By Sachin Murdeshwar

Mumbai  : Street Ball League, a basketball 3 on 3 tournament which is started by Rannvijay Singha, MTV host and a youth icon and his brother Harman, Actor writer. Both having basketball in their veins since childhood and wanted to make basketball as grand as the other sports in the country.

 

On 9th of October, the league had it’s opening ceremony which saw celebrities and different talents of all walks from the celebrity team owners to actors. Owners being Esha Gupta, Gursimran Khamba, Simran Mundi, Sana Khan, Melvin louis, Varun Sood, Divya Agarwal and other entrepreneurs. The ceremony started with the national anthem sung by Raghu Ram (known from MTV Roadies) followed by some crazy performances of Squadrann showing basketball freestyle by Archis, gymnastics by Milan, BMX action by Annul, Sudhir R- India’s only fluteboxer and Asia’s Got Talent semi finalist, a rap battle by SunnyG, SeeMo and Beast mode crew followed by a dance performance by Divya Agarwal and Crew.

 

After the performance the opening match was between Teams Three Pointers and Shooting Stars where Loveneet with 24 points stole the show and three pointers won by 56-52.

Second match was between Varun Sood & Divya team Dunk vipers and Simran Mundi’s team flying Panthers where Panthers won by a whopping 68-57.

Third was a women’s match between Esha Gupta & Devarsh’s Hoop heads and Melvin Louis Hot steppers. Carina from hot steppers making the team win with 14 points in her stride. Total score being 23-14.

Last match was an intensely close match between Bandra Brawlers & South side warriors. South side were victorious with 48-43, man of the match being Yousuf with 28 points.

Anmol Chopra from the defeated team Dunk vipers was the highest scorer of the day with 36 points.

 

The matches saw the crowd go bonkers specially at the clutch time which is a new format where the score get doubled in the last 2 minutes of each quarter.

 

Rannvijay Singha on Street Ball League highlights “When I was in school & college, basketball was my first love. Always thought as to why this game didn’t get the love that it deserved. Basketball is a mix of many subcultures,hip hop,sneakers,dancing,singing etc. So now, we at Street Ball league are giving a platform to all the basketballers and the local talent to blossom in a healthy and active environment”.

 

“Basketball runs in my veins, both my parents were players of high caliber, learning a sport young was an integral part of growing up and I was lucky enough to always enjoy and play the game, Streetball is our way of spreading the love and joy of this game to all the youngsters out there,” says Harman Singha.

 

“Basketball revelation is happening around us and we are at the forefront of the revolution. lets’ make basketball the game for all youngsters to admire and follow, its time for basketball to prosper in India. #ballbayball” says Pranav Premnarayen, Director of the League and also of Leap Pro Sports, the sports management company that has helped conceptualize the league.

 

Street Ball League matches will take place on weekends till the first week of December at Podar Sports Ground, Santacruz. 12 men’s teams – 11 games per team, 4 women’s team – 6 games each