IOB Men and Holy Cross Women crowned Champions of the 5th YMCA Knights National Invitational Tournament, Goa.
Infiknights shooter in action in a game against USG, Pune. Image credits: YMCA Knights
20th May 2018, Goa: The 5th YMCA Knights National Invitational Tournament saw Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai secure an easy victory over Cochin Customs, Kerala 90-66 in the men’s final. Central Railways men secured the 3rd place as they beat hosts YMCA Knights 61-49. In the Women’s section, Holy Cross, Mumbai beat 360 Life Changers, Mumbai 59-46 and emerged as the winners of the tournament.
SCORES
MEN
Game 3: YMCA Knights 73 (Siddhant Shinde 24) bt Savio Club 63 (Israel 18)
Game 4: Central Railways 74 (Raj K 24) bt KJ's 40 (Shiva 13)
Game 5: YMCA Knights B 66 (Sanjeev Kumar 28) bt ABG Pune 55 (Rushikesh Pawar 17)
Game 6: Mumbai Police 69 ( Neelesh 28) bt Sonics Porvorim 61 (Brendan Gabriel 20)
Game 8: 360 Life Changers 62 (Neelesh Yadav 19) and Kjs (Sohail Naroo 18)
Game 9: Cochin 81 (Manjo R 20) bt Sonics 50 (Brendan 27)
Game 10: Savio club 75 (Rahul 14) USG Nasik 36 (Abdulla 36)
Game 11: 360 Life Changers 34 (Priya 11) bt DBO Panjim (Charmaine 6)
Game 13: Central Rail 92 (Amit 23) bt 360 Life Changers 54 (Prabhat 28)
Game 14: IOB 79 (Vineet Mathew 17) bt ABG Pune 46 (Tejas Khiksare 17)
Game 16: Cochin Customs 96 (Manoj 16) bt Mumbai Police 60 (Shashank 60)
Game 17: YMCA Knights 90 (Siddhant 24) bt USG Nasik 57 (Nishant 13)
Game 19: IOB 63 (Riken 18) bt Central Rail 54 (Fardeen 20)
Game 20: Cochin Customs 106 (Nikhil 29) and YMCA knights 84 (Siddhant 27)
WOMEN
Game 1: Pune Ballers 27 (Kajol Chopra 11) bt DBO Panjim (Kulsum Shaikh 7)
Game 2: Infiknights 48 (Michelle 17) bt USG Pune 12 (Sunkruti 4)
Game 7: IOB 84 (Jeeva 20) bt YMCA knights 'B' 56 (Sanjeey 22)
Game 12: Holy Cross 57 (Tanvi 19) bt USG Nasik 18 (Prachi 11)
Game 15: 360 Life Changers 46 (Priyanka 13) bt Pune Ballers 33 (Kajol 17)
Game 18: Holy Cross 54 (Rachel 6) bt Infiknights 17 (Saloni 19)
ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
The 5th edition of The National Invitational Tournament organized by YMCA Knights was held in Goa from 14th May – 19th May 2018. The participating teams included Cochin Customs, Central Railways, Indian Overseas Bank, KJS, Sonics, YMCA Knights, Mumbai Police, Savio Club, 360 Life Changers and USG Nashik among others. Cash prizes worth Rs. 1.5 Lakhs were given away.
BRIEF HISTORY
The 1st edition of the YMCA Knights Basketball Tournament was held in 2013 with an aim to encourage the sport among the local teams and clubs. The tournament proved to be a big hit and started gaining popularity. The following editions of the tournament were not limited to Goan teams/players alone. The 2nd edition of the tournament saw YMCA Mumbai take home the trophy. The 4th edition featured top players such as Narender Grewal, Siddanth Shinde, Joginder Singh Saharan and Ajinkya Mane. Though funding is still a challenge, the organizers of the tournament plan to work towards creating a platform that would enable India’s top teams to participate and showcase their talent.