India wins double gold at South Asian Beach Games 3x3 Basketball in Sri Lanka

It was double success for India’s 3-on-3 (3x3) basketball teams at the 1st South Asian Beach Games (SABG) in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday, as both the Indian Men and Women won the gold medal after defeating Sri Lanka and Maldives in their respective finals. Both of India’s basketball squads finished the three-day competition undefeated, with 4-0 records.

Although real Beach Basketball is played on sand, the competition at the SABG showcased an outdoor version of the 3x3 basketball format, a modified version of the game which is played in the half-court. Each team is allowed just three players on the court and the 10-minute game can only go up to a maximum of 21 points.

In the Men’s final, Sri Lanka took a confident start, but India quickly fought back and held on to a three point lead at halftime. Behind eight points by Jagdeep Singh, India extended their lead to clinch the win, 21-16.

Earlier, on Sunday and Monday, India’s Men’s side had won all three of their group games, defeating Maldives, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

India also dominated the women’s final, defeating Maldives by 17-7 on Tuesday evening. India’s Women’s side had also won all their earlier games on the previous two days, defeating Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Final Standings

Men

1. India
2. Sri Lanka
3. Maldives

Women

1. India
2. Maldives
3. Sri Lanka

BFI announces India’s basketball contingent at 1st South Asian Beach Games in Sri Lanka

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) will send both Men and Women Senior basketball teams to the 1st South Asian Beach Games that will be held in Hanbantota, Sri Lanka, from October 8-16, 2011. India will be amongst eight South Asian countries taking part in the Games, and the 3x3 Beach Basketball tournament from October 9-11 will feature four-player contingents sent from India in both the Men’s and the Women’s divisions. In addition, India will also be sending three FIBA officials to this event.

Hosts Sri Lanka will welcome Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan to the 2011 South Asian Beach Games, which will feature competitions in 12 sports: Beach Basketball, Beach Football, Beach Handball, Beach Kabbadi, Beach Netball, Beach Volleyball, Beach Body Building, Equestrian, Life Saving, Sailing, Swimming, and Triathlon.

The Beach Basketball tournament will be a modified 3-on-3 version of basketball, played with regulations similar to the FIBA 3x3 rules. Each team will have three starting players and one substitute.

The Indian Women’s contingent will be led by Pete Gaudet, the experienced American head coach of India’s National Senior Women’s team. Mr. Rajinder Singh will be leading the charge for India’s Men’s squad. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams will consist of some of the players who represented India in the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women in Japan and the 26th FIBA Asia Championship in China, respectively.

Indian Teams for the Beach Basketball competition at the 1st South Asian Beach Games in Hanbantota (Sri Lanka) – October 8-16, 2011:

Men

Yadwinder Singh

Jagdeep Singh

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi

Talwinderjit Singh Sahi

Coach: Rajinder Singh

Women

Geethu Anna Jose

Anitha Paul Durai

Raspreet Sidhu

Prashanti Singh

Coach: Pete Gaudet

Officials

Naresh Chander Aneja

Rajan Vellingirinathan

Anupam Sharma

Draw completed for 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship

Defending champions China were drawn with fellow East Asian team Chinese Taipei, Middle Asia’s India and SEABA’s Malaysia in Group A for the Preliminary Round of the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship to be held in Nha Trang City in Vietnam from Oct 18-28, 2011.

The draw was conducted at the Media Conference Room at the Wuhan Sports Center in Wuhan (China) on Sunday, the final day of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship.

Group B involves Korea, who lost to China in the final of the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship at Johor Bahru (Malaysia) two years ago, along with two WABA teams Iraq and Lebanon and Uzbekistan.

Iran, the bronze medalists from Johor Bahru lead the fray in Group C also comprising Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

With only 15 teams in fray, Group D will see only three teams and all-SEABA affair – Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

“It is a great significance that we are conducting this draw for the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship on the final day of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship,” said FIBA Asia president Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al-Thani who presided over the draw proceedings.

“The 26th FIBA Asia Championship will decide the champion team of FIBA Asia, while the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship will throw up the stars for the future,” he said.

FIBA Asia will run a special event website http://nhatrang2011.fibaasia.net during the event.

Groupings for the Preliminary Round

Group A: China, India, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei

Group B: Korea, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Lebanon

Group C: Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan

Group D: Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam

India’s U16 side qualified for the championship after defeating Nepal and Sri Lanka in qualifiers in New Delhi in August

About 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship

The 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship is the qualifying event for the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship to be played in Lithuania from July 17-26, 2012.

The top two teams from the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship will represent FIBA Asia at Lithuania.

System of Competition

The 16 teams are pooled into four groups of four teams each for the Preliminary Round.

