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ON TARGET Top, The Carmel Trophy brought the crowds back and the Thebasco Club team that celebrates Silver Jubilee

But our joy has been short-lived. The team finished eighth in the recent National at Puducherry, losing to Uttarkhand in the quarterfinals.

Strangely, when basketball’s National League makes its debut this October, Kerala, a major contributor to many of the teams in the country, will be missing. For the League is only open to the country’s top six sides.

“Last year, nine of our most promising youngsters left the State, many of them to professional colleges in Chennai,” said K. O. Oommen, the Kerala Basketball Association’s media coordinator who has been playing a big role in keeping the sport active in the State for more than a decade now.

“Their exit played havoc with our team at the Puducherry National since Subhash Shenoy had taken a break for his marriage and Vivek was unwell. We didn’t have tall players; there was nobody at the centre.”

However, Kerala players gave a strong push to many other teams in Puducherry. Sweeto Francis played a major role in Services’ triumph while Vineeth Ravi Mathew (Tamil Nadu), Roshan P. Thankachan and Tinu Joseph (both playing for Karnataka) helped their teams gain a berth in the forthcoming National League.

“The majority of the youngsters who left Kerala last year have made Chennai’s Sathyabhama University and J. P. R. Engineering College very strong,” said Oommen, popularly known as Babykutty in the basketball circuit.

Not surprisingly, Satyabhama won the all-India varsities championship a few weeks ago with Kerala’s Shinumon Augustine, Jerald Titus and Manoj sparkling in the event.

Just a year earlier, Shinumon and Jerald had played for Kerala University in the South Zone varsities event but were lured by Sathyabhama with some juicy carrots soon after that.

Basketball buffs in the State will get a nice chance to cheer Sathyabhama, which has opened an attractive new world for our young talent by offering them seats in professional courses and by treating them like stars, at Thevara’s Thebasco tournament which celebrates its silver jubilee on Monday.

And if the crowds at the recent all-India Carmel Trophy in Aluva, which was very well organised, are any indication, the Sacred Heart School courts should be packed too during the Thebasco event.

At a time when even popular tournaments take a break or are wound up because finance is often a problem and also because organisers don’t have the patience and time to run around for funds, the efforts of the Thebasco Club members – all former players from the Thevara area – need to be appreciated.

The Thebasco members frequently meet and play during weekends at the Sacred Heart’s College in Thevara and this is what keeps the spirit going. The club is also a force to reckon with in the veterans circuit.

“The Ernakulam team which won the State veterans championship many times in recent years, mainly consists of players from Thebasco,” said Jose Jacob, the club president.

With Kochi’s Central Excise and Thiruvananthapuram’s KSEB and BSNL also in the fray in the men’s section, the tournament which has been elevated to the Southern India status this year could also pave the way for the return of some of the youngsters back to the State.

Many of the Central Excise players are on their last legs and the team is looking for fresh faces to brighten the side.

So, when India’s champion university Sathyabhama and Central Excise, the country’s champion club three years ago, meet at the Thebasco tournament, there will be many keen eyes watching.

And taking notes too.

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