Income Tax (Chennai) win the 54th All India PSG Trophy in Coimbatore

It's been the second major tournament victory for India's "Taxmen" in two months. The Income Tax squad from Chennai came up atop at the 54th All India basketball tournament for the PSG Trophy in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The tournament was held from September 9-13 at the PSG Tech Indoor Complex, featuring eight top Men's basketball teams.

In the close final on Thursday, Income Tax defeated Bengaluru's Vijaya Bank 82-78. Jeeva Nandham was dominant in the finale, scoring 36 points in the victory for Income Tax, while Ram Kumar added 17. International player Aravind Annadurai and Anil Kumar each scored 26 for Vijaya Bank's losing effort.

The winners of the tournament were rewarded 1 lakh rupees, while 50,000 was given to the runners-up.

Income Tax (Chennai) win 5th edition of Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty tournament in Bengaluru

They'll whoop your squad and demand the receipts.

Chennai's Income Tax came, saw, and conquered at the 5th Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, defeating the host team Vijaya Bank in front of a hostile crowd in Bengaluru on Sunday. The five-day tournament featured seven invited Men's club teams from around the country at the Beagles Indoor Basketball Stadium in Malleswaram, Bengaluru.

Undefeated in the tournament and having already notched a group stage victory over Vijaya Bank, Income Tax were determined to cap off their campaign on a high. After Vijaya Bank took an early lead, the 'Taxmen' bounced back with a 26-14 run in the second quarter to create some separation between the squads. Vijaya Bank turned up their defensive intensity in the fourth for a late comeback, but a clutch late lay-up by Income Tax's G. Sivabalan helped secure the 76-72 victory. Ravi Kumar scored 26 to lead IT in the final and Jeevanantham Pandi added 16. Vijaya Bank were led by Anil Kumar (27) and Arvind Arumugam (20).

Sivabalan was named the tournament's MVP.

Also on the final day, Lonavala's Indian Navy defeated 2017 champions Chennai's Integral Coach Factory (ICF) to secure the bronze medal. Mahipal Singh led with 23 for Navy's 69-59 victory.

Participating teams in the tournament included Vijaya Bank (Bengaluru), Indian Customs (Pune), Indian Navy (Lonavala), ICF (Chennai), Income Tax (Chennai), Telangana, and Karnataka. Reigning champions IOB (Chennai) did not take part this year.

Along with trophies, cash prizes of Rs. 1,00,000/- for the winners, Rs. 50,000/- for the runners-up, and Rs. 25,000/- and Rs. 10,000 for the 3rd and 4th place teams respectively, were awarded.

Final Results

• Winners: Income Tax
• Runners-up: Vijaya Bank
• Third Place: Indian Navy
• Fourth Place: ICF
• MVP: G. Sivabalan (Income Tax)
• Most Promising Player: Hareesh M. (Vijaya Bank)
• Best Defensive Player: Clinton Andrews (Vijaya Bank)
• Crowd Favourite: Ravi Kumar (Income Tax)

Chennai's Indian Overseas Bank win 4th Mulki Ram Sunder Ram Shetty basketball tournament in Bengaluru

Continuing the recent purple patch of performances for Tamil Nadu basketball after the state's victory at last month's Senior Nationals, the Indian Overseas Bank squad from Chennai won gold at India's first major club competition of 2018, the 4th Mulki Ram Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament. IOB won the tournament's finale at the Sri Kantaveera Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, February 4, with an impressive victory over another Chennai squad, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).

The Mulki Ram tournament was organised by Vijaya Bank in Bengaluru from January 31 to February 4, featuring several of India's top men's club squads, featuring the hosts Vijaya Bank themselves (Bengaluru), IOB, ICF, Income Tax, Customs (all from Chennai), Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala, Punjab), and the Karnataka State Team. Vijaya Bank defeated IOB to win the tournament last year.

In this year's final, IOB proved to be too big and too fast for ICF, and were led by Indian international Aravind Annadurai (23) en route to a comfortable 77-50 victory.

Vijaya Bank won the third-place playoff against Customs in a close contest, 81-76. S. Karthickeyan scored 21 to lead the hosts, while Chennai were led by Justin (27) and Hari Ram (23) in a losing effort.

IOB received ₹1,00,000, while ICF took home ₹50,000. RA Sankara Narayanan, Vijaya Bank CEO and Managing Director, gave away the prizes.

A number of individual awards were also given at the end of the tournament, including:

• Player of the tournament: GA Anto Bethle (ICF)
• Most popular player: Justin (Customs)
• Most promising player: Navin Raj (Vijaya bank)
• Best defender: Aravind Annadurai (IOB)

Hosts Vijaya Bank win 3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament in Bengaluru

A tantalizing finale between two 'bankmen' settled the 3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, a prestigious, invitational club basketball meet, in Bengaluru on Sunday, October 23rd. The host team Vijaya Bank (Bengaluru), a young squad that grew up leaps and bounds as the tournament progressed, defeated Indian Bank (Chennai) 86-82 in a tightly-contested finale. The victory gave the hosts their first every victory in the third edition of this tournament.

