The BFI calender

Though no berth in the National squad is at stake, the presence of a galaxy of internationals should lend the tournament glitter. It is common knowledge that the women8217;s league, boasting 13 internationals in the seven teams, is of a higher quality than the National championships.

Ironically, defending champions Central Railway do not have even one current international in their ranks, and have their task cut out. Their challenge will come from Southern 8212; which has four internationals, Jeena Zachariah, Meenulatha, Prasanna Jayashankar and BS Shaila 8212; and Eastern, featuring the brilliant Aparna Ghosh, Philomina Joseph, Rekha Choudhary and Preeti Vanita.

Sharing the local advantage with Central are Western Railway, for whom Ivy Cherian, Sheeba Magan returning after a stint in the US and Shalu Sharma have donned India colours.

Central Railway and runners-up Southern have been placed in two different pools. Central have to contend with Northern Railway and Eastern while South may have a relatively easy time with North Frontier Railway and North East are unknown entities with only Western proving the right challenge.

The men8217;s tournament cannot boast of strong tournament though 16 teams are participating. The 16 teams have been divided into four groups with winners Western Railway in group A, runners-up South-Central in group B, Diesel Loco World who finshed third in group C and local outfit, Central Railway who were fourth in Group D.

Western are the clear favourites with the evergreen Ram Kumar guiding some youngsters like Ranjit Singh, who plays centre and has represented India in the ABC Junior championships at Calcutta.

Groupings

Men

Group A: Western, Integral Coach Factory, Chitaranjan Loco Works and North Frontier Railway.

Group B:South-Central, RCF, Kapurthala, Reserch Design and Standard Organisation and Northern.

Group C: Diesel Loco Works, Southern, Diesel Components Works, Patiala and North Eastern.

Group D: Central, Eastern, South-Eastern, CPT.

Women

Group A: Central, Northern, South-Central, Eastern.

Group B:Southern, North Frontier Railway, North-Eastern and Western Railway.

Side Story: Railways: lifeline in Kerala

The dominance of Kerala in National women8217;s basketball is truly phenomenal. Out of 84 women in the seven teams, 35 hail from the tiny Southern state 8212; Northern Railway being the only side without a single Kerala player.

It is a wonder, then, that despite losing its top five players year after year to the Railways Board, Kerala still manage to do well at the Nationals, underlined by a runner-up finish at Jaipur this year.

Players attribute it to the quality of coaches, and the state8217;s sports council scheme, which offers scholarships and educational concessions to sports under-graduates.

Central Railway veteran Sheelamma Varghese, who had PT Usha as a classmate in the first sports council batch almost 20 years ago, says, 8220;In the villages of Kerala, parents encourage the girls to take up sports. At the back of their mind is the knowledge that they will get a Railways job if they perform well at the National level.8221;

From this year, the exodus will be stemmed a bit as the Electricity Board has floated Kerala8217;s second professional women8217;s team, beside FACT. 8220;We would obviously like to play in Kerala instead of teams outside,8221; said Varghese.