The top three teams from each group will advance to the Second Round, and will be drawn into two groups of six teams each.

In the Second Round, each team will carry forward the results against the other qualifying teams in their Preliminary Round group and will play against teams qualifying from the other Preliminary Round group. The top four teams from each Second Round will qualify for the Quarterfinals, from which stage it will be a knockout.

India to take part in FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship in Italy from Friday

Groups, schedule of games, and other challenges that will take place in the 1st FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship (YWC) for U18 Boys and Girls in Rimini Italy from September 9-11, 2011, have been announced by FIBA. India have been invited to send teams for both the boys’ and girls’ competitions, which are amongst the 60 total teams taking part in the tournament.

India’s Boys’ side have been placed in Group A, along with Tunisia, Greece, Estonia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Slovenia. The top four teams from the group will advance to the Quarter Final stage of the tournament.

India’s Girls’ side have been placed in Group C, along with Sri Lanka, Sweden, hosts Italy, USA, and Guam. Once again, the top four teams will advance to the Quarter Final stage of the tournament.

Here is the complete list of teams in their assigned groups:

Boys

Group A: Tunisia, India, Greece, Estonia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Slovenia
Group B: Austria, Jordan, Serbia, Singapore, Syria, Spain, Qatar, Italy, Egypt
Group C: England, Japan, Canada, Romania, New Zealand, Turkey, Nepal, Latvia, Germany
Group D: Netherlands, Czech Republic, USA, South Africa, Bulgaria, Croatia, Guam, Russia, Denmark

Girls

Group A: Greece, Tunisia, Russia, Australia, Canada, England
Group B: Jordan, Angola, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, Netherlands
Group C: Sri Lanka, India, Sweden, Italy, USA, Guam
Group D: Germany, Austria, Japan, Ukraine, China, Syria

Here is India’s schedule of group games:

Boys

Sep 9, 12:00 PM: India vs. South Korea

Sep 9, 1:40 PM: India vs. Puerto Rico

Sep 9, 3:00 PM: India vs. Estonia

Sep 9, 5:40 PM: India vs. Slovenia

Sep 9, 6:20 PM: India vs. Sri Lanka

Sep 10, 12:00 PM: India vs. Ukraine

Sep 10, 1:20 PM: India vs. Greece

Sep 10, 3:30 PM: India vs. Tunisia

Girls

Sep 9, 1:00 PM: India vs. USA

Sep 9, 2:20 PM: India vs. Italy

Sep 9, 3:40 PM: India vs. Sweden

Sep 9, 5:00 PM: India vs. Guam

Sep 10, 1:00 PM: India vs. Sri Lanka

The knockout/classification matches will begin on the evening of Saturday, September 10th. Finals will be held after 6 PM on Sunday, September 11th.

FIBA 3x3 Rules: In this half-court basketball competition, each team will have four players – three starters plus one substitute. Each game will be 10 minutes long, with two halves of five minutes each. A one-minute overtime is held if the score is tied at the end of regulation. The shot-clock is 12 seconds, and the scoring limit is 21 points (that is, the first team to 21 wins). No time-outs are allowed: substitutions are to be made in dead-ball situations.

Outside of the 3x3 tournament, there will be many other tournaments taking place for the players to participate in, including a Free Throw Contest, Shootout Contest, Skills Challenge, and a Dunk Contest.

Here are India U18 basketball teams for the 1st FIBA 3x3 World Championship:

Boys

Kirti Goswami (Madhya Pradesh)

Love Neet Singh (Punjab)

Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh)

Sivabalan Gnanasekaran (Tamil Nadu)

Coach: Kulwinder Singh Gill

Girls

Jeena PS (Kerala)

Aishwarya Natarajan (Tamil Nadu)

Amrutha Bhuskute (Maharashtra)

Shireen Limaye (Maharashtra)

Coach: Pete Gaudet

India to take part in 3x3 Beach Basketball tournament at 1st South Asian Beach Games in Sri Lanka

Different twist, same game: if you haven't paid attention to International Beach Basketball yet, it might just be time to start. India will be sending both Men and Women Senior basketball teams to the 1st South Asian Beach Games that will be held in Hanbantota, Sri Lanka, from October 8-16, 2011. India will be amongst eight South Asian countries taking part in the Games, and the 3x3 Beach Basketball tournament will feature four-player contingents sent from India in both the Men’s and the Women’s divisions.



Hosts Sri Lanka will welcome Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan to the 2011 South Asian Beach Games, which will feature competitions in 12 sports: Beach Basketball, Beach Football, Beach Handball, Beach Kabbadi, Beach Netball, Beach Volleyball, Beach Body Building, Equestrian, Life Saving, Sailing, Swimming, and Triathlon.