Held at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru from October 19-23, 2016, the tournament marks the memory of the Late Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman of Vijaya Bank, who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s. There were 7 teams in the fray in this tournament, divided into two Groups. The top two teams from each Group progressed to the semifinals followed by the finals. Several top Indian international players took part, both from the senior and junior teams.

Two of those rising young international talents made their mark in a memorable back-and-forth competition in the final, Vijaya Bank's Arvind Arumugam and Indian Bank's Hariram Ragupathy. Indian Bank held a slight advantage earlier in the game, as his team led 45-43 at halftime. But a crucial third-quarter run turned proceedings in Vijaya Bank's favour, who outscored their opponents 23-14 in the period to take a lead. Ragupathy (34) and A. Surya (20) led a comeback for Indian Bank, but they fell short as Vijaya Bank won the final 86-82. Arumugam finished the final with a cherry on top of his fantastic performances all tournament with a game-high 38.

Earlier in the day, during the third/fourth place clash, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) from Chennai relied on 28 points by Justin to defeat Kochi's Customs and Central Excise, who were led by international talent Basil Philip (18).

For his dominant performances, the winning squad's star Arvind Arumugam was named the tournament's MVP. Guruprasad Nayak of President's 11 (Karnataka) was named the Most Promising Player of the tournament. Vijaya Bank’s MD and CEO Kishore Kumar Sansi was the chief guest for the finale and he distributed the team and individual trophies and cash prizes.

Final Standings

• 1. Vijaya Bank
• 2. Indian Bank
• 3. Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu

KSEB Women and IOB Men win 2016 FEASTO All India Basketball Tournament in Kozhikode

Kerala's City of Spices Kozhikode - also known as Calicut - played host to some of the top basketball players in the nation over the past week as the FEASTO All India Basketball Tournament for Men and Women as the city's VK Krishnamenon Indoor Stadium from February 22-28. The championship, revived after a gap of 16 years, featured various top-level basketball clubs from around the region and other states. It was the Women's team from Thiruvanathapuram's Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and the Men's team from Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) in Chennai that emerged champions with resounding victories in their respective finals on Sunday, February 28.

In the Women's final, Kerala stars Stephy Nixon and Anjana PG scored 18 points apiece for KSEB to help them easily defeat the more experienced Southern Railway squad from Chennai, 71-52. Apporva Muralinath scored 18 for Southern Railway in the loss.

In the Men's final, IOB relied on the efforts of talented forward G. Sivabalan (18) to rush past Bengaluru's Vijaya Bank, 75-52. A. Aravind scored 19 for the losing side.

Prasanna Venkatesh of IOB and Anjana PG from KSEB won the Men's and Women's MVP awards respectively.

Income Tax (Chennai) win 2015 Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty Basketball Tournament in Bengaluru

For five days, eight of India's top basketball clubs and states gathered together in Bengaluru for the 2nd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, an invitational championship held at the city's Sri Kantaveera Stadium. Eventually, the tournament's finale pitted together Chennai's Income Tax and Dehradun's ONGC in a memorable clash. Income Tax's impressive first half effort set the tone for them, as they outlasted ONGC to win the final 70-56 and lift the winner's trophy.

Tipping off on October 7, the tournament was organized and sponsored by Vijaya Bank and held in the memory of the Late Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s. It was held under the auspices of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA).

ONGC were in the final of the tournament for the second consecutive year after finishing as runners-up in the tournament's debut a year ago. Despite having veteran international big names in the squad, ONGC were missing star Indian center Amrit Pal Singh (playing professionally in Japan) and had to contend with an injured Yadwinder Singh. Early in the game, a scuffle got Yadwinder, ONGC teammate Murali Krishan and Income Tax's Ravi Kumar all throw out of the game.

Income Tax made the most of their slight advantage by taking a huge early lead and stretching it out to 44-24 by halftime. Despite the best efforts of India captain and ONGC's Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (24) in the second half, Income Tax did enough to keep their lead secure and win 70-56. Ram Kumar (22) and international big man Rikin Pethani (19) led the way for the winning side.

Income Tax's MA Raghuram was named the tournament's MVP while his teammate Ram Kumar was given the Most Promising Player award.

Earlier in the day, home team Vijaya Bank - led by Anil Kumar (26) and Arvind (19) - outlasted Thiruvanathapuram's Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in a highly competitive clash to win the bronze medal in the tournament. KSEB's Alvin Baby scored 32 points and helped his squad lead a charge back in the game's second half, but Vijaya Bank did just enough to win the game 65-61.

