The ESPN School Quiz, a programme that showcases sports quizzing talent among school children across the country, is back for the third time.

The third season which begins on 7 April, will be aired weekdays Monday to Fridays at 5:30 pm, with a repeat telecast at 11:30 pm.

With ESPN STAR Sports commentator Harsha Bhogle as host, the quiz began in 2001 with just 15 cities. Today, it has representation from 41 cities across India, with nearly 2000 schools being a part of the selection process.

An official release informs that 108 schools came through a tough selection process to feature on this unique TV show. Nearly 2000 teams had to pass a written test held in 21 cities across the country. Cities and towns like Gwalior, Coimbatore, Ketti, Udupi, Bokaro, Burnpur, Ranchi, Vizag, Alwar and Palampur were represented for the first time. Live quiz events were also conducted in six cities in the search for the national champions for the third year of the ESPN School Quiz.

Twenty-seven top teams from each of the four zones: north, south, east and west; were selected for the final phase of 'On-Air,' quizzing, giving every one of the 216 students a chance to test their knowledge of sports against the cream of competition of like-minded sports enthusiasts in the country, the release adds .

The all India winner of the School Quiz will be given a cash award of Rs 500,000, to be used for developing sports facilities at their school, states the release. In addition, the team members along with a guardian, will get an opportunity of being flown to any major international sporting event of their choice from events featured on either ESPN or STAR Sports.

While, the teams winning the national semi finals will receive a team prize of two hundred thousand rupees, the zonal final winners from each zone will win a trophy (team prize), adds the release. Winners of the preliminary rounds from each zone will win a Milo wristwatch each and all participants will get ESPN certificates of excellence.

"We plan to further increase our focus on activities around school children with initiatives like the ESPN Premier League Junior, cricket tournaments and of course by making the ESPN School quiz bigger and better each year," ESPN Software India managing director Manu Sawhney is quoted as saying in the release.