1st Stallions Cup open basketball tournament underway; Ophidians, Orca in semis

Our Correspondent
Kohima village, March 4 (EMN): Ophidians and Orca registered a berth each for the semi-final rounds after defeating their respective opponents at the ongoing 1st Stallions Cup open basketball tournament in Kohima village on Thursday. 

Ophidians narrowly defeated Jayhawks 43-40 in the first-quarter final match while Orca hammered Assam Rifles 55-17 in the second quarter-final match in the order to win a slot each for the semi-finals.

Stallions Club, a basketball team from Kohima, is organising the tournament as well as vying for the championship title in the competition.

During the first match of the day, the team defeated Ethnic Ballers with a margin of 66-45 to enter into the quarter finals.

In today's (Friday) third quarter final match, Kohima chiefs will take on Alcans at 1 pm while Stallions Club will clash with Team Mystic Ballers (TMB) in the fourth quarter-final match at 3 pm.

The winner of the first match will play against Orca while winner of the second against Ophidians in the semi-finals.

Altogether, 12 teams from and within Kohima are taking part in the four-day tournament, which began on March 3 at the basketball court of Christ King Higher Secondary School, Kohima.

The final match will be played on March 6 and champions will walk away with a cash prize of INR 20,000 while INR 10,000 has been set aside for the runner-up.

The most valuable player (MVP) will receive a cash award of INR 5,000 while the finals MVP will pocket INR 3,000.

Besides, the competition which is being played on knockout format, three-point contest will also be held in the final, while an exhibition match will be played between under-17 players of Nessus and Ethnic Ballers.

Meanwhile, the organisers have placed a charity box at the venue seeking contributions from the audience to help orphans after the tournament.