Indian Basketball’s All Star Weekend in be held in Mumbai on April 8-9

Get ready for Indian basketball’s brightest stars to shine together: For the second year, the top Men and Women players in India will descend to the Mastan YMCA in Mumbai to take part in Indian Basketball’s All Star Weekend - India All Star - on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th of April, 2011. Organised by Ibrahim Lakdawala of Lakdawala Developer PVT. LTD., the two day event will host skills competitions on April 8th and the Men and Women All Star Games on April 9th, featuring the most talented players in the country divided into East and West sides.

India’s most popular and exciting players, from all over the country, have been invited by the organisers for this landmark event, which will be an opportunity for Indian hoops aficionados to see their favourite players in action against each other. “We had organised the All Star Game on a small scale last year,” said Lakdawala, a former national-level player for the country, who has been the brainchild behind the project, “But this time, we will be hosting a much bigger event.”

The events on Friday will include a three-point shooting competition for Men & Women and a Slam Dunk Competition for Men. The All Star Games will be held on Saturday evening: the participants in the two games will be divided into East and West sides. The all stars will include top-level players such as Jagdeep Singh, Yadwinder Singh, Trideep Rai, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Pau Durai, Prashanti Singh, and Akanksha Singh.

“It will be a fun festival of basketball,” said Salim Shaikh, the co-organiser of the event, “We hope that our players will enjoy participating against each other. There will be a lot of exciting prizes for all the players.

“In addition, we will have a lot of merchandise for the fans, including T-shirts featuring their favourite Indian players,” Shaikh added.

The All Star Game will also mark as a fitting prelude to the Ramu Memorial Basketball Tournament, set to tip off at the Indian Gymkhana Grounds in Matunga, Mumbai, from April 10-17.

Indian All Star Teams

WOMEN

East

Anitha Pau Durai (Tamil Nadu) - Captain
Seema Singh (Chhattisgarh)
Sonika Ohylan (Delhi)
Raspreet Sidhu (Delhi)
Bharti Netam (Chhattisgarh)
Asha Hegde (Delhi)
Pushma M. (Chhattisgarh)
Anju Lakra (Chhattisgarh)
Savihta C.S. (Karnataka)
Manisha Dange (Maharashtra)

West

Prashanti Singh (Delhi) - Captain
Geethu Anna Jose (Tamil Nadu)
Divya Singh (Delhi)
Akanksha Singh (Delhi)
Varsha Verma (Delhi)
Kokila (Tamil Nadu)
Aakansha Singh (Chhattisgarh)
Sonam (Karnataka)
Sagarika Shyam (Karnataka)
Smrithi (Maharashtra)

MEN

East

Yadwinder Singh (Railways) - Captain
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Railways)
Trideep Rai (ONGC)
Anoop (ONGC)
Jai Ram Jat (Services)
Harish Koroth (IOB)
Shanmugam Sridhar (ONGC)
Arvind (Railways)
Arjun Singh (Railways)
Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh)
Amrit Pal Singh (Punjab)
Murali Krishna R. (ONGC)

West

Riyazuddin (ONGC) - Captain
Jagdeep Singh (Punjab)
Shabeer (ONGC)
Mihir Pandey (IOB)
Jasjot Singh (Railways)
Narender Kumar (Services)
Mohit Bhandari (ONGC)
Gagandeep Singh (Railways)
Bobby Singh (Uttar Pradesh)
Talwinderjit Singh Sahi (Punjab)
Jaskaran Singh / Amjyot Singh (Punjab) – not confirmed yet

With experience on their side, ONGC aim to win their third straight Federation Cup

One look at the team list for ONGC, and it’s immediately clear that there is something special about this team. Of all the team’s playing at the Federation Cup in Raipur, ONGC might not feature most of the current crop of India’s internationals (that honour goes to Western Railway), or feature some of the game’s exciting youngsters who play for teams like Billai Steel Plant, but they’re a squad blessed with some of the most experienced players in India.

“Our experience is obviously our strongest point,” says ONGC coach Rajendra Singh Rathore, who has been a former Junior and Senior India player himself, “We have a mix of former and current stars who are starring in this championship.”

ONGC feature the likes of Trideep Rai, who was part of India’s recent squad that travelled to Guangzhou (China) for the Asian Games. But along with him are a host of other legends, such as the superstar Riyazuddin, who is attempting a comeback from a serious injury, Mohit Bhandari, Murali Krishna, Anoop, and Sridhar S.

Each of their various weapons bring different things to the game, resulting in a well-assembled fit. The wily point-guard Bhandari orchestrates ONGC’s offense, slashing through defenders to shoot, lay-up, or create great shooting opportunities for his teammates. Riyaz, who is one of the best in the country at creating his own shot, succeeds best when the team begins to play a fast-paced game. Their dominating big men, Murali, Anoop, and Nishant Kumar make it difficult for opponents to out-rebound them. And ONGC turn most to Trideep, their best pure scorer, to make the big shots when most needed.

