Leading teams for all-India basketball tourney in Coimbatore

Top teams from across the country will vie for honours in the 52nd All-India basketball tournament for men for Natchimuthu Gounder Cup to be held here from May 26 to May 31.

The women's tourney for the 16th CRI Pumps Trophy would also see leading outfits take part, Coimbatore District Basketball Association (CDBA) vice-president C N Ashok told reporters here today.

Last year's runner-up Income Tax (Chennai), Indian Air Force (Delhi), Sports Authority of Gujarat, CRPF, IOB (Chennai), Indian Railways (Delhi), Indian Navy (Lonavala) and CDBA will feature in the men's event.

However, defending champion ONGC is not participating as the team members are attending a coaching camp, he said.

Reigning champions South Central Railway (Secunderabad), Southern Railway (Chennai), Eastern Railway (Kolkata), Arise Steel (Chennai), KSEB (Thiruvananthapuram), Chattisgarh State, North Frontier Railway (Guwahati) and CDBA will be the eight teams in the women's section, Ashok said.

The winning team in the men's tournament would take home Rs.one lakh prize money and a cup while the runner-up would receive Rs.50,000 and Dr N Mahalingam trophy respectively.

The women's champion would get Rs.50,000 prize money and CRI Pumps trophy, Ashok said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)