Tamil Nadu Girls and Kerala Boys are 2016 Youth Nationals Champions in Hassan

It is a rare occurrence when both the boys' and girls' teams of the same state in India peak at the same time, but that was exactly the case with three states - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh - over the past week in Hassan (Karnataka). All three states finished in the top three in both divisions at India's largest under-16 hoops meet, the 33rd Youth National Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls. The tournament concluded with the finals on Saturday, November 26th, as Tamil Nadu (Girls) and Kerala (Boys) won the last games of the week and emerged as champions at the city's Hasanamba Indoor Stadium

Organised by the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA) under the auspices of the BFI, the 2016 Youth Nationals featured 24 boys teams and 22 girls teams in the eight day tournament. Last year's washout had led the BFI to declare all the finalists as champions, so both the boys' and girls' divisions had two reigning champions each: Tamil Nadu and Delhi (Boys) and Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh (Girls).

This year, Tamil Nadu's Girls had an opportunity for sole ownership of the winner's trophy when they faced Kerala in the final. The only two undefeated teams thus far, Kerala and TN went toe to toe for the first two quarters of the game, and Kerala held on to a slim, 37-35 lead at halftime. TN turned things around drastically after the break, and took over the game: dominant efforts by Avanthi Vardhan (17) and S Pushpa (17) helped TN take a lead and stretch it to double digits, eventually to an impressive 82-66 victory. Shreekala R scored a game-high 27 to pace Kerala's efforts.

Kerala had better luck in the boys' final against Uttar Pradesh, where they turned a slow start into a dominant, blowout win. UP led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter, but it was all Kerala after that. Amal Reghu exploded for 33 points while Chacko C Simon (19) and Sejin Mathew (16) made valuable contributions to help Kerala win 85-51. UP's duo of Priyanshu and Bhagyansh Gulati scored 21 each, but they lot little offensive contribution from the rest of their squad in the loss.

Uttar Pradesh will go home happy, however, because in addition to securing silver in the boys' tournament, they won a bronze medal earlier on Saturday when their girls' team - led by the unstoppable Vaishnavi Yadav - blew out Madhya Pradesh 71-39. Yadav, a rising basketball star from the state, scored 39, matching MP's entire box score! Divyani Gangwal had 22 for MP. The boys' bronze medal game also was not a particularly close affair. After a high-scoring, tight first quarter (26-26), Tamil Nadu revved up their engines with the help of their duo M Arvind Kumar (30) and K Surya (23) to win 99-69. The Tomar brothers - Pratyanshu (22) and Prashant (16) - led the way for the hosts Karnataka.

The top three teams in both sections awarded cash prizes of Rs 75,000/-, Rs 50,000/- and Rs 25,000/- respectively. Numerous Karnataka State Ministers and Kannada actor/former MP Ramya (Divya Spandana) were present in the final. Karnataka's U18 girls' team - winners of the 2016 Junior Nationals in Puducherry - were felicitated.

Final Scores

• Girls: Tamil Nadu (Avanthi Vardhan 17, S Pushpa 17, T Dharshini 13) bt Kerala (Shreekala R 27, Olivia Shaibu 13) 82-66 [16-18, 19-19, 21-11, 26-18].
• Boys: Kerala (Amal Reghu 33, Chacko C Simon 19, Sejin Mathew 16) bt Uttar Pradesh (Priyanshu 21, Bhagyansh Gulati 21) 85-51 [16-18, 26-15, 26-10, 17-8].

Third/Fourth Place

• Girls: Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 39) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divyani Gangwal 22) 71-39 [10-8, 21-10, 26-13, 14-8].
• Boys: Tamil Nadu (M Arvind Kumar 30, K Surya 23, T Prathap 15) bt Karnataka (Pratyanshu Tomar 22, Prashant Tomar 16, Srujan BK 13) 99-69 [26-26, 28-14, 22-20, 23-9].

Final Standings

Girls

• 1. Tamil Nadu
• 2. Kerala
• 3. Uttar Pradesh
• 4. Madhya Pradesh
• 5. Maharashtra

Boys

• 1. Kerala
• 2. Uttar Pradesh
• 3. Tamil Nadu
• 4. Karnataka
• 5. Rajasthan

2016 Youth National Championship for U16 boys and girls to tip off in Hassan (Karnataka)

Last September, heavy rainfall and controversy behind the organization marred India's premier national U16 basketball tournament - the Youth Nationals - in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Now, over a year later, the tournament is back, a little later in the year, heading further south to Karnataka, and with hopes from the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to purge the memories of the past and launch the new, young stars of Indian basketball.