Final: Income Tax (Ram Kumar 22, Rikin Pethani 19) bt ONGC (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 24, Riyazuddin 14) 70-56 [20-10, 24-14, 17-19, 9-13].

Final Standings

• 1. Income Tax
  
• 2. ONGC
  
• 3. Vijaya Bank
  

Top Indian basketball clubs set to participate in 2nd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India tournament in Bengaluru

Soon after India's positive international basketball performances at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in China, the nation's top men players now return to their respective clubs and units back home to showcase their skills against each other. A year ago, Bengaluru's Sri Kantaveera stadium hosted the inaugural Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty tournament to a rousing success. Following on its heels, the tournament returns to the city this week to continue its new legacy and create new legends in Indian domestic hoops.

The 2nd Mulki SUnder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, an invitational championship, will be bringing together eight of India's top men clubs and units to Bengaluru starting on Wednesday, October 7. The five-day tournament is set to conclude with finals on Monday, October 11. The tournament is being organized and sponsored by Vijaya Bank and held in the memory of the Late Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s. It will be held under the auspices of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA).

Participating Teams

• Pool A: ONGC, Punjab, Income Tax, Karnataka.
  
• Pool B: Vijaya Bank, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), South Central Railway, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).
  

Last year's tournament was won by IOB who defeated their Chennai-city rivals ONGC in the final. Unfortunately, IOB will not be participating to defend their title; last year's runners-up ONGC and organizing hosts Vijaya Bank will be among the favourites to lift the title this year.

The opening day (October 7) will see a felicitation ceremony honouring G Dileep, a former Olympian basketballer who joined Vijaya Bank in 1984, and has recently retired from service. Current Vijaya Bank employees Arvind Arumugam and Rajesh Uppar (batch of 2012) will also be felicitated for being part of the Senior Indian men’s team that finished 8th in the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship that concluded last week in Changsha, China.

Income Tax and Southern Railway win 2015 All India Jeppiaar Basketball Trophy

Several of the top club teams in India headed down south to Chennai to take part in the fifth installment of the Jeppiaar Trophy All India Invitational Tournament, a championship that brought together 11 teams in the Men's and Women's divisions to the Jeppiaar Institute of Technology (JIT) in the city. After six days of basketball featuring some of the best present and future stars in the country, Income Tax (Men) and repeating title winners Southern Railway (Women) ended the tournament as champions after the final day on Saturday, March 14.

The participating teams at the 2015 Jeppiaar Trophy were:

Men

Pool A: Vijaya Bank, KSEB, Sathyabama University, Income Tax.
Pool B: Indian Army, Air Force, JIT.

Women: Southern Railway, JIT, South Central Railway, South Eastern Railway

In the Men's final, Income Tax defeated Vijaya Bank 67-59. Income Tax's Vinay Kaushik scored 22 points in the final for his team's victory and was named the Player of the tournament. The Women's tournament was only held in round-robin fashion in the group stage. Southern Railway finished undefeated in the Women's group and were thus named champions, with South Central Railway and South Eastern Railway finishing second and third respectively.

The last iteration of this tournament was held back in 2013, with IOB (Men) and Southern Railway (Women) emerging as winners.

Before the tournament, JIT created a preview video about the tournament and the Men's and Women's home teams. You can check it out here.

IOB win first-ever Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India tournament in Bengaluru

From October 15-19, the city of Bengaluru hosted the inaugural Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball tournament, a men's championship that featured six of India's top club level or state teams. After five days of high-notch basketball, the tournament was settled with a comfortable final win by Indian Overseas Bank - IOB - against their Chennai city rivals ONGC on Sunday, October 19th at the Bharat Sports Union in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru.

After a neck-to-neck start to the final, IOB relied on the sharp-shooting abilities of India international Pratham Singh, who scored 25 points to help his team open up a double digit lead in the second half. IOB trailed in the first quarter, caught up before halftime, and then continued to ride their positive momentum en route to a 63-49 victory. The star-studded IOB squad, which also featured the likes of Amjyot Singh, Hareesh Koroth, Mihir Pandey, Aravind A., and Prasanna V., thus became the first claimants to the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty winner's trophy.

Prasanna was named the tournament's MVP.

In a high-scoring encounter for third-place earlier on Sunday, host team Vijaya Bank relied on the efforts of Anil (26) and Arvind (24) to defeat the Karnataka State team 89-75. Visu led the way with 24 for Karnataka.

Only teams from three southern Indian states - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala - took part in the inaugural iteration of this tournament. The participating teams were: ONGC, Vijaya Bank, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Tamil Nadu, IOB, Cochin Customs, Chennai Customs, and Kerala.

Final Standings

• IOB
  
• ONGC
  
• Vijaya Bank
  

Check out the complete coverage on Ekalavyas.com for more from this tournament.

