1st BFI-IMG Reliance National School & College Basketball League for Boys & Girls 2014 Day Two: New Delhi and Karnataka teams advance to semis; Kolkata sides bow out.

[Gopalakrishnan R] New Delhi, Thursday, 01 May 2014: In a riveting encounter that went all the way down to the final few seconds, Oxford School, New Delhi scraped past The Bhavan’s Prominent, Indore 76-74 in a league encounter as part of the historic 1^st BFI-IMG Reliance National School & College Basketball league that is underway at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.  Oxford School led by almost ten points in the final few minutes and looked to have sealed the match, when Bhavan’s Laxman T hit a flurry of three pointers to bring life back into the contest. However, his 36 valiant points were in vain as Oxford won its second straight match to qualify for the semifinals with one league game still remaining.

In other school matches, the girls from Bangalore (Bishop Cotton HS) and Delhi (Modern School) too have qualified for the semifinals from Pool A, having won their first two league matches quite easily. They will go head on later tomorrow to decide the top seed from their pool. Also qualifying for the final four is the exciting boys team from Sr. Nav Bharti Public School Ludhiana, which won a tense league battle against Yelammal HS. Yelammal HS surprisingly led for the first three quarters against a star studded team which featured junior international forward Gurwinder Singh Gill and senior international guard Loveeneet Singh. In the final ten minutes however, the Ludhiana side pulled ahead due to its superior physicality, size and experience. These two teams are favourites for a final rematch.

Among college teams, Bangalore (SBM Jain College) and New Delhi (Kirori Mal College) won their second straight games to qualify for the semifinals from Pool A. However, three teams from Kolkata (La Martiniere HS—school girls; Nalanda Vidyapeeth—school boys; and IIT Kharagpur—college men) have been knocked out from this tournament after failing to win any of their matches. St Xavier’s College is the only team remaining in the competition in the college women’s section.

League Match results from Day 2 (1-5-14)

1)      Bishop Cotton HS 72 (Aksa Avez 18, Lopamudra TK, Shanice D 13) bt Nalanda Vidyapeeth 13 (Bimla T 5, Yasmine K 3) [QT wise scores: 17-1; 18-1; 14-8; 23-3]

2)      SBM Jain College, Bangalore 80 (Vinoth Kumar 21, Kaif Zia 15) bt IIT Kharagpur 48 (Rajan Bajaj 18, Naresh Chandra 8) [QT wise scores: 35-9; 10-3; 22-20; 13-6]

3)      Podar College, Mumbai 48 (Ankita Negi 21, Sarah Voda 8) bt Loyola Academy, Hyderabad 36 (Akshita Rao 12, Rama Mishra 8) [QT wise scores: 11-10; 11-7; 11-13; 15-6]

4)      Delhi Public School, Bangalore 69 (Mukul Mahendra 23, Anish Bhadmik 10) bt La Martiniere HS 45 (Raghav S 25, Gaurav S 8) [QT wise scores: 22-12; 21-7; 13-14; 13-12]

5)      Modern School, New Delhi 70 (Madhu K 30, Ananya S 19, Rashi D 10) bt Emerald Heights, Indore 63 (Princy S R 35, Monal S 14, Isha Chauhan 12) [QT wise scores: 15-11; 18-13; 22-19; 15-20]

6)      Oxford School, New Delhi 76 (Abhishek T 35, Sohal Gahlot 19, Saurav Y 16) bt The Bhavan’s Prominent, Indore 74 (Laxman T 36, Mayank B 16, Akash S 10) [QT wise scores: 21-16; 17-16; 18-21; 20-21]

7)      Loyola College, Hyderabad 90 (Sri Ganesh 34, T Uday 15, Shaik 15) bt KC College, Mumbai 79 (Paras 20, Aqib Khan 16, Mearaj 15)  [QT wise scores: 22-19; 23-17; 22-21; 23-22]

8)      Kirori Mal College, New Delhi 77 (Aditya Raj 15, Yudhvir Singh 12, Pulkit Sachdeva 12)  bt Islamiya Karmiya DC, Indore 50 [QT wise scores: 23-21; 28-11; 16-8; 10-10]

