Final Day of the 33rd Youth National Championship 2016

·         Tamil Nadu girls and Kerala boys crowned champs

·         Junior Karnataka girls basketball team, which won the National Championship earlier this year, felicitated with cash prize of Rs 5 lakhs.

·         Top three teams in both sections awarded cash prizes of Rs 75,000/-, Rs 50,000/- and Rs 25,000/- respectively.

·         Numerous Karnataka State Ministers and Kannada actor/former MP Ramya (Divya Spandana) present

Hassan, Karnataka, 26^th November, 2016: The 33rd Youth National Championship 2016 concluded a short while ago at the Hasanamba Indoor Stadium here in Hassan. Tamil Nadu girls and Kerala boys have been crowned champs, beating Kerala girls and Uttar Pradesh boys in the finals. The top three teams in both sections awarded cash prizes of Rs 75,000/-, Rs 50,000/- and Rs 25,000/- respectively. The Championship was organized by Karnataka State Basketball Association under the aegis of Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

Final Standings

Standings Boys Girls 1. Kerala Tamil Nadu 2. Uttar Pradesh Kerala 3. Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh 4. Karnataka Madhya Pradesh 5. Rajasthan Maharashtra 6. Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh 7. Punjab Karnataka 8. Delhi Rajasthan

Closing Ceremony- Junior Karnataka girls team felicitated

Guests of honour included Dr G Parameshwara, Hon’ble Home Minister, Govt of Karnataka, who felicitated the Karnataka’s junior girls’ team, winners of the 67^th Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 held in Puducherry between 1 to 8 May. The entire contingent was present to receive the cash prize of Rs 5,00,000/-. The contingent details are as follows: Supritha C N (4), Sanjana R (5), Snigddha (6), Bhandavya H M (7), Bhoomika P (8), Priyanka P (9), Lopamudra Thimmaiah (10), Grishma N (11), Roshini S A (12), Chandana G (13),  Yashaswini C P (14), Pavana Reddy (15), Mohan Kumar J E (Coach) and B. S. Sridhar (Mgr.). Shri A Manju, Hon’ble Minister for Animal Husbandry & Sericulture, Govt of Karnataka & District-In-Charge, Hassan also graced the occasion. Shri Ramalinga Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Government of Karnataka presided over the ceremony. Remaining special invitees included Shri HD Revanna (MLA & Former Minister), Kumari Ramya (Former MP & Kannada Cine Actor), Shri HS Prakash (MLA), Shri MS Gopalswamy (MLC), Shri Ashok Harnahalli (Former Advocate General), Shri Kadambi Rajagopal (Former international basketball player), Shri HS Anil Kumar (President, Hassan City Municipal Corporation), Smt Chaitra V (Deputy Commissioner, Hassan) and Smt Shweta Devaraj (President, Hassan Zilla Panchayat). From the organizing team, Shri Om Prakash (IPS & Chairman-Organizing Committee), Shri K Govindaraj (BFI President, Organizing Secretary & Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka) and Shri Chander Mukhi Sharma (Chairman-Tournament Committee and BFI Secretary General) oversaw the function.

The 2016 Junior Karnataka girls contingent was felicitated on the final day of the 33rd Youth National Championship 2016

Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 82-66

The only two undefeated teams in the championship, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, went head on in the girls finals. In the first quarter, Tamil Nadu dominated the offensive boards early, but its players, specifically centre S Pushpa was unable to convert from under the basket.  On the other end, Kerala was more efficient and able to rake up a 14-6 early lead. The match was much closer than what the scoreline suggested through. At the end of the first quarter, the score read 18-16 in favour of Kerala. In the second period, both teams were guilty of turning the ball over often, as either side’s man to man defence made offence hard for the other. Kerala was able to create some separation, leading 30-22 with 5 mins of play left for halftime. But Kerala’s Aparna Sadasivan’s sloppy turnovers allowed Tamil Nadu to bring it back within 2, 32-34. At halftime, Kerala held on to a slender 37-35. The third quarter began explosively for Tamil Nadu, as guard T Dharshini showed tremendous hustle to win back the ball repeatedly. Thanks to her work, Kerala’s team offence was completely undone and its dynamic forward Shreekala R decided to do it all by herself, running coast to coast. However, Tamil Nadu had begun imposing its will on the match, outscoring Kerala 21-11, to take a 56-48 lead at the end of the quarter. In the final 10 minutes, Tamil Nadu turned up its defensive pressure by another notch, double and at times triple teaming Shreekala. The ploy worked as Shreekala turned the ball over, while her teammates were unable to step up in terms of upping their scoring contribution.

