2nd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament 2015 tips off in Bengaluru; Income Tax stuns ONGC, hosts Vijaya Bank win opener
Vijaya Bank centre Arvind Arumugam makes a layup against South Central Railway. Bengaluru, 7th October 2015: The 2nd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament 2015, being organised by Karnataka’s leading nationalised bank, Vijaya Bank, tipped off at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru earlier this evening. Hosts Vijaya Bank got off to a strong start in the opening game, beating South Central Railway 70-57 in their Pool B league encounter. Vijaya Bank’s ‘Big Three’ of centre Arvind Arumugam, shooting guard Anil Kumar and point guard Rajesh Uppar, proved too hot to handle for South Central Railway (SCR), which battled hard in the second and fourth quarters, but were outscored by 8 points in each of the remaining two periods.
Current India Captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (in yellow) attempts a layup for ONGC against Income Tax Later in the evening, a new look Income Tax-Chennai team stunned reigning national champions and tournament favourites ONGC Dehradun 77-65. The Income Tax side, which already features Indian team point guard Akilan Pari, was bolstered by the joining of Indian power forward Rikin Pethani. ONGC led at the end of the first quarter, before Income Tax caught fire in the second to take a 40-33 halftime lead. The veteran ONGC side inevitably fought back in the third period to tie the game at 55 apiece. But the tired legs of the ONGC seniors couldn’t sustain the momentum, as Income Tax enjoyed a late 22-10 scoring run for the memorable opening win. “Vijaya Bank has been encouraging sporting activities for more than four decades. A number of sportspersons recruited by the bank have brought laurels to the Institution, State and country over the years. Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, R Vinay Kumar (from cricket), Ashwini Ponnappa (athletics), BS Gautham, G Dileep (basketball), Honappa Gowda C and Dinesh Prabhu (Kabaddi) are just a few examples in this regard. Presently our Bank has three teams: Basketball, Cricket and Kabaddi which are one of the top teams in the country,” said Shri KR Shenoy, Executive Director of Vijaya Bank in his inaugural address to the participating teams and spectators. Pool A: Income Tax Chennai (Ravi Kumar 16, Akilan 15) bt ONGC Dehradun (Trideep Rai 20, Yadwinder Singh 11) 77-65 [17-20, 23-12, 22-15, 22-10] Pool B: Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam 22, Anil Kumar 17, Rajesh Uppar 16) bt South Central Railway (Sujith Reddy 20, Naveen 15) 70-57 [18-10, 12-19, 24-16, 16-12]
Vijaya Bank Players Felicitated
L to R Shyam Ponnappa, Sports Officer (Vijaya Bank), Mr AC Swain, General Manager, Personnel Department (Vijaya Bank), Rajesh Uppar, Arvind Arumugam, G Dileep, KR Shenoy, Executive Director (Vijaya Bank) and AS Rajeev, General Manager, Central Accounts Department (Vijaya Bank) The inaugural day saw the following three Vijaya Bank international basketball players getting felicitated by Senior Vijaya Bank executives Shri KR Shenoy (Executive Director), Shri AC Swain General Manager, Personnel Department and AS Rajeev, General Manager, Central Accounts Department:
Shri Gurumurthy Dileep, a former Olympian basketballer who retired from Vijaya Bank service on 30th His designation at the time of retirement was Senior Manager of Malleswaram Branch, Bengaluru. He represented the Vijaya Bank team from 1977 onwards for over two decades. A former captain of the Karnataka team, he was part of the Indian team at the 10th ABC held in Nagoya, Japan in 1979. He was also in the Indian team in the 22nd Olympic Games held in Moscow in 1980. After retirement from active playing, he coached the Vijaya Bank basketball team which has been consistently winning the prestigious State Association Cup for the last 15 years.
Current Vijaya Bank employees Arvind Arumugam and Rajesh Uppar (Vijaya Bank recruitment batch of 2012) who were part of the Senior Indian men’s team that finished 8th at the 28th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship last week in Changsha, China.
About the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament
The tournament is being held at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru from 7th to 11th October 2015, under the auspices of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association. Matches will be played every evening from 5:00 pm onwards in a league cum knockout basis. The tournament is being held in the memory of the Late Shri Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman, who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s. There are 8 teams in the fray in this tournament, divided into two Pools of 4 teams each. This edition of the tournament will feature some of the nation’s top men’s club sides such as last year’s runners up and reigning National Games champion Oil and National Gas Corporation (ONGC)-Dehradun, Punjab, Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-Chennai, Income Tax-Chennai, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), South Central Railway-Secunderabad, hosts Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State team. The top two teams from each Pool qualifying to the knockout rounds. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held last year in Malleshwaram, with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)-Chennai, ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State finishing as the top four teams respectively.
FIXTURES OF THE 2ND MULKI SUNDER RAM SHETTY ALL INDIA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT, BENGALURU
7th to 11th October 2015
Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru
Pool A
Pool B
ONGC DEHRADUN VIJAYA BANK PUNJAB INTEGRAL COACH FACTORY (ICF) INCOME TAX SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY KARNATAKA STATE KERALA STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD (KSEB)
7.10.2015 Matches from 5:00 pm onwards
Vijaya Bank vs South Central Railway
ONGC vs Income Tax
Punjab vs Karnataka
ICF vs KSEB
8.10.2015 Matches from 4:30 pm onwards
Punjab vs Income Tax
Vijaya Bank vs KSEB
ONGC vs Karnataka State
ICF vs South Central Railway
9.10.2015 Matches from 4:30 pm onwards
South Central Railway vs KSEB
ICF vs Vijaya Bank
ONGC vs Punjab
Karnataka vs Income Tax
10.10.2015 Semifinal Matches from 4:30 pm onwards
Winner A vs Runner B
Winner B vs Runner A
11.10.2015 Matches from 4:30 pm onwards
3rd Place Match
Finals
About Vijaya Bank & Its Basketball Programme
Vijaya Bank, was founded on 23rd October 1931 by late Shri A B Shetty and other enterprising farmers in Mangalore, Karnataka. The objective of the founders was essentially to promote banking habit, thrift and entrepreneurship among the farming community of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka State. The bank became a scheduled bank in 1958. Vijaya Bank steadily grew into a large All India bank, with nine smaller banks merging with it during the 1963-68. The credit for this merger as well as growth goes to late Shri M. Sunder Ram Shetty, who was then the Chief Executive of the bank. The bank was nationalised on 15th April 1980. The bank has built a network of 1512 branches, 48 Extension Counters and 1528 ATMs, that span all 28 states and 4 union territories in the country. Each branch provides effective and efficient services and significantly contributes to the growth of the individual, and the nation. Notably, Vijaya Bank is the only recruiter of basketball talent in the state of Karnataka, and has contributed 10 international players to the country, starting with Olympian Gurumurthy Dileep, who joined the bank way back in 1984. Other international players honed by the bank are former India captain BS Gautham (1986), A Rajkumar (1988), S Stalin (1993), G Murali Mohan (1995), Roshan Thankachan (1999), Sanjay Raj (2002), Arvind Arumugam and Rajesh Uppar (both in 2012). Including these international stars, in all, the bank has recruited 25 national level players, who have represented their bank and the state of Karnataka with great pride and gusto.