24 teams in fray

The 26th Youth National basketball championships, scheduled from May 9, promises to be more exciting this time as the youngsters will get to play on the teraflex surfaces for the first time and there will be electronic scoreboards with other technical equipment.

More than 24 teams would fight for a purse of Rs3 lakh at the Mastan YMCA Mini Stadium from May 9-16.

The winners will be richer by Rs75,000 while the runners-up will get Rs50,000. The third-place finishers will bag Rs25,000.

“I was a basketball player and the game has taught me a lot in life,” said Ibrahim Lakadawala, former national player and the organiser of the tournament.

The teams have been divided into six groups with Maharashtra boys in group B with Chattisgarh, MP and Karnataka, while the girls are in group B with Punjab, West Bengal and Delhi.