Kerala bt UP boys 85-51

Kerala boys capped their dream run with a sensational drubbing of challengers Uttar Pradesh in the boys finals. Throughout the championship, the undefeated Kerala side seemed to be in cruise control, and the final game simply marked a summation of their best qualities. From the rock solid presence of captain centre Sejin Mathew in the paint, the natural flair for scoring of shooting guard Amal Reghu, the hustle and energy of backup point guard Shaun Luiz, to the role players Chacko Simon and Akshay Sunilkumar, all its starters played their parts to perfection. Kerala started off on a 8-2 run. Uttar Pradesh, arguably one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the tournament had their backs to the wall from the get go.  The side looked to run most of its offence through centre Bhagyansh Gulati and shooting guard Priyanshu. The strategy helped initially, as UP led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Kerala’s defensive intensity began to cause UP a lot of trouble. Centre Sejin posted two blocks midway through this period, as Kerala stifled UP to just 15 points. On the other end, back to back threes by backup point guard Shaun Luiz helped Kerala to 26 points in the quarter. At halftime, Kerala now led 42-33. Midway through the third frame, Kerala’s Shanazil Seeni got fouled out, but that did little to stem Kerala’s offensive onslaught. The side outscored UP 26-10 in the third period and again 17-8 in the fourth to close out the surprisingly easy 85-51 win.

Kerala centre Sejin Mathew shows off his wingspan vs UP in the finals of the 33rd Youth National Championship 2016

Results from Day 8 (26^th November)

Girls:

Level 1

Finals

1. Tamil Nadu (Avanthi Vardhan 17, S Pushpa 17, T Dharshini 13, J Monica Jayaseeli 12) bt Kerala (Shreekala R 27, Olivia Shaibu 13, Jayalakshmi VJ 11, Festy P Jose 10) 82-66 [16-18, 19-19, 21-11, 26-18]

3^rd-4^th match

1. Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 39, Shruti Yadav 12) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divyani Gangwal 22) 71-39 [10-8, 21-10, 26-13, 14-8]

5^th-6^th match

1. Maharashtra (Sakshi Kotian 18, Shreya Dandekar 18, Anshika Kanojia 17) bt Chhattisgarh (Elizabet Ekka 19, Neha Karya 10) 73-41 [19-12, 10-4, 24-8, 20-17]

7^th- 8^th match

1. Karnataka (Aishwarya YB 15, Keerthana G 13, Harshitha R 13) bt Rajasthan (Yashika Singhal 16, Nandita Choudhary 13, Simran Birla 11) 63-47 [10-14, 10-13, 15-11, 28-9]

Boys:

Level 1:

Finals

1. Kerala (Amal Reghu 33, Chacko C Simon 19, Sejin Mathew 16, Shaun Luiz 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Priyanshu 21, Bhagyansh Gulati 21) 85-51 [16-18, 26-15, 26-10, 17-8]

3^rd-4^th match

1. Tamil Nadu (M Arvind Kumar 30, K Surya 23, T Prathap 15, B Tharun Kumar 12) bt Karnataka (Pratyanshu Tomar 22, Prashant Tomar 16, Srujan BK 13) 99-69 [26-26, 28-14, 22-20, 23-9]

5^th-6^th match

1. Rajasthan (Ashish Trivedi 27) bt Chhattisgarh (Govind 20, Binod Rajak 17) 72-64 [14-17, 24-13, 15-12, 19-22]

7^th- 8^th match

1. Punjab (Princepal Singh 18, Vivek Chauhan 11) bt Delhi (Abhishek Sharma 14) 49-35 [8-7, 20-7, 11-10, 10-11]

About the 33^rd Youth National Basketball Championship 2016

The 33^rd Youth National Basketball Championship for U16 boys and girls was held in Hassan, Karnataka from the 19^th to the 26^th of November, 2016. The matches were conducted at three venues - the indoor and outdoor courts of the Hasanamba Stadium and the courts of the Malnad College of Engineering.

Championship Details

In total, 24 boys teams and 22 girls teams participated in the eight day tournament.  As always, the teams are divided into upper Level 1 and lower Level 2 Within each Level, the teams are further divided into Groups A & B (Level 1) and Groups C to F (for Level 2 teams). This is a league cum knockout format, and as many as 122 matches will be played from early morning to late night. The top teams after the group stages will proceed to the knockout rounds. There is also a system of relegation/promotion whereby the bottom two Level 1 teams will get relegated to Level 2 for the next edition, replaced by the top two teams from Level 2. Prior to the 2016 edition, 32 iterations of the Championship were held. The 2015 edition was held in Bhavnagar & Anand in Gujarat. Due to incessant rains, the finals were washed out. As a result, Tamil Nadu and Delhi boys, and Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh girls were declared joint winners.

About Basketball Federation of India

The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honour of Arjuna Awards. Earlier in June 2015, 19-year-old Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian national to be drafted by an NBA team, when he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks. More information at www.basketballfederationindia.org

For media queries please contact

Mr Mohan Kumar (Karnataka State Basketball Association) - +91 9845479989 Mr Gopalakrishnan R (BFI Media team) - +91 8197235684