In a bid to take basketball across the country, Play for Deprived Children Nepal (PDCN) and Nepal Basketball League are organising NBL 3x3 East and West beginning from August 3.

3x3 is a half court competition in which the team reaching the scores of 21 first wins the game. The NBL 3x3 East will be held in three different cities of the eastern part of the country. Birtamode, Dharan and Biratnagar will host three different tournaments in a single day involving at least 10 teams each. The top two teams from each city after knockout tournament then assemble at Birtamode and play six-team Finals under round robin league format. The Finals will be played on August 28.

A similar format will be carried out in NBL West which will be held in Pokhara, Butwal and Dhangadhi. The champion and runners-up will get Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 apiece. The date of NBL West is yet to be confirmed. PDCN has already organised two editions of men's league and first ever women's double round robin competition. While the men's league was played under home and away format, women's event was played at a neutral venue.

PDCN President Arun Karki said the tournament will serve as a good tool to identify basketball talents. "The NBL helped us to revive basketball in the country. Now it’s time we search for more talents and we are hopeful that this two tournaments will help achieve our objective," said Karki.

PDCN General Secretary Namit Bahadur Thapa was hopeful that the two tournaments will be helpful in feeding more players for the national set up. "We have chosen the cities where basketball is popular but the players don't get good exposure. It will help them to feel confident that they can also give a good fight to national players," said Thapa.

PDCN board member Prakash Lingden, who will coordination the tournament in the East, said it's tough challenge to organise the meet especially on the financial front. "Since it's the event in first of its kind, we were looking for local sponsers and well wishers to make it a success," said Lingden. Lingden has estimated an overall cost of organising the tournament at around Rs 500,000. "Hopefully form next year we won't have any problems regarding the budget. If we manage to organise the event successfully this time, it was serve us well to market it," added Lingden.

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