Rajveer Singh of Punjab (in blue) tries to get past PN Bopanna of Income Tax Chennai.

Bengaluru, 8^th October 2015: The second day of league action from the 2nd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament 2015 continued at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru. The Championship, featuring leading Indian men’s club teams, is being organised by Vijaya Bank under the auspices of Basketball Federation of India and Karnataka State Basketball Association.

Day two saw Income Tax Chennai cruising to its second straight win, this time over Punjab State, to cement its position on top of Pool A. Income Tax Chennai’s centre Rikin Pethani, who is a regular on the national side, dominated down low with 24 points. For Punjab, aggressive small forward Bijendra Kumar battled hard for his 23 points and was supported by the graceful southpaw Harmandeep Singh. However, the balanced Income Tax unit proved too strong for the northerners, with four players scoring in double digits. While Income Tax Chennai is now 2-0, Punjab State is 1-1. Late last night Punjab had beaten Karnataka State Team 72-56, in a match that saw exciting young talent from both sides take centrestage.

In the second league match of today, Pool B teams Vijaya Bank and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) clashed. Both sides were coming into this game riding on opening day wins. KSEB had outlasted Integral Coach Factory in the last game yesterday, while Vijaya Bank had beaten South Central Railway, Hyderabad. Today, the two current international players from the bankers’ side showed their class. Centre Arvind Arumugam cleaned up the boards with ease, while point guard Rajesh Uppar was able to force his preferred up-tempo style of offense and delighted with multiple mid range jumpshots.

In the third game, tournament favourites ONGC Dehradun got back to their winning ways against Karnataka state, after an upset loss to Income Tax yesterday.

Vijaya Bank centre Arvind A (in navy blue) rises up over the KSEB defence.

RESULTS (8/7/2015)

Pool A: Income Tax, Chennai (Rikin Pethani 24, Ramkumar 16, MA Raghuram 16) bt Punjab State (Bijendra Kumar 23, Harmandeep Singh 19) 71-63 [23-17, 23-12, 21-10, 15-13]; ONGC, Dehradun (Trideep Rai 19, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 19, Riyazuddin 14, Anoop M 11) bt Karnataka State (Karan Joshua 15) 77-41 [28-12, 20-6, 19-13, 10-10]

Pool B: Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam 23, Rajesh Uppar 12) bt Kerala State Electricity Board (Albin Baby 15, Tony K Mathew 14) 78-50 [20-9, 20-12, 20-12, 18-20]

Late evening Results from 7/7/2015

Pool A: Punjab (Bijender Kumar 20, Harmandeep Singh 13) bt Karnataka (Basavaraju 11, Yashas Ramesh 8) 72-56 [23-13, 15-15, 15-11, 19-17]

Pool B: Kerala State Electricity Board, (K Padmaprakash 14, C Seenivisan 8) bt Integral Coach Factory, Chennai (Anoop D 27, Tony KM 24) 84-54 [14-12, 19-15, 31-17, 20-10]

About the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament

The tournament is being held at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru from 7^th to 11^th October 2015, under the auspices of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association. Matches will be played every evening from 5:00 pm onwards in a league cum knockout basis.

The tournament is being held in the memory of the Late Shri Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman, who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s.

There are 8 teams in the fray in this tournament, divided into two Pools of 4 teams each. This edition of the tournament will feature some of the nation’s top men’s club sides such as last year’s runners up and reigning National Games champion Oil and National Gas Corporation (ONGC)-Dehradun, Punjab, Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-Chennai, Income Tax-Chennai, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), South Central Railway-Secunderabad, hosts Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State team.

The top two teams from each Pool qualifying to the knockout rounds. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held last year in Malleshwaram, with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)-Chennai, ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State finishing as the top four teams respectively.

FIXTURES OF THE 2^ND MULKI SUNDER RAM SHETTY ALL INDIA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT, BENGALURU

7^th to 11^th October 2015

Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru

SCHEDULE OF MATCHES

7.10.2015

Matches from 5:00 pm onwards

1. Vijaya Bank vs South Central Railway
2. ONGC vs Income Tax
3. Punjab vs Karnataka
4. ICF vs KSEB

8.10.2015

Matches from 4:30 pm onwards

1. Punjab vs Income Tax
2. Vijaya Bank vs KSEB
3. ONGC vs Karnataka State
4. ICF vs South Central Railway

9.10.2015

Matches from 4:30 pm onwards

1. South Central Railway vs KSEB
2. ICF vs Vijaya Bank
3. ONGC vs Punjab
4. Karnataka vs Income Tax

10.10.2015

Semifinal Matches from 4:30 pm onwards

1. Winner A vs Runner B
2. Winner B vs Runner A

11.10.2015

Matches from 4:30 pm onwards

1. 3^rd Place Match
2. Finals

About Vijaya Bank & Its Basketball Programme

Vijaya Bank, was founded on 23rd October 1931 by late Shri A B Shetty and other enterprising farmers in Mangalore, Karnataka. The objective of the founders was essentially to promote banking habit, thrift and entrepreneurship among the farming community of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka State. The bank became a scheduled bank in 1958.

Vijaya Bank steadily grew into a large All India bank, with nine smaller banks merging with it during the 1963-68. The credit for this merger as well as growth goes to late Shri M. Sunder Ram Shetty, who was then the Chief Executive of the bank. The bank was nationalised on 15th April 1980. The bank has built a network of 1512 branches, 48 Extension Counters and 1528 ATMs, that span all 28 states and 4 union territories in the country.

Each branch provides effective and efficient services and significantly contributes to the growth of the individual, and the nation.

Notably, Vijaya Bank is the only recruiter of basketball talent in the state of Karnataka, and has contributed 10 international players to the country, starting with Olympian Gurumurthy Dileep, who joined the bank way back in 1977. Other international players honed by the bank are former India captain BS Gautham (1986), A Rajkumar (1988), S Stalin (1993), G Murali Mohan (1995), Roshan Thankachan (1999), Sanjay Raj (2002), Arvind Arumugam and Rajesh Uppar (both in 2012). Including these international stars, in all, the bank has recruited 25 national level players, who have represented their bank and the state of Karnataka with great pride and gusto.