Vijaya Bank (Men) & Eastern Railway (Women) win 2014 JCI Basketball Tournament at Athirampuzha

Kolkata's outfit Eastern Railway capitalized their unexpected run with a final victory over Assumption College (Changanacherry) to win the 5th JCI All India Invitational Basketball Tournament, held in Athirampuzha in Kottayam district, Kerala on January 12th. In the Men's Final that followed, Bangalore's outfit Vijaya Bank blew out Customs (Chennai) for a resounding victory.

Eastern Railway trailed by two points at halftime of the Women's Final, but turned things around behind a strong effort by Sukurmoni Oran (22) to take the lead over Assumption and fight to a 62-55 win.

In the Men's game, Vijaya's Bank star Aravind was on fire, scoring 31 points to lead the rout over Customs. Vijaya Bank had a 42-22 lead at halftime and cruised to a 72-44 win.

Special guests at the finale - held at Athirampuzha St Aloysius Basketball Stadium - including Kerala's Forest Transport, Sports, Environment, and Cinema Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, MP Jose K Mani, Mons Joseph, Suresh Kurup, NBA-certified coach Jim Coronna , ex India international gootballer IM Vijayan, and India international basketball player CV Sunny.

ONGC (Men) and Central Railway (Women) won the JCI basketball tournament last year.

IOB & South Western Railway win 1st Midhun Markose All India Basketball Tournament in Thiruvanathapuram

IOB (Chennai) Men and South Western Railway (Hubli) Women won their respective Finals matchups and took home the trophy at the end of the 1st Midhun Markose TDBA All India Basketball Tournament, held in Thiruvanathapuram (Kerala) from August 4-9. The finals were held on Friday, August 9 at the Central Stadium in the city.

The Men's final was a close contest as Vijaya Bank (Bangalore) led IOB 32-29 at halftime, but IOB made a comeback in the second half behind 19 points by A. Aravind to win 68-63. Vijaya Bank had their own Aravind who added 21 points in a losing cause.

In the Women's final, the eventual winners found themselves in a similar predicament midway. Hubli's South Western Railway trailed 28-19 at halftime to KSEB, but turned the score around in a thrilling finish to inch away to a 63-60 win. Savitha LS scored 24 points for the winning side eclipsing 19 points by KSEB's Merlin Baby.

Actress Gouthami Nair and international footballer Joe Paul Archery were amongst the celebrities attending the Finals.

Customs and Central Excise took the third spot as they defeated Indian Army 88-64 after leading 44-36 at the half time. Customs which had lost to Indian Army in the League round thus avenged their defeat as it worked today as an cohesive unit with 6 of them scoring in double digits. Gopal Ram had 19 points for Indian Army in the loss while Suresh Kumar added 16.

27th Federation Cup tips off in Bangalore today!

The 27th annual edition of one India's biggest club basketball competitions - the Federation Cup All India Basketball Tournament - tips off this year in the city of Bangalore on Wednesday, January 30, 2013. A total of 17 top club sides from across India (Nine Men's teams and Eight Women's teams) have qualified for this tournament, which will be held at Bangalore's famous Sri Kantaveera Basketball Stadium.

The tournament is being organised by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA). The finals of the tournament are slated to be held on February 3.

Defending their title this season will be Punjab Police, last year's surprise champions in the Men's division in Kochi. Women's champions from last year Southern Railway will not be at the tournament; instead, many of their players will be playing for their home states. Fans will be out cheering for the home teams, which will be Vijaya Bank for the Men's division and Karnataka Women.

There are special eligibility rules for the Federation Cup, which are based on the top eight Men’s and Women’s teams from the previous year’s National Basketball Championship, which ended in Chennai in December 2011. For the Men’s championship, the champion club/unit in each state’s internal basketball championship will be invited to play in the Federation Cup. For the Women’s championship, it is the state/unit teams themselves (usually) that take part.

KSBBA secretary K Govindaraj said “The indoor stadium is ready to host the best players from around the country, and all the players who featured in the National championships will be in attendance here.”

Via this article on SportsKeeda by Siddarth Sharma, here is the list of participating teams in their groups this year:

Men

Group A: Punjab Police (Punjab), Customs & Central Excise (Kerala), Indian Air Force (Services), Captain's Club (Delhi), Vijaya Bank (Karnataka).

Group B: Indian Overseas Bank (Tamil Nadu), South Central Railway (Andhra Pradesh), Jind (Haryana), ONGC (Uttarakhand).

Women

Group A: South Eastern Railways (Bilaspur), Delhi, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh.

Group B: Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra.

This is the first time in 24 years that Karnataka is hosting the Federation Cup. The winning teams will win Rs. 1 lakh, while the first and second runners-up will go home with Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively.

Check out a more in-depth preview of the tournament by Siddarth Sharma here.

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.