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For a good stead in future
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The idea behind conducting Rev. Fr. Balaiah Tournament was to create an awareness about importance of sports
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Playing the ball Youngsters in action
The recently conducted national-level intercollegiate basketball tournament for the Rev. Fr. Balaiah trophy which was organised by Loyola Academy and Degree College in Hyderabad gave the boys from colleges in the twin cities a rare opportunity to test their skills against their counterparts from other cities and the experience should stand them in good stead in future. The next logical step would be for the organisers to draw up plans to make it an annual affair and thereby enable the tournament to grow further.
The tournament was conducted by Loyola Academy and Degree College to mark the construction of a sports enclave to enable students to play basketball and volleyball. The new complex has two basketball courts with cement surface and three volleyball courts on clay surface. Also, the idea behind the tournament was to motivate the students to participate in sports and to create an awareness about the importance of sports.
The prospectus was sent out during the second week of December 2007 and got a response from 18 teams which registered their entries.
In order to provide opportunities for more colleges in Andhra Pradesh which were based far away from Hyderabad, and to provide them more competitive exposure and experience, the tournament was conducted in three phases namely the preliminary knock-out phase, league phase and final knock-out phase. In the Preliminary Knock-out phase there were 12 teams from which St. Mary’s Degree College, Hyderabad and St. Martins Engineering College, Yousufguda qualified for the next league phase among local teams.
In the League phase there were two pools of four teams each. From this phase, Sathyabama University, Chennai and PSG Arts College, Coimbatore qualified for the semi finals from Pool One while Loyola College, Chennai and Jeppiar Engineering College, Chennai qualified for semi finals from Pool Two.
In the semi finals, Sathyabama University defeated Jeppiar Engineering College while in the other semi final, Loyola College, Chennai registered a 82-66 win over PSG Arts College. Thus Sathyabama and Loyola clashed in the final and it was the former which crowned itself with glory. It won by a handsome margin of 43-14 to lift the trophy with ease.
For the final match the Sathyabama University boys who were playing with a zonal defence system throughout the tournament, decided to switch over to tight man to man defence system against Loyola. The tactic worked superbly and the SU boys dominated the battle from the word go. The SU team had done its homework and it eventually gave them a well deserved victory.
ABHIJIT SEN GUPTA
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