The much awaited All Island U19 A Division (Boys’/Girls’) ThePapare Basketball Championship was launched today.
ThePapare.com, Sri Lanka`s No.01 Sports Hub, who has been in the forefront of backing sports in Sri Lanka and giving all sport a mighty heave, shares it`s passion with the basketball fraternity of the island by sponsoring the main calendar event of the year, the All Island U-19 A Division Schools’ Tournament – ThePapare Basketball Championship.
Contenders
Twenty schools will compete against each other over a week’s period for supremacy. The schools have been divided into four groups and will play the respective preliminary round matches at four venues.
Group A
Defending champions Asian International School will be the team to watch out for in the group. Feeding two players into the recently concluded youth tour, the lads from AIS will be hoping to retain the title for another year.
It will be an interesting battle between the three schools and Maristella College – Negombo since they will have the home advantage as the all the group matches will be played at their college premises.
De La Salle College – Colombo, a team full of potential will look to turn the tables on some of the more accomplished teams and create an upset.
Group B
S. Thomas` College, Mount-Lavinia, who were placed fourth in the previous tournament, will be looking dominate this time around with a revamped outfit. The match between St. Peter`s College and S. Thomas` College will be a nail-biting encounter since it was the Thomians who defeated the Peterites in the quarter finals last year.
Ananda College will look to make in-roads in the A Division stage after winning the B Division championship last year.
Group C
Group C will be led upfront by the second runners up of the previous season, St. Joseph’s. The Joes will have home advantage as the Group C matches will be hosted by them.
St. Benedict`s College making their appearance in the plot after a lapse will be looking to get back into a winning rhythm.
Group D
For all updates, photos and articles – Visit the ThePapare Basketball Championship Hub
Royal College, the runners up of the previous season will have one goal; to grab the trophy they lost last year. Hosting the group stage matches at their college premises, the Royalists will have the home advantage.
Another appearance after quite a lapse; Kingswood College together with Colombo International School Kandy make up the rest of the group.
Quarter-Finals | Semi Finals & Finals – Around the Globe
The top two teams of each group will qualify for the quarter final stage and from there on the tournament will be played on a knock out basis.
Starting from the quarter-final stage all the matches will be played at a neutral venue “Hendry Pedris Stadium”.
The quarter-final stage will commence on the 12th of July and all the matches up to the final stage will be live streamed on ThePapare.com.
Speaking to ThePapare.com President of Sri Lanka Basketball Federation Asanga Amaratunga said, “We are happy to have ThePapare.com partner with us this year to uplift the standards of Sri Lanka schools basketball and we hope that this would continue for the years to come also we invite all the schools to compete at their best and to have a wonderful tournament”.
Twenty teams. Seven days. One Champion will have their hands on ThePapare.com Basketball Championship.
ThePapare.com wishes all the teams the very best!
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