Two weeks after announcing an October 12 start in Jaipur, there is now a change of venue and dates for the new Indian National Basketball League.
Kochi, which was not even among the four INBL venues announced by the Basketball Federation of India late last month, will now host the opening leg of the 5x5 league at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium from October 16 to 20 while Jaipur (Oct. 26-30) and Pune (Dec. 7-11) will be the venues for other two legs in the league phase.
The finals will be played in Bengaluru from January 11 to 15 next year.
Kochi, a preferred venue for football’s ISL season-openers and for volleyball’s professional leagues in the last few years, will now also have a squad in the six-city basketball league and the Kolkata team, which was part of the INBL’s initial plans, has been dropped. Also dropped is Cuttack which was supposed to be a venue earlier.
“Some changes will be there sometimes. We are doing it depending on facilities and stadium availability,” K. Govindaraj, the president of the Basketball Federation of India, told Sportstar on Tuesday.
“Our aim is not only having a high-quality league but also laying a strong and sustainable process for development at the grassroots level. We have appointed Headstart Arena India (HAI) to execute the plans as per the vision of the BFI Executive Council”, added Govindaraj.
Talking about India’s Olympic chances, the secretary general of BFI, Chander Mukhi Sharma said, “We have a very strong opportunity to qualify for the Olympics in 2024, in the 3 x 3 format. We should aim to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in the regular format. We aim to achieve that through INBL.”
“We are pleased to be working with BFI to launch this initiative. It is a great opportunity for the top talent to have a platform to showcase their ability against well matched opposition”, said Rupinder Brar, Chairman of HAI.
The other five teams in the INBL, which does not have foreign players in its inaugural edition, are Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. There will be cash prizes for each round of the competition as well as the playoffs. The BFI had announced a total prize fund of over Rs 50 lakh for the event earlier.
MUIN BEK IN CHENNAI TEAM
Meanwhile, Indian captain Muin Bek Hafeez, who led Tamil Nadu to the Senior National title in Chennai in April, is the prominent face in the INBL’s Chennai team which also includes international M. Arvind Kumar.
Chandigarh also has two Indian players, Amarendra Nayak and Sunil, and Bengaluru too has the same number (Abhishek Gowda and Pratyanshu Tomar) while Delhi has three in Prashant Singh, Piyush Meena and Aryan. Kochi has one in Sejin Mathew. All these players were in action in the recent FIBA Asia’s World Cup qualifiers.
“I am excited to play in the INBL. It is a glorious opportunity to represent my city but also play against the best in the country in this new format”, said Sejin Mathew.
Arvind Arumugam (Bengaluru Kings), M Arvind Kumar (Chennai Heat), Arvinder Singh Kahlon (Chandigarh Warriors), Digvijay Singh (Delhi Dribblers), Sejin Mathew (Kochi Tigers) and Sidhant Shinde (Mumbai Titans) posed with celebrity actor Siddharth Malhotra at the jersey launch function in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The players have been asked to report in Kochi on Wednesday for a pre-season camp, according to Rana Thaliyath, the coordinator of the INBL’s Kochi leg.
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