BFI shifts Sub-Junior basketball nationals from Maharashtra to Hyderabad

Published at :October 20, 2024 at 7:05 PM

Modified at :October 20, 2024 at 7:05 PM

The Sub-Junior National Basketball Championships will take place from December 16 to 22.

Amidst the ongoing feud between two basketball associations, Maha Basketball and Maharashtra Basketball, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has decided to move the 49th Sub-Junior National Basketball Championships from Maharashtra to Hyderabad, Telangana, which will take place from 16th to 22nd December.

Other than the change of location, the letter also states, a few rules about the referees attending the national event, requesting recommendations of female referees from the state associations. This tournament will also implement the new rules the BFI has made for grassroots development of the game. The most important of them is giving game time to every player on the team.

Maharashtra and the state of sport

Maharashtra’s history with the sport has been very murky, with two factions fighting to become the apex body in the state. The state holds a prominent place in the history of Indian basketball, with some of the best players such as Arjun Awardee Abbas Montasir, former women’s team captain Shireen Limaye, Afzal Khan and so many more.

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Maharashtra even though without a governing body has tried to flourish the sport through private entities one of them being the ABC League organised by ABC Sports and Fitness Academy. The Corvuss Academy in Mumbai is one of the centres for BFI’s talent development programme.

The state is also the home to the historic Nagpada YMCA, one of the oldest basketball clubs in India. NBA India also conducted its 2019 NBA India games in Mumbai which further solidifies the place of Maharashtra in the development of the game.

The federation and BFI President Aadhav Arjuna have emphasised the importance of the state playing a pivotal role in the commercialisation of the sport but the slow process to resolve the issues is like a ticking time bomb for the sport to eventually die as people keep losing interest in the game.

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