Group games come to a close at the IMG-Reliance School Basketball League

INVC,,

Delhi,,

After more than three weeks of hoop craziness across the nation’s capital, the group stage of the IMG-Reliance School Basketball League – Delhi came to a close on Wednesday, September 8. The top two teams from each of the two groups for both the boys’ and the girls’ divisions have qualified for the ‘Super Group’ round, slated to begin soon.

In the Girls section, Montfort School qualified on top of Group A as the only undefeated team in either gender of the competition. They were followed in second by the team from DPS (RK Puram). From Group A, the teams from Modern School and DPS (Mathura Road) finished tied on top and thus both qualify.

Montfort continued their dominance amongst the Boys’ division as well, qualifying top from Group A, followed by GD Goenka School in second place. Just like the girls’ division, DPS (Mathura Road) and Modern School Boys also qualified from Group B, with the DPS (Mathura Road) team finishing on top.

The league tipped off on August 16^th and has since caught the imagination of the participating schools and other hoop fans around the city. The last games of the first round were played on Wednesday at DPS (Mathura Road), as both the school’s boys’ and girls’ teams faced against teams from Sachdeva Public School. A large crowd of school kids came out to cheer for their favourite players, and the home teams didn’t disappoint: It was a rout in both cases, with the DPS boys winning 70-50 to qualify for the Super Group on the last day. DPS girls won their match-up 50-27.

“The experience with this league so far has been nice,” said Roopendar of DPS (Mathura Road), who has been one of the highest scorers in the tournament so far, “It will prove to be valuable in helping the development of up and coming basketball players.”

Roopendar admitted that the team from Montfort will be their toughest challenge in the Super Group stage.

The Girls match saw two of the finest players in the tournament face off against each other: High-scoring Neha of DPS (Mathura Road), who has almost single-handedly carried her squad on her lean shoulders, and Saumya Babbar of Sachdeva, a tall youngster who has been chosen amongst eight sub-juniors to head for a scholarship programme at the IMG Academies in Bradenton, USA. Neha easily won her match-up against Saumya in this game and solidified her team’s position for the next round.

There will now be a break in the games schedule as many of the students will be busy with their upcoming examinations. The schedule for the next round will be announced soon.