Indian Army and Chhattisgarh win All India Basketball Tournaments in Coimbatore

Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu once again hosted its annual monsoon basketball fiesta, two All India invitational tournaments for Men and Women. On Saturday August 15, while the rest of India celebrated the 69th anniversary of Independence Day, the Indian Army men's basketball team hoisted the 51st All India Basketball PSG Trophy. In the women's tournament, Chhattisgarh emerged as winners of the 14th CRI Pumps Trophy.

The Indian Army Men's team, who hail from New Delhi, bounced back after finishing as runners-up last year to defeat home-state team IOB (Chennai) in the final on Saturday, 59-53. Gopalram was the high scorer for the Armymen with 17, while G Sivabalan dropped in a game-high 19 points in IOB's losing effort.

The women's final, a high-scoring affair, turned out to be a personal showcase for Chhattigarh's giant center Poonam Chaturvedi. The tallest women player in India, Chaturvedi scored 48 points to help Chhattisgarh outlast their opponents KSEB (Kerala) 84-78. Grima Merlin Varghese scored 19 points for the KSEB.

International squads invited for this year's Coimbatore All India Basketball Tournaments

It's the Golden Jubilee of the All India Basketball Tournaments in Coimbatore, and to celebrate, this year's invitational tournaments for both men and women will feature South Asian international squads competing for the title. The 50th PSG Trophy (for Men) and the 13th CRI Pumps tournament (for Women) will both be up for grabs starting tomorrow, July 25th, in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu). The Men's national team from Bangladesh and Women's national team from Nepal have been invited to take part in a competition that will otherwise be competed for among Indian club sides. The six-day tournament will end with the Finals on July 30th.

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas

The tournament is being organized by the PSG Sports Club and will also mark the silver Jubilee of PSG Medical College, Coimbatore. ONGC (Men) and Southern Railway (Women) will be playing to defend their titles at the respective competitions. Nine teams in the Men's division and a total of six women's teams will take part.

Participating Teams

PSG Trophy (Men): ONGC, Indian Navy, Indian Army, IOB (Chennai), Punjab, Customs (Cochin), ICF (Chennai), Electricity Board (Kerala), Bangladesh.

CRI Pumps Tournament Southern Railway, Electricity Board (Kerala), South Central Railway, South Eastern Central Railway, Western Railway, Eastern Railway, Nepal.

This is the first time that international teams will take part in these tournaments. G Selvaraju, Joint Managing Director of CRI Pumps, told Business Standard that with the participation of international teams, both the organizers (PSG and CRI Pumps) propose to make this tournament as an Asian level championship in the near future.

IOB (Men) & Southern Railway (Women) win 2012 All India Basketball Tournaments in Coimbatore

ONGC saw their incredible recent run of good play in Indian basketball tournaments come to an end on Sunday, September 2nd, as they were beaten in the final of the PSG Trophy All India Basketball Tournament in Coimbatore by IOB (Chennai). Although ONGC were the defending champions of this trophy - which tipped off this year on August 28th - it was IOB who played better in the second half of the final to clinch the trophy. Last year's runners-up Southern Railway lifted the women's CRI Pumps Trophy on the same day at the PSG Tech Courts in Coimbatore.

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All India Basketball tournaments to be held in Coimbatore from August 28th

From August 28th - September 2, the 48th PSG Trophy tournament for Men and the 11th CRI Pumps tournament for Women will be held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, for eight Men's and seven Women's basketball clubs from across India.

Participating teams:

PSG Trophy (Men): ONGC (Dehradun), RCF (Punjab), Indian Navy (Delhi), Customs (Chennai), Vijaya Bank (Bangalore), South Central Railway (Secunderabad), Indian Overseas Bank (Chennai), and Income Tax (Chennai).

CRI Pumps Tournament (Women): South East Central Railway (Chhattisgarh), Southern Railway (Chennai), Electricity Board (Kerala), South Central Railway (Secunderabad), South Western Railway (Hubli), Eastern Railway (Kolkata), and Rising Star (Chennai).

Both tournaments will be played on a league basis, before the Semi Finals and Finals on the 1st and 2nd of September respectively.

ONGC and South East Central Railway won last year's Men's and Women's tournaments respectively.