28th Federation Cup Basketball Tournament tips off in Ahmedabad

The 28th Federation Cup National Basketball Tournament featuring India's top players from clubs and state units, tipped off at the YMCA International Center in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on January 4. 17 teams - 9 in the Men's division and 8 for the Women - will be taking part. The tournament will be organized by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG-Reliance, in conjunction with the Gujarat Basketball Association.

The Federation Cup pits India's most successful recent clubs or states against each other. Therefore, in the Men's division, the participating teams will be chosen from the best club sides from India's top ranking states in the previous National Basketball Championship, while the Women's teams will be represented by the top rankings states or railway units themselves.

Participating Teams

Men: ONGC (Uttarakhand), Bhilai Steel Plant (Chhattisgarh), Bhavnagar District (Gujarat), Northeast Frontier Railway, Central Excise (Kerala), Border Security Force (Punjab), District Sikar (Rajasthan), Army Red (Services), India Overseas Bank (Tamil Nadu).

Women: Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Southern Railway, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Chhattisgarh.

This year, the defending champions ONGC (Men) and Tamil Nadu (Women) will be looking to defend their titles in Ahmedabad, after winning last year's Federation Cup trophies in Bangalore.

The winner will take home Rs 1 lakh while the first and second runners-up will receive Rs 75000 and Rs 50000, respectively.

On the opening day of competition, Shruti Menon scored 20 points and Shireen Limaye added 19 to help Maharashtra to race to a 76-65 victory over Kerala. Neenumol had 18 for Kerala in a losing effort. Delhi raced by Punjab to a 74-48 win. K Madhu had 25 for Delhi, while K Nirmal answered for Punjab with 26.

Check the full schedule of fixtures at the tournament here.