Mumbai Challengers win UBA Basketball League Season 4 championship in Goa

A month ago, before the start of the most-hyped and stacked fourth season of the UBA Basketball League, the Mumbai Challengers looked like the squad with the greatest embarrassment of riches. The team, coached by former India international coach Jora Singh, featured a dangerous balance of both Indian and international stars. Players with international experience like Jagdeep Singh Bains and Prasanna Venkatesh shared the court with American stars Inderbir Singh Gill, Jimmy Scroggins, and the brief-NBA veteran, Alex Scales. With these many weapons, the result was either going to be spectacular success or a disappointing implosion.

A month later, Jora Singh's squad put to rest any doubts over chemistry issues around this great collection of talent. Mumbai completed their 2-0 sweep over the Bengaluru Beast in the Best-of-Three finals series in Goa on Wednesday, March 15, to be crowned UBA Basketball League champions for the first time. The season's championship series (knockout stages) were held at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Goa from March 10. The Finals were a continuation of a month-long period of success for Mumbai, who had finished with a league-best record of 5-1 during the regular season in Chennai and swept last year's silver medalists Punjab Steelers in the semi-finals 2-0.

At one point or another, all of Mumbai's big names stepped up in sealing the deal for the challengers. Scales and Scroggins contributed 34 and 32 points respectively in Game 1 to down Bengaluru 110-95. Scales doubled-up with 34 again in Game 2, Inderbir added 33, and Scroggins 21 to win the high-octane Game 2 118-105. Bains and Nikhil also made valuable contributions for the champions. On the losing side, the combination of Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Chris Solomon, Pratham Singh, and Palpreet Singh Brar played well enough to get to this stage but ultimately couldn't handle Mumbai's firepower in the Finals.

Bhriguvanshi was named the tournament's Indian MVP last week, while the foreign MVP award went to Punjab's Dermaine Crockell.

The UBA announced that they will be holding their first-ever All Star game between the best players of the North and South Division in Goa on Thursday, March 16. On the day of the Finals, they also held their first-ever Slam Dunk and Three-Point Contests.

2016 Federation Cup: Kerala Women rise to the top; ONGC Men make it a four-peat

At Goa, the best in Indian basketball clashed against the best. The top performing state/unit teams from around the country came together for the competition of the elites, the 30th Federation Cup Basketball Championship for Men and Women. After six daysT of high-quality basketball performances, age-old rivals met up in Finals on Monday, March 14, at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium at Goa University in Teleigao. The two finals were settled when the young Kerala Women's squad leaped up to defeat Chhattisgarh and Dehradun's ONGC made it four gold medals in a row with a defeat of IOB.

The 2016 Federation Cup was organized by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the Goa Basketball Association (GBA) from March 9-14. The annual tournament generally features the Champion District/Unit/Club from the top eight teams of the previous year's Senior National Championship in the Men's section, and the top eight state teams from the previous Senior National Championship in the Women's section. This year, hosts Goa added their units/state teams to the competition fray as well.

Old foes ONGC (Dehradun) and Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai (IOB) met once again in a final at the national stage. The two best Men's club teams in India have been sharing honours for the past several years, and defending champs ONGC were now looking for their fourth final win in a row following last year's gold medal in Pune. ONGC blazed ahead to an unbelievably hot start, leading IOB 27-5 after the first quarter alone. The quarter break provided the perfect tonic to IOB's woes, who stormed back to make the game competitive again at halftime, with ONGC leading just 31-26. With the game hanging in the balance until the final period, ONGC blew the game wide open by capitalizing on their opponent's offensive struggles to secure a 73-57 win. Team India veterans Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (20) and Yadwinder Singh (17) led the way for the winning side. International star Pratham Singh scored 25 for IOB in the loss.

The Women's final was also a captivating affair, featuring the young and star-studded Kerala squad taking on the current established powers of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh's biggest strength was in Poonam Chaturvedi, their 6-foot-9 center who is India's tallest female basketball player. Chaturvedi had been unstoppable throughout the course of the tournament, and continued her dominant streak with 33 points and 11 rebounds in the final. But Kerala's speed and hot shooting had brought them this far, and gave them confidence to take an early lead in the final. At halftime, Kerala led 43-41, but it was their big third-quarter push that finally settled the game. Kerala outscored Chhattisgarh 22-15 in the third, and were able to maintain their advantage through the final period to secure a 80-71 win. The talented Keralite trio of Stephy Nixon (26), Jeena PS (22), and Neenumol PS (21) led the way in the win. Sharanjeet Kaur of Chhattisgarh added 21 in her team's losing effort.

ONGC's Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Chhattisgarh's Poonam Chaturvedi were named MVPs of the tournament.

The BFI also befittingly chose the finale of the Federation Cup to felicitate yesteryear Senior India basketball legends. The players felicitated were Hanuman Singh (Arjuna Awardee), Hanif Patel, Mohammed Rizwan, Dilip Murthy, Siraj Ahmed (all former India men's players), Ajay Sud (Vice President-BFI), K Govindaraj (President-BFI), SK Kataria, Abbas Moontasir (both Arjuna Awardees), Sat Prakash Yadav (current head coach of the Indian men's team and former India men's player), Reginald Rajan (former India player) and Parminder Singh (Arjuna Awardee).

