KOTTAYAM: The absence of Tamil Nadu's internationals S. Robinson, Mihir Pandey and Sukhavaneshwaran could be a blessing in disguise for the 46th South Zone senior basketball championships, which begins at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday evening.

For a few years now, matches involving defending champion Tamil Nadu had been one-sided affairs. But with Robinson and Pandey in the Commonwealth Games National camp and Sukhavan taking a break after his recent marriage, the men's field in the five-day event here should now be almost equal.

That has raised hopes in the Kerala team, which last won the men's crown more than 30 years ago.

"Tamil Nadu's second string also should be strong. But we have a good chance," said the Kerala captain, international Subash Shenoy.

While Kerala, last year's runner-up, is mainly from Kochi's Central Excise and Thiruvananthapuram's BSNL, Tamil Nadu, led by Sundar, is basically from IOB and Indian Bank.

In the women's section, Kerala, led by former Railway international Rigi A. Sunny and with stars like S.S. Anjana and P. Lajitha in its ranks, will be the big favourite.

Defending champion Tamil Nadu is without many of its Southern Railway stars. "Deepa is the only Railway player in the team. We have a lot of juniors this time," said the TNBA secretary R. Selvarajan from Chennai this evening before the team's departure.

Like the last few years, the championship will have a small international flavour with the Sri Lankan men's and women's teams taking part.

Apart from Sri Lanka, the Andhra Pradesh teams landed here on Tuesday. The others will be reaching on Wednesday. The women's teams of Karnataka and Pondicherry have pulled out of the championship.

With four teams in the fray, the women's event will be a round-robin affair while the six men's teams have been divided into two groups with the top two from each progressing to the semifinals.

The Kottayam YMCA and the Kottayam Basketball Association will be jointly hosting the championships.

"Kottayam had a strong tradition in basketball a few years ago. We want to revive the sport with this championship," said the Kottayam DBA president George Jacob.

K.M. Mathew, the chief editor of Malayala Manorama, will inaugurate the championship on Wednesday evening.

Men's groupings: Group A: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Sri Lanka; Group B: Kerala, Karnataka, Pondicherry.

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