2014 Junior National Basketball Championship tips off in Kochi with big win for Chhattisgarh Girls

With a total of 47 boys' and girls' under-18 teams attending and ready to contend for the title, India's 2014 Junior National Basketball Championship tipped off in Kochi (Kerala) on Monday. From their very first game, Girls' reigning champs Chhattisgarh made their intent clear to once again be considered as one of the title favourites with a big win over Tamil Nadu. In the boys' division, top contenders Tamil Nadu and Punjab both got their campaigns off with convincing victories as well.

The championship was declared open at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in the city by Hibi Eden (MLA) and presided by the K Manohar Kumar, the president of the Kerala Basketball Association (KBA). The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) is organizing the tournament in auspices with the KBA. The finale of the tournament is set to be held on June 2.

The participating teams are:

Boys

• Group A: Delhi, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana.
  
• Group B: Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odhisa, Maharashtra.
  
• Group C: Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.
  
• Group D: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Puducherry.
  
• Group E: Bihar, Goa, Uttarakhand.
  
• Group F: Assam, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.
  

Girls

• Group A: Chhattissgarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab.
  
• Group B: Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana.
  
• Group C: Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.
  
• Group D: Delhi, Gujarat, Puducherry.
  
• Group E: Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand.
  
• Group F: Bihar, Chandigarh, West Bengal.
  

Girls' reigning champs Chhattisgarh got their campaign off with a win, despite a slow start against Tamil Nadu. TN took a six point lead in the first quarter, but Chhattisgarh came storming back to take a lead at halftime, and blazed past to finish the game with a 83-64 victory. Chhattisgarh's duo of Sharanjeet Kaur (29 points) and Sangeeta Kaur (23) were unstoppable throughout. Shrividhya led with 24 points for the losing side.

In a high-scoring contest, Preeti Kumari exploded for 40 points to help lead Uttar Pradesh to a 85-79 win over Karnataka. The victory included UP bouncing back from a nine point deficit at the end of the third quarter to outscore their opponents 32-17 in the final period. Barkha Sonkar added 20 for UP. Bhandavya and Lopamurda - two of the top young Karnataka players - led their team with 26 and 23 points each.

Boys' finalists Punjab got off to a good start, as Jaipal Singh (23) and Arshpreet Singh (17) helped their side to a 75-52 blowout win over Karnataka.

In another Boys' game, Tamil Nadu dominated Maharashtra from start to finish en route to an easy 90-49 win. Jedidah of TN had 24 points for the winning team.

 Selected Scores Boys

• Tamil Nadu (Jedidah 24, Muin 15) bt. Maharashtra (Qureshi 15) 90-49(17-6, 34-15, 23-13, 16-15).
  
• Punjab (Jaipal Singh 23, Arshpreet Singh 17) bt Karnataka 75-52 (12-11, 14-6, 18-16, 31-19).
  
• Madhya Pradesh (Shubham Mishra 26, BP Singh 16, H Singh 16) bt Kerala (Akhil AR 18) 75-64 (9-23, 13-16, 28-6, 25-19).
  

Girls

• Chhattisgarh (Sharanjeet Kaur 29, Sangeeta Kaur 23) bt. Tamil Nadu (Shrividhya 24) 83-64 (15-21, 25-10, 16-15, 27-18).
  
• Uttar Pradesh (Preeti Kumari 40, Barkha Sonkar 20) bt. Karnataka (Bhandavya 26, Lopamudra 23) 85-79 (21-26, 16-13, 16-23, 32-17).
  
• Delhi (Nishita 20, Soumya Babbar 16, Jyoti Rai 15) bt. Puducherry 73-29 (20-7, 21-11, 15-4, 17-7).
  

'Vallinam', the Tamil movie on basketball, is here!

With the thriving basketball scenery in India's southernmost state, it's no surprise that the country's first mainstream feature film centered around the game has come courtesy of Tamil cinema. Barring a few laughable moments in Bollywood films, basketball and the Indian hoops sub-culture hadn't  made a major crossover into Indian cinema earlier. But now, thanks to director Arivazhagan Venkatachalam, we finally have that breakthrough.

Last month, the Tamil film 'Vallinam' directed by Venkatachalam and produced by Aascar Ravichandran opened to audiences after being delayed for almost a year. The film stars experienced Tamil actor Nakul (previously seen in 'Boys' and 'Baghban' - thanks IMDB) as 'Krishna', a basketball player from Trichy who quits the game after his friend's death and moves to Chennai. Quoting further from IMBD, "due to circumstances mainly due to the villainous cricket captain (Siddharth Jonnalagadda) [Krishna] starts a basketball team in college. How Krishna's determination and fierce dedication to triumph at all cost form the rest of the story. He even wins over the rich heroine (played by Mrudhula Basker) from the villainous cricket captain.

So much to love and analyze here. I first caught whiff of this film in production three years ago, and had all but forgotten about it as the release was delayed to unknown reasons. I am not experienced at all in Tamil, but Wikipedia tells me that the word 'Vallinam' வல்லினம் means 'Hardness' in English (Tamil readers please provide a clearer translation to make it sound less weird). The film opened to positive reviews from both critics and audiences. Apparently, the lead star Nakul very seriously worked on his game to "ensure that he lived the role rather than act."

The 'cricket-as-a-villain' route isn't surprising, since there are indeed a lot of 'alternative' sportsmen and women in India unhappy with the extra attention that cricket receives compared to other sports. I wrote a few years ago that we shouldn't necessarily have to antagonize another sport to promote basketball the right way. 'Vallinam's review on the Times of India (3.5 stars out of 5) does clarify that the film makes "a commendable effort is that it doesn't resort to cricket-bashing to drive home its point". Hindustan Times says that "Vallinam never tries to convince us that basketball is a better game than cricket. It reminds us that cricket is not the only sport that deserves to be celebrated in a country where we have other equally popular sports as well."

One negative review that the film received was from Sify, which said that the film "goes all over trying to fit in mass commercial elements like fight, songs and unnecessary sentiments... The songs and the love angle sticks out like a sore thumb. The director should have concentrated only on the sports element it would have been a far better film". I'm not too well-versed for Tamil cinema, but I guess to reach a wider audience you have to give the people what they want, and that way, make the mainstream audience aware about basketball, too.

Here is the film's trailer:



Form your own judgement as you please.

(I wish I understood Tamil!)

I commend the director and producers for taking a risk of sorts in Indian cinema in making a movie about an alternative sport. Tamil Nadu has a rich basketball tradition and some of India's best players and teams hail from that state. About a week after the film was released, the Tamil Nadu state team returned to the top of country's basketball totem pole when they secured gold at the National Basketball Championship in New Delhi. So of course, the movie has the potential to find a captive audience among hoop fans in TN. Hopefully, if someone releases the film with sub-titles, it can reach audiences across the rest of the nation too, and inspire more interest in Indian basketball.

Bollywood, you're on the clock. Time to step up and kindly erase my memories of Kajol double-dribbling in a sari forever.

Have any of you seen 'Vallinam'? Please offer your reviews and thoughts below.