New look schools basketball tournament begins

Chinthana WASALA

A new era has begun for schools basketball in Sri Lanka as the format of the All Island schools basketball tournament has been changed from this year onwards.

"The new format and schedule will provide more exposure for schools cagers by giving them an opportunity to play more matches in a league format.

This will allow the youngsters to get more experience and chances to continue with the game uninterrupted and this will also help the future of Sri Lanka schools basketball in a better way" said President of Schools Basketball Association, Principal DS Senanayake College Ashoka Senani Hewage. The matches under the new system have already started and initially, all the basketball playing schools teams have been divided into five groups with each team playing each other in their respective groups. The group stage matches will be played for a period of one month and at the end of every week, the top two teams of each group will be selected for a super round which will feature the best teams at the end of the initial stage.

The final round consists of 10 teams but the organizers are still looking for a sponsor to go ahead with this great concept. The first stage of the tournament started on July 15 and the teams are as follows.