Beach Basketball is a modified version of basketball which will be played on the sand on a circular court with no backboard on the goal and no out-of-bounds rule. Amongst the several amended rules in this version of the sport, dribbling of the basketball is not allowed and ball movement is to be done via passes or two and half steps. Each team will have three starting players and one substitute.



India will be carrying some modest pedigree into the Beach Basketball format of the game: India’s Men’s team, featuring Pratham Singh, Arjun Singh, Sunil Kumar Rathee, and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, won the gold medal at the 3x3 basketball tournament of the 2008 Asian Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia. India finished at top amongst the eight participating teams, defeating Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines in the final in the process.



Although they didn't share the success of the Men, Indian Women, represented by Lutukurthy Deepa, Smruthi Radhakrishnan, Stephy Nixon, and Kavita helped the team get the bronze medal after finished third out of the five women's teams in the tournament.



Theoretically, India should have an easier time dominating the South Asian rivals than they did against team from the rest of Asia.



Now, on the questionable 'Beach' format though: I have already written about my reservations of the FIBA 3x3 format, but Beach Basketball is different because it represents a fully 'casual' form of the game, instead of a form that is vying for a place in the Olympics (like FIBA 3x3 is). That said, it is still strange to place a game that doesn't involve dribbling and backboards in the 'basketball' category: if anything, Beach Basketball is much closer to Netball, a game that I've never really been a fan of.



But hey, it makes no sense to dribble on sand right? And you won't hear the players complaining about the 'seriousness' of the game when they find themselves enjoying barefoot hoops on the sunny beaches of Sri Lanka.

India U16s qualify for U16 FIBA Asia Championship

93 points per game. That was the average margin of victory for India's U16 Boys basketball team, as they faced U16 teams from Nepal and Sri Lanka on August 2-3, at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi. The purpose of this slaughter? The three teams were brought together to fight for a spot at the 2nd U16 FIBA Asia Championship, which will be held at Nha Trang City in Vietnam from October 18-28th. India's qualification was never in question, but the full destructive force by which the young stars went about their business was remarkable, indeed.

Here is a complete dissection.

India prepared the best possible team for this competition: The U16 probables had already been in camp in Delhi, preparing for the qualifiers and for the FIBA Asia event later this year, for one and a half months. What this side truly boasted of was experience: in players such as Chhattisgarh's Ajay Pratap Singh, Punjab's Kushmeet Singh and Love Neet Singh, MP's Syed Anam Ali, and Delhi's Narender, India had players who had been superstars in their own right of their age level. Added to this group were two players who are currently on scholarship at the IMG Academy in the USA: Chhattisgarh's guard Sanjeev Kumar, and the biggest name of them all, Punjab's 7-foot-1, 15-year-old giant, Satnam Singh Bhamara.

So when this group, along with several others, took the court to play our hapless neighbours, the results were expectedly lopsided. India defeated Nepal by 98 points in the first game, running and gunning behind seven players who scored in double digits. Ajay Pratap Singh and Love Neet Singh led the scoring with 19 and 18 points respectively. One of the true eye-popping numbers in this game was the score at the end of three quarters: 100-20. The final score, no less impressive: 134-36.

Leading the players from the sidelines were Delhi-based coaches JP Singh, J Nehra, and former Indian Women's superstar Divya Singh. I overheard something interesting from one of the probables that didn't make the squad about Coach Singh: "He said that 'When you're in my team, I have no feeders, no forwards, and no pivot players. You must be ready to play whatever position I ask you to play'." And true to this, most of the players, except for perhaps the bigs Satnam and Rakesh Sangwan, played as fluidly as they possibly could.

In the final against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, India fielded a big starting lineup, where our small forward, Ajay, was perhaps as tall as our opponent's Center (6'4"). On PF was 6'6" Sangwan, and Satnam held on to the Center position.

This was the kind of game that would have basketball scouts salivating on Satnam's potential. Let me make a note here that this was the first time really that I was watching Satnam play competitively against guys of his own age group. Despite the fact that he has represented Punjab at the U18 and India at the Senior level over the past month, he is still only a 15-year-old, and qualified to play for the U16 level, too. After a relatively easy first game (13 points, 3-4 blocks), Satnam EXPLODED against Sri Lanka. His teammates did a good job in getting him the ball, and he rewarded them with aggressive inside offense. Satnam was near-automatic against the hapless defenders once he got the ball inside. In roughly 26 minutes of action, he scored 28 points (barely missing any shots), brought down 8 rebounds, and got three highlight-reel blocks.