9)      Sr. Nav Bharti Public School, Ludhiana 94 (Rahul M 21, Loveneet Singh 19) bt Yelammal HS 85 (Surya A 27, Lokesh M 16) [QT wise scores: 18-21; 24-24; 24-15; 28-25]

10)   Ludhiana Government Senior Secondary School 60 (Samriti 25, Gagandeep K 19)  bt St Joseph HS, Chennai 47 (Devi R 27, Nishanth 8) [QT wise scores: 23-17; 11-7; 16-11; 10-12]

11)   Ludhiana Women’s College 71 (Nagma Mirza 34, Kirandeep Kaur 24) bt MOP Vaishnav College Chennai (Diviya K 29, Mildred Freeman 18, Diviya P 14) 63 [QT wise scores: 11-6; 14-13; 23-16; 23-28]

Evening League Match results from Day 1 (30-4-14)

1)      Kirori Mal College, New Delhi 57 (Dheeraj 11, Aditya 10) bt IIT Kharagpur 41 (Rajan 14, Monish 9) [QT wise scores: 26-11; 12-16; 14-4; 10-5]

2)      St Joseph HS, Chennai 47 (Devi 15, Ishwarya 11, Nishanti 7) bt Chirec PS, Hyderabad 29 (Natasha Reddy 10, Sanhita Reddy 7, Dristi 6) [QT wise scores: 15-7; 10-8; 7-6; 15-8]

3)      Oxford School, New Delhi 76 (Sohal Gahlot 20, Saurav Yadav 19) bt La Mertiniere, Kolkata 56 (Raghav Sehgal 20, Gaurav Sachdev 7, Kshitij 6)  [QT wise scores: 20-18; 18-18; 16-10; 22-10]

4)      Modern School, New Delhi 56 (Madhu K 24, Ananya K 17) bt Nalanda Vidyapeeth, Kolkata 14 (Tumpa M 6) [QT wise scores: 23-4; 12-2; 6-4; 15-4]

5)      MOP Vaishnav College 59 (Mildred Freeman 13, Sneha Priya 7, Dniya P 7) bt Loyola Academy, Hyderabad 27 (Rama Mishra 7, Sneha Priya 7) [QT wise scores: 21-4; 13-7; 12-4; 13-12]

6)      Velammal Matriculate Higher Secondary School, Chennai 73 (Surya A 17, Lokesh M 17) bt Oakridge International School 58 (Anuj Goel 13, Harsha 9) [QT wise scores: 15-6; 21-10; 19-15; 18-27]

7)      Jeppiar Institute of Technology, Chennai 63 (Jaya 28, Arun Hari 10) bt Loyola Academy, Hyderabad 43 (Sri Ganesh 13, Chandrah 9) [QT wise scores: 17-16; 16-12; 18-9; 12-6]

8)      Renaissance College, Indore 40 (Akasha 13, Rashmi 10) bt St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata 36 (Kaizeen 14, Jasmine Rao 10)[QT wise scores: 11-8; 12-3; 7-19; 10-6]

REVISED FIXTURES FOR 2-5-14 (FRIDAY)

COURT NO. 1 (COLLEGE/SCHOOL)

TEAM A	VS.	TEAM B	POOL	TIME
Hyderabad (Loyola Academy)	VS.	Ludhiana (Govt. College)	CWB	8.00 AM
Hyderabad (Loyola Academy)	VS.	Ludhiana (Govt. College)	CMB	9.30 AM
Indore (Renaissance College)	VS.	Bangalore (SBM Jain College)	CWA	11.00 AM
Chennai (Jeppiar Inst. Of Tech)	VS.	Mumbai (KC College)	CMB	12.30 PM
Chennai (MOP Vaishnav Coll.)	VS.	Mumbai (Podar College)	CWB	2.00 PM
Bangalore (SBM Jain College)	VS.	New Delhi (Kirori Mal College)	CMA	2.00 PM
Chennai (Velammal HS)	VS.	Mumbai (Fr. Agnel School)	SBB	5.00 PM
Indore (Islamiya Karmiya DC)	VS.	Kolkata (IIT Kharagpur)	CMA	6.30 PM

