Mission Olympic 2024: BFI starts first-ever 3X3 Indian National Basketball League 2022 in India​

In a bid to take basketball to a higher level in the country, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has kickstarted the inaugural season of the 3X3 Indian National Basketball League (INBL) 2022. Initiated on March 18, the first season of this league will continue till May 29. As per the announcement made by the BFI on Thursday, the league matches will be conducted across 20 cities in India including Lucknow, Mumbai, Panaji, Indore and Jaipur.

Over 200 teams to spring into action in INBL 2022

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Apart from these five cities, the INBL matches will take place in Aizawl, Bengaluru, Bhavnagar, Bhilai, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cuttack, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kangra, Kochi, Kolkata, Ludhiana and Puducherry, simultaneously. With 120 teams in Bengaluru and over 90 teams in Kolkata, more than 200 teams will spring into action in this league. The champions from each of the 20 cities will qualify to play the National Finals which are slated to be held at Bengaluru from May 27 to May 29.

Competition to be held in 4 categories

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The FIBA 3X3 competition will be held in four different categories including Men, Women, Under-18 Men and Under-18 Women. Talking about the eligibility criteria, the BFI said, "The competitions in Men and Women are open to any player to form a team and participate and will comprise players above the age of 18. The Under-18 competitions will feature players born on or after 01.01.2004."

As per the schedule, matches will be played every weekend in at least two and in three cities on some weekends till the National Finals. Notably, the season will be halted for a week from April 3 to April 10 in line with the 71st Senior National Championships that is set to take place in Chennai. "There is rich and unprecedented prize money for the top four teams in each category at the city level as the National Finals," read the statement by BFI.

Popularising basketball at the grassroots level in India

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Talking about the motive behind starting this new league, Dr K Govindaraj, MLC, President, Basketball Federation of India, said, "The Indian National Basketball League was formed in November last year by the BFI, to build awareness and popularity and to identify and develop thousands of promising basketball talent in the country. The unique competition format that we have put together takes basketball to the grassroots. We are playing in 20 cities providing an opportunity for players in those cities to play right at their doorsteps and yet be a part of the FIBA 3x3 World Ranking system."

-with inputs from IANS.