The 33rd Youth National Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls is set to tip off in the city of Hassan in Karnataka on Saturday, November 19th. Organised by the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA) under the auspices of the BFI, 2016 Youth Nationals will feature 24 boys teams and 22 girls teams are in the eight day tournament. Last year's washout led the BFI to declare all the finalists as champions, so both the boys' and girls' divisions will be competed for between two reigning champions each: Tamil Nadu and Delhi (Boys) and Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh (Girls).

In a KSBBA press conference at the Century Club in Bengaluru on Wednesday, the BFI President and KSBBA secretary K Govindraj announced the tournament which will include, as usual, accommodation and catering for over eight hundred players, coaches, referees, officials, and invitees to the event. The matches will be conducted at three venues - the indoor and outdoor courts of the Hasanamba Stadium and the courts of the Malnad College of Engineering.

Participating Teams

Boys

• Level 1: Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh.
• Level 2: Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tripura.

Girls

• Level 1: Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh.
• Level 2: Delhi, Odisha, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Telangana, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttarakhand.

The inauguration ceremony for the 2016 Youth Nationals is scheduled to start at 4:15 PM on Saturday at the Hasanamba Stadium in Hassan. A Manju, the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Sericulture and also District In-Charge of Hassan and Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of Fisheries and Karnataka's Dept. of Youth Empowerment and Sports, will be the chief guests at the event.

Indian School Basketball League is set to tip off in 16 states across India in August 2016

After a gap of one year, India's biggest official school basketball tournament - the Indian School Basketball League (ISBL) is set to make a return to 16 states around the country from August 2016. In a special press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) announced that this season's ISBL will play out approximately 1,856 matches over a 2-3 month period, culminating in a National Finals to be held in one of the participating states/cities. The 2016 season will only feature the ISBL; the Indian College Basketball League (ICBL) continues to face its hiatus for now.

In a press conference headed by President K Govindaraj, Secretary-General Chander Mukhi Sharma, and Senior Vice President Teja Singh Dhaliwal, the BFI announced that the 2016 edition will create a structured, self-sustaining, pan-India School League, which will serve as the platform to increase organised basketball participation at grassroots level and subsequently become a talent development/feeder system for the Indian National Teams. Eventually, the aim is for this league to also become a talent development platform for the future Professional Basketball League in India. This decision was taken after the Steering Committee of the BFI met on July 6 to finalize the details of the league.

Participating States in the 2016 ISBL: Punjab, Chandigarh. Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram.

In each state, 12 to 16 teams for each gender will be divided into four groups (in 2014, 24 cities took part). For some states, this year of the league will focus on teams from just one city, while others will bring in talent from many different cities in the state. Each team will play home-and-away system within their own group. The top 2 teams from each group will play a State Final, and the winner will eventually be invited to the National Championship. The prize money is set at Rs. 1 lakh in each participating state.

In a press release, the BFI announced that creating a hierarchical system of basketball participation that starts with the school leagues will be key to the long-term growth of basketball across India. To ensure the sustenance of the leagues, it is imperative to start small, focusing on the high basketball potential cities, perfecting the operations while showing its value and potential to the community, and then slowly transitioning to pan India leagues which include newer basketball cities. The leagues will also serve a vital role in development of school basketball infrastructure and ancillary basketball disciplines as programs will be implemented to develop all areas of the game through this platform.

The 'bottom up' approach is of course different from the UBA Basketball League, who brought together interested players from All India College Championships to a quick launch and are already in their third season. The BFI, who have recently barred UBA players from participating in official national/international basketball events, are taking the big picture, long-term approach to build their way up to a professional league in India. But the start-stop nature and unreliability stemming from BFI's recent conflicts have slowed this process even further. Hopefully, the launch of this massive grassroots programme that the basketball in India is back on the mend from the ground up.

In the press release, the BFI also announced the implementation of the new FIBA Competition System, and the tentative schedules for future national basketball championships. The 33rd Youth National Basketball Championship will be held in Hassan (Karnataka) in November 2016 and the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship will be in Pondicherry from January 7-14, 2017.