All India Invitational Basketball Tournament tips off in Chennai

Eight Men's teams and Five Women's teams have been invited for an 1st Chennai Invitational Basketball Tournament, tipping off at the Somasundaram Grounds at T. Nagar in Chennai today. The tournament will be held from January 19th-24th.

Invited teams include ONGC from Dehradun, who have been on the form of their lives in recent months. They have won last 5 All-India basketball club tournaments, in Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kerala, & most recently, at the Savio Cup in Mumbai on Sunday. Women's champs from the Savio Cup - Southern Railway - will also be at the tournament. Southern Railway, who are from Chennai, will be playing with a home court advantage. American side 'Shooting For Success', who have been taking part in the Savio Cup competitions for the last few years, have also been invited to Chennai.

Tamil Nadu's state Men's & Women's sides will also be taking part in the tournament.

Here are the teams taking part in the competition:

Men

Group A: IOB (Chennai), Shooting For Success, Indian Railways, Central Excise (Kochi).
Group B: ONGC (Dehradun), Services, Vijaya Bank (Bangalore), Tamil Nadu.

Women: Southern Railway (Chennai), South East Central Railway (Chhattisgarh), South Central Railway (Secunderabad), South West Railway (Hubli), Tamil Nadu.