1st ever Mahindra NBA Challenge National Championship to be held in New Delhi

For the past three years, the Mahindra NBA Challenge - the largest, inner-city amateur basketball league in India - has been held across various cities in the country. Now, for the first time, the NBA will bring the best of all the different cities together for a national championship at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi from October 4-7. The National Championship will be organised jointly by the Mahindra-NBA and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

The winning teams from the Senior and Under-18 divisions, for both men and women, in each city will travel to Delhi to compete for the championship.

Three-time NBA Champion Luc Longley will be present throughout the event to host clinics for the qualifying teams. Longley is the first Australian to have ever played in the NBA. During his eleven-year career, he played with the New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves.

I wrote about his legacy as a lesser-known cog in one of the greatest squads ever: the 1995-1998 Chicago Bulls here.

The Most Valuable Players (Men and Women) in both the Senior and Junior divisions will win special awards from the tournament's sponsors.

Season Three of the Mahindra NBA Challenge has taken place in five cities. The programme began in Mumbai in November last year and was followed by Delhi, Kochi, Bangalore and Ludhiana.

Over 600 teams participated in the league, with over 1,100 games taking place across the India this season.