Earlier in the day, Telangana won third place defeating the South-Eastern Central Railways (SECR) Bilaspur Women 65-56. Telangana were led by M. Gayathri’s 20 points and P. Divya’s 18 points, while Seema Singh scored 26 points to go with 15 rebounds for SECR. In the men’s third place match, Army Red edged past Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru to clinch the bronze medal. Karnataka guard Mayur Bhat had 23 points and Jai Ram Jat added 16 in Army’s victory, while Vijaya Bank forward Arvind Arumugam had 25 points in the losing effort.

Final Scores

• Women: Kerala (Stephy Nixon 26, Jeena PS 22, Neenumol PS 21) bt Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 33, Sharanjeet Kaur 21) 80-71 (23-17, 20-24, 22-15, 15-15).
• Men: ONGC (Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 20, Yadwinder Singh 17, Trideep Rai 15) bt. IOB (Pratham Singh 25, Aravind Annadurai 13) 73-57 (27-5, 4-21, 20-21, 22-10).

Bronze Medal Matches

• Telangana (M. Gayathri 20, P. Divya 18) bt SECR (Seema Singh 26) 65-56 (11-10, 22-8, 20-17, 12-21).
• Army Red (Mayur Bhat 23, Jai Ram Jat 16, Vivekananda Das 14) bt Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam 25, Rajesh Uppar 14, M. Navin 13pts) 76-66 (22-19, 17-16, 15-15, 22-16)

Final Standings

Women

• 1. Kerala
• 2. Chhattisgarh
• 3. Telangana

Men

• 1. ONGC
• 2. IOB
• 3. Army Red

India's top basketball teams head to Goa for 2016 Federation Cup

Two years ago, the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium at Goa University in Teleigao hosted one of the contemporary high-points of Indian basketball. The 2014 Lusofonia Games were being held in Goa, and it was at this stadium where Head Coach Scott Flemming led the Indian national Men's squad to a memorable basketball gold medal victory in the tournament. While Goa has never been known to flaunt much basketball structure or associate positive history with the sport, this was a moment that generated real excitement for the sport among local fans.

This week, the same indoor stadium will get a chance to take a step further. The 30th Federation Cup All India Basketball Tournament for Men and Women - organized by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the Goa Basketball Association (GBA) - is set to be held in Goa from March 9-14. A tournament among only the elite teams in the sport in both men's and women's division, the Goa University will once again play host to some of the most talented players in Indian Basketball starting tip off on Wednesday, March 9.

The Federation Cup is held annually and is one of the most coveted tournament's for basketball clubs/state teams throughout India. Generally speaking, in the men’s section, the top eight state teams from the previous year’s Senior National Championship send the Champion District/Unit/Club of the State Championship/Inter-district/Inter-Unit. Counting a team from hosts' Goa, this year's Men's competition will feature nine teams. In the women’s section, the top eight state teams from the previous year’s Senior National Championship are eligible to participate, along with the Champion team of the Indian Railways Unit. Another significance of the Federation Cup is that it serves as the qualifying tournament for the FIBA Asia Champions Cup for Men, which pits the top clubs in the continent against each other. The winning men’s team from the Federation Cup qualifies to the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, which is set to be held in October this year.

The Federation Cup will seek to bounce back after the fiasco surrounding the tournament a year ago. Last year's Federation Cup was held in Pune (Maharashtra) around the same time that the BFI broke apart into two separate executive committees, with meeting one in Bengaluru, one in Pune. The Pune committee - led by Poonam Mahajan - organised the 2015 Federation Cup, but it is the Bengaluru committee - led by K. Govindraj - that now has control over the BFI and is organizing the 2016 Federation Cup. ONGC (Men) and Southern Railway (Women) were crowned champions in Pune and will return this year to defend their title in Goa as well. ONGC have won the last three gold medals at the Federation Cup and will be seeking a four-peat.

Teams participating in the 2016 Federation Cup are:

Men

• Group A: ONGC (Uttarakhand), Bhiwani Club (Haryana), Vijaya Bank (Karnataka), Ludhiana Basketball Academy (Punjab).
• Group B: Indian Overseas Bank (Tamil Nadu), Army Red (Services), Kerala Police (Kerala), North Western Railway (Rajasthan), Don Bosco Oratory (Goa).

Women

• Group A: Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa.
• Group B: Delhi, South East Central Railway (Chhattisgarh), Karnataka, Telangana.

You can find a detailed schedule of matches via the BFI here.

"The six-day tournament will be played on league cum knock out basis which will feature champion club from the top eight states of the previous year’s Senior National Championship", Goa Basketball Association secretary Ashley Rosario told reporters in Goa. Goacom reported that DD Sports will telecast the tournament's semi-finals, finals, and closing ceremony live nationally. Amita Mascarenhas and Suzeth Durate will be Goa’s flag bearer for the opening and closing ceremony.