BFI eyes launch of women's league

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI), in a major bid to promote and uplift women's basketball in India, has announced that they have a well laid-out plan on launching a women's league in place. The president of BFI, K. Govindraj, while speaking to Sportstar, mentioned that BFIformed a committee, discussed the league format and other details such as prizes and cash incentives and hopes the newly-proposed league to get underway in the next few months. Govindraj has also disclosed that BFI plans on the league being played in a few major cities first and said that this will be a six-team league that will involve cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Kerala, Delhi, Mumbai and Ludhiana. He also stated that the federation has decided to inaugurate the league in these cities because the sport is most played here and expects the crowd to turn up in big numbers for the matches. Govindraj— who was unanimously re-elected president of the federation— mentioned that the first edition will be held on a trial basis before it goes full throttle. It will start as a middle-level league initially before upgrading to a higher level in the future. Talking about the format of the tournament, he disclosed to Sportstar that there will be six team from each city and the top two from each city will advance to the final round. This is further to the announcement made in March this year, where he announced that BFI intends to have a zone-wise competition before the final round. Govindraj further elaborated on BFI's future plans. He revealed that the federation—in addition the women's league— also plans on conducting a 3 x 3 tournament for both men and women and also establish a scholarship for talented youngsters. As far as sponsorship money is concerned, the federation is not worried as they have the backing of major philanthropists to support this initiative financially. Govindraj is eagerly looking forward to the development of basketball in India in the coming years. He sees the women's league as a huge motivator for more youngsters to play the sport and expects their employment prospects to see a sharp rise.