Basketball fever is here

Top teams will slug it out in the seventh edition of the All-India Savio Cup Don Bosco Basketball Tournament in Matunga on Sunday. Sponsored by Tridhatu, UPL and KARP, the tournament will involve teams such as Services Indian Overseas Bank Chennai, Indian Railways, Punjab, ONGC and Maharashtra
It will also feature a side from the United States of America, Shooting for Success, last year’s runners-up. This will be the third year that a US team will participate in the Savio Cup.

The women’s category will have players such as Geethu Anna Jose, Anita Pauldurai, Bharati Netam, Anju Lakra and Shirin Limaye.

Both men and women will play a round robin league, with the top two teams drawn to play the final. The men’s winners will Rs1 lakh, while the runner-up teams will take home Rs50,000. The women’s winners will be richer by Rs50,000 and the runner-up by Rs25,000.

There will be prizes for every match as well as for individual feats. The tournament will also have a ‘dunking competition’ and a ‘three-point shooting competition’.

The matches will be played on the Terra Flex surface, with the use of electronic scoreboards and 24-second devices in a specially erected stadium that can accommodate 2000 spectators.

Three matches are expected to be played every day. They will be officiated by international referees from different states, including three from Maharashtra.