The quarter-finals of the National Schools C Division basketball championships begin today, with eight teams still in the hunt for the boys’ and girls’ titles respectively.

The top two teams from each zone made it through the first round of the national championships, save for the Presbyterian High boys team. They were edged out 49-48 in a Group A encounter by Bukit Panjang Government High School, who advanced at the expense of the North Zone runners-up and 2009 National fourth-placed team.

The reward for Bukit Panjang being the only third-placed team during zonal competition in the quarter-finals was to be placed in a group with three such winners. They are in Group Y along with heavyweights North Vista Secondary, Anglican High and defending C Division champions Unity Secondary, the North, East and West Zone title holders respectively.

This group promises to be a war of attrition. North Vista and Anglican High were the two teams which won their first round games by the greatest margin, while Unity were only denied top spot with a four-point loss to Dunman Secondary. Bukit Panjang look like the odd team out, but they lost by only 10 points to Unity in the West Zone semi-finals.

Group X consists of 2009 runners-up Dunman Secondary, Raffles Institution, Jurong Secondary and Pei Cai.

It also promises to be a tight contest in the girls’ championship. Group X has thrown together three zonal champions as well in Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (South), Unity (West) and Christ Church (North), with Nanyang Girls’ High completing the four teams.

Group Y has three of the top four teams from the 2009 competition. Dunman Secondary (champions), Anglican High (third) and Raffles Girls’ School (fourth), along with North Vista, will battle for the top two places which advances them to the semi-finals.

The quarter-finals will end on Tuesday, July 20th. The semi-finals are on July 23rd, and the finals on July 28th. All matches will be played at Clementi Sports Hall, with the exception of the finals whose location is to be confirmed.

Please refer here for the fixtures and results.