4th Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament to tip off in Bengaluru tomorrow
The tournament to be played out from 31st January to 4th February will feature some of India’s top men’s club teams such as Vijaya Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Income Tax.
The venue for the tournament is the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium with games tipping off at 6:00 PM daily.
Cash prizes of Rs. 1,00,000/- and Rs. 50,000/- have been announced for the winners and runners up. Rs. 25,000/- and Rs. 10,000/- for 3rd and 4th place finishes respectively.
Hosts Vijaya Bank are the defending champions, while Indian Bank were the runners up in the previous edition.
File photo: Defending champions of the 4th Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, Vijaya Bank team with their MD and CEO Mr Kishore Sansi
Bengaluru, 30th January 2018: The 4th Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament, organised by the Vijaya Bank, is all set to tip off tomorrow at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium. The tournament is set to be played out from 31st January 2018 to 4th February 2018, and will witness some of India’s top men’s club sides go head to head featuring some of the best talent Indian basketball has to offer.
After winning their maiden title in the previous edition, hosts Vijaya Bank, led by their coach Rajkumar and mercurial guard Anil Kumar BK, will look to defend their title against the likes of Indian Overseas Bank, Income Tax, Customs, (all three teams from Chennai, Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala (Punjab), Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai the and Karnataka State team.
The tournament will be played in a league cum knockout format, where the 7 teams will be divided into two groups, and the top 2 of each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The tournament will be inaugurated by the guest of honour Sri K Govindaraj, MLC, President of the Basketball Federation of India, in the presence of Sri Nageswara Rao Y, Executive Director - Vijaya Bank, Sri B S Rama Rao, Executive Director – Vijaya Bank and Sri R A Sankara Narayanan, Managing Director and CEO - Vijaya Bank.
Post the inauguration ceremony at 5:30 PM, the matches for the day will commence from 6:00 PM.
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 have been announced by Vijaya Bank. Besides these, awards such as the ‘Best player of the tournament’, ‘Most promising player’ and ‘Best defensive player’ are up for grabs.
Tournament details
Group A Group B Vijaya Bank ICF Indian Overseas Bank Income Tax RCF Kapurthala Chennai Customs Karnataka State
Sr. No Date and Day Time Team 1 Team 2 1 31st January 2018/Wednesday 5:30 PM Vijaya Bank RCF Kapurthala 2 6:45 PM ICF Chennai Customs 3 8:00 PM Income Tax Karnataka State 1 1st February 2018/Thursday 5:00 PM Income Tax ICF 2 6:15 PM Chennai Customs Karnataka State 3 7:30 PM IOB RCF Kapurthala 1 2nd February 2018/Friday 5:00 PM ICF Karnataka State 2 6:15 PM Income Tax Chennai Customs 3 7:30 PM IOB Vijaya Bank
Vijaya Bank All India Tournament- Past Edition Details
The Vijaya Bank All India Tournament is held in the memory of the Late Shri 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.
The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 2014 in Malleshwaram, with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)-Chennai, ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State finishing as the top four teams respectively.
The 2nd edition was held in 2015 at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru. Income Tax-Chennai emerged winners, with ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Kerala State Electricity Board rounding off the top four.
The 3rd edition was held in 2016 at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru. Hosts Vijaya bank emerged winners in a close contest against Indian Bank. Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu finished third, while Customs and Central Excise, Kochi rounded up the top 4.
Vijaya Bank- A proud heritage in basketball
Notably, Vijaya Bank is the only recruiter of basketball talent in the state of Karnataka, and has contributed 11 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, Rajesh Uppar (both in 2012), Anil Kumar BK (2016). 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.