The Bankmen have looked less than intimidating in the last couple of seasons. Despite the deteriorating status due to new players not being hired, Vijaya Bank clinched last year’s NBA Challenge crown, but their title defence would face a stiffer challenge with MEG and ASC in good touch.
Point guard Rony Zacharia (knee injury), shooting guard Murali Mohan (knee), Deva Kumar (knee) and former India pivot Sanjay Raj (ankle) have pulled out of the tournament. There is, however, some hope for the former State champions. “We do not have half our players,” said former player and present coach A Rajkumar. “We just got back from an all-India tournament in Coimbatore and we lost in the qualifying stages because so many players got injured. Our biggest problem is that the only point guard we have is out and it’s going to be hard to move the ball around without him.
“A lot of factors will come into play if we are to participate in this event, but if we have no choice, we will play -- I will also be playing! I, however, wish the tournament is better organised this time. There were a lot of things that went amiss last year,” added the former India player.
Rajkumar said the injured quartet might be ready for the State Association tournaments, scheduled to be held late this year.
Meanwhile, on Sunday’s second day of the championship, point guard Anil Kumar stole the show as he scored 27 points to guide VBC, Mandya to a thrilling 48-46 win over Sports Hostel, Bangalore at the Sree Kanteerava stadium.
Results: Senior men: VBC, Mandya: 48 (Anil Kumar 27) bt Sports Hostel, Bangalore: 46 (Radha Krishna 19). HT: 30-19; CMP: 51 (Nesa 13) bt Beagles Basketball Club: 42 (Bouba 9). HT: 21-11. Under-16 boys: Young Orions: 57 (Darshan 23) bt Indiranagar Basketball Club: 41 (Salman 18). HT: 27-10; Bharath Sports Union: 33 (Sameera 13) bt Appaiah Basketball Club: 23 (Arun 8). HT: 16-12; Beagles Basketball Club: 39 (Sharath 13) bt Viveks SC: 29 (Karan 15) HT: 24-15; BCBC: 39 (Pranav 14) bt DRDO SC: 27 (Anmol 15). HT: 19-15.
Senior women: Sports Hostel, Mysore: 44 (Navaneetha 16) bt Indiranagar Basketball Club: 29 (Deepa 14). HT: 11-19; Appaiah Basketball Club: 27 (Zelda 11) bt Rajkumar Basketball Club: 20 (Sanjana 10). HT: 16-6. Under-16 girls: Sports School, Vidyanagar: 39 (Yogeshree 16) bt Beagles Basketball Club: 33 (Pratiksha 19). HT: 13-16; Vimanapura SC: 24 (Sneha 8) bt Halasuru SU: 20 (Shree Lekha 12). HT: 15-7.