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There has been a lot of basketball action in India in the last two months. The Savio Cup in December saw the team from USA, Sports Power, win the men’s division and as usual the South Central Railway Women won the women’s division. Then, in January, we saw the 63rd Nationals which were won by Uttarakhand (mostly ONGC players) and Railways Women. And now, we have another top notch competition upon us in the Federation Cup. The 27th Federation Cup will tip off tomorrow in Bangalore. The matches will be played in Sree Kanteerava Stadium. This tournament will go on for five days. Its a league cum knockout tournament which will see the best teams in India compete for the top prize of Rs 1 lac.
There are nine men’s teams and eight women’s teams participating in this competition. The teams are divided in two groups each for men and women. The division is as follows-
Men-Group A:Punjab PoliceCustoms and Central ExciseIndian Air ForceCaptain’s Club (Delhi)Vijaya Bank
Group B:Indian Overseas BankSouth Central RailwayJind (Haryana)ONGC
Women:Group A:South Eastern Railways (Bilaspur)DelhiKeralaAndhra Pradesh
Group B:ChhattisgarhTamil NaduKarnatakaMaharashtra
This is the first time in twenty years that Karnataka is hosting the Federation Cup, since 1988-89. The top two teams from each group will move to the knockouts. Here’s what the prize purse looks like-
1st place – Rs 1 Lac2nd place – Rs 75,0003rd place – Rs 50,000
Last year, the Federation Cup and the Nationals were both won by Punjab Police and Punjab. Both teams have almost the same players. Punjab Police won it after defeating ONGC in the finals, 72-59 and Southern Railways Women defeated Chhattisgarh 95-57 to win it.
This year, Punjab Police won’t be fielding Loveneet Singh Atwal, who has his school exams to attend. It is a testament to his talent that he plays for India while still being in school. He missed the exams last year because of the Nationals, this time books come first for the young point guard. Punjab is also missing Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh (Sr.), both of whom have changed teams – Amjyot to IOB and Amritpal to ONGC. Amritpal and Amjyot didn’t get to play in the Nationals. Rumour has it that it was because they did not get No Objection Certificates from Punjab Police. The scourge of NOC is not new. Last year, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh did not get to play in the Nationals when Railways wouldn’t give them NOC. In my opinion, the practice of NOC is more harmful than the shameful way in which it is used. Here’s more on that.
IOB team will be in a somber mood. One of their former players, Chandrasekar passed away yesterday in a bike accident at the young age of 29. He had played for IOB, Tamil Nadu and India. Hopefully he will be watching this from above with a smile. IOB will have the services of Amjyot Singh this time presumably, he must have got the NOC by now.
ONGC men, the winners of the 63rd Nationals
ONGC men are the overwhelming favourites to win this. Uttarakhad decimated the opposition in the Nationals, winning all matches with an average margin of victory of 23.6 points. (excluding finals). Vishesh averaged 28.6 points per game in that one (excluding finals). And Trideep Rai was coming off an ankle injury, but he still played all out. Yadwinder Singh made an emphatic statement in the finals of the nationals vs Punjab with 33 points, going up against the taller Palpreet Brar and Satnam Singh. Expect some tough competition from all the teams, who are the cream of the crop in India.
Of the tournament, Karnataka State Basketball Association 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.” Along with the competition, around 40-45 current and former players from Karnataka who have played for India will also be felicitated on 2 February.
If someone watching this competition has access to the videos of the games being played, please drop a mail at [email protected]. I’ll try to make video highlights of the games like these.
Guess the Lakers players!
