GUWAHATI, Sept 26 � In the inaugural match of the All India Invitation Basketball Championship organised by NF Railway Sports Association (NFRSA), the hosts team trounced BSF, Jalandhar 91-72. NFRSA�s Sunil Kumar was the highest scorer with 24 baskets at the NFRSA Indoor Stadium here today. Earlier, the championship was inaugurated by Keshav Chandra, General Manager, NF Railway.
In the second match of the day, ONGC got the better of Assam Regiment 85-62. M Bhandari of ONGC was the top scorer with 20 points in the match.
In the championship, six teams � ONGC (Dehradun), Indian Overseas Bank (Chennai), BSF (Jalandhar), Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), Assam Regiment (Shillong) and host NFRSA are participating. Leading national level cagers, who also represented the country in international championships like Arjun Singh, Gagan Deep Singh, Suresh Kumar, Pratham Singh, Hanuman Singh, Virendra, Murali Krishna are representing their respective teams in this tournament which has been recognised by Baskatball Federation of India.
The six teams have been divided into two groups and the championship will be conducted on a league-cum-knock-out basis. The matches are being conducted by renowned and experienced referees, including four international referees of the country � H Khan (Rajasthan), Ramesh P (Andhra Pradesh), Anupam Sharma (Uttar Pradesh), Antanu Banerjee (West Bengal) and Rajan V (Kerala).
Speaking as chief guest, while inaugurating the opening the meet, Chandra said that this tournament will be highly beneficial for youngsters and it will increse the level of interest for the game in the entire north eastern region. He hoped to see more such tournaments in other disciplines being organised in future and wished the tournament a grand success.
Vijaya Kanth, General Manager/con, NF Railway was present as guest of honour and she wished best of luck to all the participating teams. Renu Chandra, president, NFRWWO and all other principal heads of departments of NF Railway were also present in the inaugural programme. The tournament will conclude on September 29.
