First-ever national 3x3 basketball championship to be held in Chennai from September 22

Thirty teams will participate in the event which will be played on half-court that will be set up as per FIBA standards. Plates have been imported from China for floor covering, and were being fixed on Thursday.

BFI President Aadhav Arjuna (c) held a press conference with the TNBA Secretary Aezaz Ahmed (l) and the BFI Technical Committee Chairman Norman Isaac (r) at the Nehru indoor stadium on Thursday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Basketball Federation of India (BFI) President Aadhav Arjuna on Thursday announced that the first-ever senior national 3x3 basketball championship will be held from September 22 to 24 at the Jawaharlal Nehru indoor stadium here.

He made the announcement at a press conference at the indoor stadium.

Thirty teams will participate in the event which will be played on half-court that will be set up as per FIBA standards. Plates have been imported from China for floor covering, and were being fixed on Thursday.

Speaking to Sportstar after the presser, he said that there is a plan to start a National 3x3 basketball league and that a few corporates have shown interest in sponsoring and providing other kinds of support for the initiative.

“This will be fun to watch. It may even be said that this event is being conducted as a test run before establishing the league,” he said.

He added that there is an ongoing effort to tie up with North America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) to establish franchise-style academies in India.

“BFI will take care of everything - infrastructure, accommodation, taking care of the players and all. NBA has to take care of the production (of players). It’s role is to impart its coaching and training methods to the wards thereby developing, producing class players.”