Inaugural Season of 3X3 Indian National Basketball League to begin on 18 March

The Basketball Federation of India on Thursday announced the inaugural season of The Indian National Basketball League 3X3 -2022, to be held from 18 March to 29 May, 2022. The league is to be conducted across 20 cities in India: Aizawl; Bengaluru; Bhavnagar; Bhilai; Chandigarh; Chennai; Cuttack; Delhi; Guwahati; Hyderabad; Indore; Jaipur; Kangra; Kochi; Kolkata; Ludhiana; Lucknow; Mumbai; Panjim; Puducherry simultaneously. “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. This is our first step and we are hoping it will take us all the way for India to qualify to the 2024 Olympics." Dr K Govindaraj, MLC, President, Basketball Federation of India said in a press release. FIBA 3x3 competitions will be held across four categories – Men, Women, U18 Men and U18 Women. The champions from each city will qualify to play the National Finals scheduled to be held at Bengaluru from 27-29 May this year. 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. The inaugural weekend of March 18-20 will see action in the BFI-INBL 3x3 Season 1 at Bengaluru (Sree Kanteerava Stadium (Outdoors) and the West Bengal Basketball Association courts in Kolkata. More than 200 teams will be seen in action – 120 teams in Bengaluru and more than 90 teams in Kolkata. There will be action every weekend in at least two cities and in three cities on certain weekends till the National Finals. The Season takes a break for the weekends of 3-10 April due to the 71st Senior National Championships being conducted in Chennai.