Senior basketball championship begins today

Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 5

With the arrival of teams, the ball has been set rolling for the 71st North-Zone Senior Basketball Championship for Men and Women which will begin at Guru Nanak Stadium here on Monday.

Six teams (Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir) each in the men and women sections will be vying for top honours during the five-day championship that will conclude on December 10.

Six matches will be played daily. Though the matches will start at 8 am, the formal inauguration will be held at 3 pm by Punjab Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

Hosts and the defending national champions Punjab (men) will begin their campaign with a match against Jammu and Kashmir at 3 pm while their counterparts (women) will take on Himachal Pradesh at 9.30 am.

Meanwhile, Teja Singh Dhaliwal, honorary general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association, this evening released the list of Punjab players who would represent the state in the championship.

Men’s team

Amritpal Singh, Amyjot Singh, Gurbaz Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Arvinder Singh, Sukhdeep Pal Singh, Manjot Singh, Aakash Sharma, Mannatpreet Singh, Tejinder Pal Singh, Navkarman Singh and Tarunpreet Singh. Rajinder Singh has been appointed chief coach while Gurkirpal Singh and Davinder Pal Singh Dhindsa have been named assistant coaches.

Women’s team

Samriti, Kamal, Gagandeep, Ritika, Priyanka, Kavya, Sapna, Radha, Kuldeep, Shabnam, Manmeet and Kanishka. Ravinder Singh and Saloni will be the coaches for the team and Davinder Dhindsa has been named manager.

There will be no entry fee for the meet.