New Delhi, April 29 (IANS): The inaugural BFI-IMG Reliance National School and College League for Boys and Girls 2014 will be held at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium here from April 30 to May 4.
Basketball Federation of India with partners IMG Reliance announced Tuesday that 32 teams from eight cities - Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Indore, Kolkata and Bangalore - will be participating.
There will be 16 school boys' and girls' teams and 16 from colleges.
"This tournament will provide new and promising talent from the grassroot level, which will develop and promote the sport which is the endeavour of the BFI-IMG-Reliance collaboration," Roopam Harish Sharma, CEO, BFI, told reporters here.
"Competition at this stage will give the much needed boost to budding players to catch the eye of the selectors, to use this as a platform to make their mark at the national level for their respective states."
"The interest and wellbeing of players and officials is of foremost importance to us as they will be provided with comfortable boarding, AC lodging on sharing basis and local transport (AC buses) from a day prior to one day after the championship for a contingent comprising of 12 players and two team officials," she added.
Winners of each category will receive Rs.1 lakh while the second and third placed teams will take home Rs.75,000 and Rs.50,000 each.
Sharma announced a more ambitious plan for next year, saying that the league would incorporate 24 cities. FOr the qualification round, some cities will have the league format while some tournament style.
She said that a professional league, on the lines of the Indian Premier League and the Indian Super League (ISL), would be unveiled next year.