Asian Games in Beiging and Lusofonia Games at Goa
• Smruthy hails from Vadakara playing as the forward came through Centralised Sports Hostel in Kollam along with now working in Southern Railway in Chennai Kannur represented Senior India in 24thAsian Senior Championship at Omura Japan ,25th Asian Championship at 2013 in Bangok , Captained 2014 Asian Games in Beiging and Lusofonia Games at Goa
• Anjanna P G who hails from Kollam as the forward came through Centralised Sports Hostel in Kollam was her Maiden appearance

“It is the best 15 in my opinion. We have a good balance for every position.” Coach Garcia said after the final selection. “I didn’t have any trouble with respect to coaching these players. I am focused on working with the team. In Bengaluru, there have been fewer administrative deficiencies
Air Asia will be sponsoring the Indian team’s participation at the event. Basketball Federation of India President Shri K Govindaraj distributed the team kits and thanked Mr Mittu Chandilya, AIR Asia MD and CEO, who personally graced the occasion, for his support to India Basketball. Addressing the players he said, “We all have put in a lot of effort in the training camp. Now it is up to you to bring laurels to the country. I wish all the players, coaches and manager all the best.”

INDIAN SQUAD FOR THE 26TH FIBA ASIA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP 2015

PG – Point Guard / Feeder, G – Guard, F – Forward, G/F – Wing, PF – Power Forward, C – Centre, PF/C – Pivot

• 13. Team Manager: Mr. Rajendar Manthani
• 14. Team Physio: Mr. Radha Krishna Reddy
• 15. Coach: Mr. Francisco Garcia

Jeena’s 28 points could not help India to keep in Level 1 and has ended its campaign Losing to Philippines 76-82 which made them relegated to Level 2 campaign for the Next edition here at the 26th FIBA Asia Women’s Championship 2015 at Wuhan, China.

India led the first quarter with 22-16 lead but Philippines came back and led only by two (39-37) at the end of the half-time, and increased the lead 65-53 which virtually sealed fate of the game.but India came back in the last quarter and reduced the score but could not able to defeat them

Kerala forward Jeena Skaria was India’s top scorer for the fourth straight game as she scored 28 points and 6 rebounds 2 steals and one block performance showed her elite class and underlined arguments that she can be counted among Asia’s finest. Jeena could do little to alter the result though captain and experienced Anitha Scored 19 points followed by Poojamol with 11 and Smruthy Radhakrishnan making 9 for Philippines Afril Bernardino returned a tournament-high 32 points

We cannot blame India for this Poor performance India Came to Wuhan with 4 weeks of Practise that too in different stadium because of the infighting in the associations’ and to make the thing worse India came to Wuhan with only 11 players as guard [Kavita Akula who had to skip the event in the last minute due to college commitments in the US] was too bad because most of our game strategy revolved around her, and the coach cannot be blamed as have no time to make adjustments

Coach Francisco Garcia again praised the performance of Jeena who scored 86 points and 35 rebounds for India from the six matches she played followed by Smruthy Radhakrishnan who was second in efficiency per game for India with 6.8 average while Jeenas average efficiency was 15.