COURT NO. 2 (SCHOOL)

TEAM A	VS.	TEAM B	POOL	TIME
Indore (Emerald Heights)	VS.	Kolkata (Nalanda Vidyapeeth)	SGA	8.00 AM
Indore (The Bhavan’s Prominent)	VS.	Kolkata (La Martiniere HS)	SBA	9.30 AM
Hyderabad (Chirec PS)	VS.	Ludhiana (Govt. Girls SSC)	SGB	11.00 AM
Hyderabad (Oakridge Intl.)	VS.	Ludhiana (Sr. Nav Bharati PS)	SBB	12.30 PM
Bangalore (Bishop Cotton HS)	VS.	New Delhi (Modern School)	SGA	2.00 PM
Bangalore (Delhi Public School)	VS.	New Delhi (Oxford School)	SBA	3.30 PM
Chennai (St Joseph’s HS)	VS.	Mumbai (St. Anthony HS)	SGB	5.00 PM

***

About the 1^st BFI-IMG Reliance School & College Basketball League

The Basketball Federation of India along with IMG Reliance is hosting the 1st BFI-IMG Reliance National School & College Basketball League for Boys & Girls 2014 in New Delhi from 30th April to 4th May 2014. Thirty-two teams from eight cities of India i.e. Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Indore, Kolkata and Bengaluru will be participating. The top teams i.e. the winners of the school and college league from each of the above mentioned cities will be competing for the honour of being crowned national champions.

This tournament will provide new and promising talent from the grassroots level an opportunity to showcase their skills, and in turn develop and promote the game of basketball, which is the endeavour of the BFI- IMG Reliance collaboration. Competition at this age will give the much needed boost to budding players to catch the eye of the selectors, and use this as a platform to make their mark at the National Level for their respective States. An event of such magnitude will go a long way in raising the bar of the organization and standard of the game among the students, enabling them to take up careers in basketball professionally.

The interest and well being of players and officials is of foremost importance to the BFI and they will be provided with comfortable boarding, AC lodging on a sharing basis and local transport (in AC buses) from a day prior to one day after the championship for a contingent comprising 12 players and 2 team officials. International FIBA qualifiers Indian referees have been invited to officiate and help in the governance of matches in the fairness of stiff competition among the cream of basketball players from these eight cities.

The event is expected to become bigger with time as the number of cities increases every year from far and wide across India. The whole idea is to expand the horizon of basketball to the remotest of places in our country.

The winning teams from all categories will receive Rs 1,00,000/- as prize money, the runners up will receive Rs 75,000/- and the third place finishers will be awarded Rs 50,000/-.

GROUPINGS

SCHOOL BOYS

POOL A	POOL B
Bangalore (Delhi Public School, South)	Chennai (Velammal High School)
Indore (The Bhavan’s Prominent)	Hyderabad (Oakridge International School)
Kolkata (La Martiniere High School)	Ludhiana (Sr. Nav Bharti Public School)
New Delhi (Oxford School)	Mumbai (Fr. Agnel School & Jr. College)

SCHOOL GIRLS

POOL A	POOL B
Bangalore (Bishop Cotton High School)	Chennai (St. Joseph High School)
Indore ( Emerald Heights International School)	Hyderabad (Chirec Public School)
Kolkata (Nalanda Vidyapeeth)	Ludhiana (Government Girls Sr. Secondary School)
New Delhi (Modern School)	Mumbai (St. Anthony High School)

COLLEGE MEN

POOL A	POOL B
Bangalore (SBM Jain College)	Chennai (Jeppiar Institute of Technology)
Indore (Islamiya Karmiya Degree College)	Hyderabad (Loyola Academy)
Kolkata (IIT Kharagpur)	Ludhiana (Government College)
New Delhi (Kirori Mal College)	Mumbai (KC College)

COLLEGE WOMEN

POOL A	POOL B
Bangalore (SBM Jain College)	Chennai (MOP Vaishnav College)
Indore (Renaissance College)	Hyderabad (Loyola Academy)
Kolkata (St. Xavier’s College)	Ludhiana (Government College)
New Delhi (St Stephen’s College)	Mumbai (Podar College)

About the Basketball Federation of India