Still, having perhaps the oldest squad in the tournament doesn’t come without its speed-bumps. Several of the players in ONGC are playing the tournament with niggling injuries. But no obstacle, whether internal or from a foe, has been able to defeat the team’s spirit. Even in the toughest of games, ONGC look calm and assured of themselves, ready to strike when the moment calls for.

Unlike the usual run-and-gun offense applied by most of their opponents, ONGC play a slightly slower inside-outside game, relying on half-court set-ups and their beefy big men to help them control the paint.

Coming into this year’s tournament in Raipur, ONGC are the two-time holding champions of the Federation Cup, after their triumphs at Alwar (Rajasthan) and Rourkella (Orissa) in the previous years. “We have done well in this tournament in the past, and we will do our best to retain it,” said team captain Amit Kumar Singh.

So far, it has been smooth sailing in the Semi-Finals for the squad: ONGC have won all three of their group games, defeating IOB (Chennai) and Billai Steel Plant in close contests, and then blowing past Vijaya Bank for an easy victory on Sunday morning.

Coach Rathore believes that it will be their ability to perform well in the close competitions that will give them a slight edge going further in the tournament. “Our experience will count the most in neck-to-neck games,” he said, “This is when we feel we can perform better.”

Featuring the best amongst the best in the country, there are no easy games in the Federation Cup: but with a squad which has been through so many battles and with so many years of experience under their belt, ONGC are looking hungry to make it a three-peat.

Delhi sets the biggest stage for the biggest games

National Basketball Championships have been held in India before – 60 times before to be exact – but there is something special about the 61st. Something different. The cheers are louder. The lights are brighter. The passes are so crisp that you can hear them zoom by.

The best Indian players in the business are displaying their talents at the 61st IMG-Reliance National Basketball Championship in New Delhi with the biggest prize in Indian basketball at stake. There is no bigger stage for the biggest games in the country, and the national capital has stepped up to host this fierce competition. But what will make this championship truly memorable that it is the first year that the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) is receiving full sponsorship for its events by the IMG-Reliance partnership.

As BFI’s secretary-general Harish Sharma said to reporters to Monday, basketball is indeed ready to take the next step and conquer India.

An electric atmosphere is greeting players and fans every day at the Talkatora Stadium and the Modern School at Barakhamba, where the games are being held. On Friday afternoon, Andhra Pradesh face a challenge from Chandigarh in a relatively quieter affair, but not lacking in drama and intensity. A trumpeting sound from the crowd screamed over the applause – it was no vuvuzela, but a cheaper and equally effective knock-off! At the Talkatora Indoor Stadium, the players rushed and hustled their sneakers over the squeaky bright wooden floor, looking like one of the best basketball-playing surfaces in the country. An LED screen atop the stands show the live action as it unfolds, and then show highlights from basketball around the world during the breaks, including from the international games and the NBA. Hip-Hop and Punjabi music blares during time-outs and quarter-ends. The AP-Chandigarh game enters crunch time, and the small crowd gets on their feet for the last few minutes. AP hold on to their nerves in their end, stretch out their lead, and pull off an impressive 15 point victory.

The crowd gets larger and louder as the sun goes down. atmosphere reaches fever pitch by the evenings, when the marquee teams like Indian Railways, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Services, and of course, the hosts Delhi take centre-stage. Railways, who are the two time champions in both the men’s and women’s divisions, are once again the favourites to find their way to the Indian Basketball’s Promised Land!

But the best thing about this kind of competition in India is the showcase of India as a cultural phenomenon itself. No matter where in India the players hailed from, they shared a common enthusiasm for basketball. On Friday alone, the Talkatora stadium bore witnesses to players communicating in Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, Punjabi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and English. It’s a snapshot of the complete picture of Indian on one basketball court, communicated through dribbles, jumpshots, and hustle plays.

The Talkatora stadium itself has become a temporary temple of sorts to Indian basketball’s finest. Fans walk cardboard cut-outs of their basketball idols, getting am impression of the ones who are making a name for themselves in the sport across the country: players like Shiba Maggon, Sambajhi Kadam, Riyazzudin, Akanskha Singh, Anitha P., and many others.

On the court itself the action hasn’t disappointed. With quick, on-point passing, awesome athletic ability, and some dead-eye sharp-shooting, the Nationals are serving as the perfect platform for Indian basketball fans to catch a glimpse of their country’s elite.

The tournament moves on to the Quarter-Final stage from the 2nd of January, and the Finals are scheduled to be held on the 4th. The stage for the biggest teams has been set; now all eyes will be on the biggest teams to step up and claim it!