Kerala NBA junior boys’ and girls’ teams will participate in the Junior NBA national finals, a four-day tournament to be held at the NBA Academy in Delhi from April 29 to May 2. The best players from the tournament will represent India in the junior world championship later this year in the US.
Both the teams are training at Little Flower HSS Koratty and will fly to Delhi on April 29. Eight teams, representing Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kerala, Kolkata, Mumbai and Punjab, in each category will take part in the competition. The winning boys and girls teams will advance to the Jr. NBA World Championship from Aug. 7 to 12, 2018 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.
The Jr. NBA World Championship, a first-of-its kind global youth basketball tournament for elite 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls teams from around the world, will have boys and girls divisions, each comprised of 16 regional teams (eight U.S. and eight international teams) that will receive all-expenses-paid trips to compete in the inaugural event. The Jr. NBA World Championship will include round-robin competition followed by single-elimination tournaments. Winners of the U.S. and international brackets will play in the World Championship game on Aug. 12.
“The Jr. NBA World Championship adds another significant layer to the NBA’s existing youth basketball programming and development efforts in India,” said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco. “The new global youth basketball tournament will provide Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA participants with an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase their skills on a global stage and learn the core values of the game from their peers from around the world.”
In addition to the on-court competition at the Jr. NBA World Championship, boys and girls from dozens of countries from around the world will participate in off-court activities – often alongside current and former NBA and WNBA players – including life skills education, physical and mental wellness programming and NBA Cares community service projects.
The 20-member Kerala Team along with 3 coaches was selected from 300s school that participated in the Reliance foundation Jr NBA programme that took place in Kerala in December and January in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kottayam.
