The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : All set for the National championships

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Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
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Sport - Basketball

All set for the National championships

K. Keerthivasan

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

UNWANTED MISHAP: The organisers of the National basketball championships, which get underway on Wednesday, could do without incidents like fibre-boards falling off when teams are on court.

SURAT: With wheels on their heels, the organisers are putting things in place for the 59th Karp Jyoti Senior National basketball championships to be held at the Municipal Indoor Stadium here from December 31 to January 7, 2009.

For a city, which last hosted a National level event, the youth championship at the same venue in 1998-99, the Senior Nationals will be a litmus test of its organisational abilities and acumen. "We are confident of making the event a big success. We have worked hard for it,” said Shafiq Shaikh, the organising secretary of the event.

With a total of 120 matches scheduled, three other venues have been picked to conduct the preliminary competition till January 2. The top 10 teams in men from the last National championship have been placed in Pool ‘A’ and ‘B’ while Pool ‘C’ to ‘F’ will comprise the rest.

Two teams from ‘C’ to ‘F will qualify for the knockout stage and four each from ‘A’ and ‘B’ will make it to the next stage. “The teams that do not qualify will play the loser’s knockout," said Sampath Kumar, Technical Committee chairman on Tuesday.

In the women’s section, three each from Pool ‘A’ and ‘B’ and two from Level II (Pool C to F) will enter the knockout stage.

Marquee names

This Nationals are not short of marquee names. Top stars such as S. Robinson (TN), Riazuddin (Uttarakhand), Sambaji Kadam (Services) and Sabir Ahmed (Uttarakhand) will take part.

Services starts favourite

Defending champion Services will be the team to beat in the men’s section as it has top players and possesses the best man for each position,

It’s been a one-horse race in the women’s section for quite a while. Railways, many believe, will walk away with the trophy unless other teams perform beyond their potential.

It has been decided to give prize money to the top three positions and the amount will be revealed soon after consultations with the Basketball Federation of India, informed Mr. Shaikh.

Narrow escape

Meanwhile, the U.P. and Delhi men’s teams had a narrow escape while practising at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) courts.

The basketball board from both ends broke and fell down. No one was injured.

The groupings:

Men: Level I: Pool ‘A’: Services, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh. Pool ‘B’: Punjab, Indian Railways, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan. Level II: Pool ‘C’: Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh. Pool ‘D’: Chandigarh, Gujarat & Jammu & Kashmir; Pool ‘E’: Jharkhand, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh & West Bengal. Pool ‘F’: Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Pondicherry.

Women: Level I: Pool ‘A’: Indian Railways, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh. Pool ’B’: Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Karnataka.

Level II: Pool ’C’: Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand. Pool ‘D’: Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand.; Pool ‘E’: Chandigarh, Gujarat, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh. Pool ‘F’: West Bengal, Goa, Pondicherry, Rajasthan.