Chennai and Ludhiana dominate 2014 Indian School/College League national finals

The confluence of different teams from different Indian cities on the same court created a mishmash of basketball creativity, with each region or city champion determined to prove that their style and talent be crowned as the nation's best. This past week, New Delhi hosted the national finals of the Indian School Basketball League (ISBL) and Indian College Basketball League (ICBL), featuring winning 40 school and college teams in the men's and women's divisions from 10 cities. After seven days of exciting hoops action, the representatives of two cities - Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Ludhiana (Punjab) - separated themselves from the rest of the pack to win their respective 2014 titles.

After the four finals on Sunday, December 21 at Delhi's Thyagaraj Stadium, the winners were:

• ISBL Girls: Government School (Ludhiana) defeating Santhome School (Chennai).
  
• ISBL Boys: Vellamal School (Chennai) defeating Modern School (Delhi).
  
• ICBL Women: Government College for Girls (Ludhiana) defeating Rajasthan College (Jaipur).
  
• ICBL Men: Sathyabama Engg. College (Chennai) defeating Kirorimal College (Delhi).

This season's expanded ICBL and ISBL were held over three months across a record 24 cities around India, bringing together 13,000 players from over 1100 institutions. The leagues were organized by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG Reliance.

In the ISBL girls' semi-finals a day earlier, Government School (Ludhiana) had defeated Montfort School (Delhi), while Santhome School (Chennai) got the better of Mallaya Aditi International (Bengaluru). In the ISBL boys' semi-finals, Modern School (Delhi) had to beat Nav Bharti (Ludhiana) to progress to the finals, while Vellamal School (Chennai) proved to be the victors against Bhavan's Prominent (Indore).

In the ICBL women's semi-finals, Rajasthan College (Jaipur) outlasted MOP Vaishnav (Chennai) and Government College for Girls (Ludhiana) defeated Ra Podar College (Mumbai). In the ICBL Men's semi-finals, Sathyabama Engg. College (Chennai) beat Skit College (Jaipur), while Kirorimal College (Delhi) were victors versus Islamia Karimia (Indore).

Apart from the on-court competition, attending players and coaches got a chance to participate in clinics conducted by India's National Senior Men's Coach Scott Flemming and National Strength and Conditioning Coach Tommy Heffelfinger.

There was also a first-ever national Skills Challenge, including a dunk contest, three-point contest, and more. Delhi's own reggae/dancehall crew the Reggae Rajahs performed at the finals as well.