The rest of the team, meanwhile, continued dominating like they did a day before. The smaller players like Narender, Kushmeet, and Love Neet were too fast for Sri Lanka, as they caused dozens of turnovers with their full-court press, and on the other end, scored with ease on tireless fast-breaks. India cruised to an 88 point victory in the final, 122-34.

Entry into the U16 FIBA Asia Championship secure, this team now has a lot more time before October to continue improving. If they can keep this core together and motivated, they may well spring a surprise or two against Asia's powerhouses. And even if they don't yet, their play over these two games, albeit against weak competition, has proved that Indian basketball fans can rest assured: the future of the game is bright, indeed!

Here are the scores from the two games:

India vs. Nepal: India (Ajay Pratap Singh 19, Love Neet Singh 18, Satnam Singh Bhamara 13, Akash Bhasin 11, Kushmeet Singh 10, S. Karthickeyan 10, Rakesh Sangwan 10) bt. Nepal 134-36 (33-9, 31-4, 36-7, 34-16).

India vs. Sri Lanka: India (Satnam Singh Bhamara 28, Kushmeet Singh 26, Love Neet Singh 12, Ajay Pratap Singh 11) bt. Sri Lanka (Kenneth W 12, Praveen Ganlath 10) 122-34 (35-11, 29-8, 35-11, 23-4).

India Youth Boys to face Nepal & Sri Lanka in Delhi

The Indian Youth (U16) Boys basketball squad will face youth teams from Nepal and Sri Lanka at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall of the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi from August 1-3, 2011. These games will decide on the team which will qualify for the 2nd FIBA Asia Championship for Youth Boys at Nha Trang City in Vietnam, from October 18-28th.

The 12-member squad to participate in this team was announced on Friday, July 29, 2011:

Akash Bhasin (Chhattisgarh)

Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh)

Sanjeev Kumar (IMG Academy / Chattisgarh)

Narender (Delhi)

Akimjeet Singh Sohal (Delhi)

Pradeep Kumar (Delhi)

Rakesh Sangwan (Haryana)

Syed Anam Ali (Madhya Pradesh)

Kushmeet Singh (Punjab)

Love Neet Singh (Punjab)

Satnam Singh Bhamara (IMG Academy / Punjab)

S. Karthickeyan (Tamil Nadu)

Coach: JP Singh

Coach: J Nehra

Assistant Coach: Divya Singh

Physiotherapist Neelesh Shah

Amongst the young stars highlighting this squad are the likes of Satnam Singh Bhamara, the 7-foot-1 Center who has already represented India's Senior squad. Chhattisgarh's electrifying superstar Ajay Pratap Singh will be a major force in this team, as he is one of the most talented and confident young players in Indian basketball today. Three players from the Delhi team which won the Youth Nationals in Nagpur earlier this year - Narender, Akimjeet Singh Sohal, and Pradeep Kumar - will also star in this side.

India is going to the FIBA Asia Championship - Natt's team takes shape

We must start, as Kenny Natt would probably prefer it, with the defense.

As you may have already heard, the Indian Senior Men's Basketball team had a better than great week at the office, er, court. India hosted four other SAARC teams (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan) and competed in the Middle Asia Zone Qualifiers for the 26th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship. The Qualifiers were held at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi from July 13-15th; the FIBA ABC will be held in Wuhan (China) from September 15-25.

Yes, India were supposed to have an easy time against the SAARC rivals, but this easy? Former NBA Head Coach Kenny Natt, who was hired less than two months ago, saw the Young Cagers play in their first competitive international action under him, and the results were glorious. India won the qualifiers and booked their ticket for China, beating Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and then Sri Lanka again in the Final.

But back to the aforementioned defense. In those three games, India played its most inspired and organised defensive basketball I had ever seen. In the three games, India's hapless opponents made 37 field goals and committed 65 turnovers. India were ruthless, and they were ruthless from the beginning till the end. The turnovers led to quick offense and fast-break points on the other end.

These were your Final scores:

Pool A Game: India 99, Sri Lanka 42

Semi Final: India 120, Bangladesh 26

Final: India 89, Sri Lanka 35

India won each game by an average margin of nearly 68 points per game, and they managed it with only three players averaging in double digits! The defense was marvelous, with India holding their opposition to just 35 points per contest.

The next thing I must mention is balance: with the opposition giving less than an inspired challenge, Natt was able to play all of its 12 players on the roster regularly. Nobody played less than 10 minutes a game, and no one played more than 23. India played amazingly unselfish basketball, and looked like a real team. Whenever an extra pass could be made, it was. Wing players like Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Hareesh Koroth, Trideep Rai, and Prakash Mishra got a large number of open looks from the three point line because of the great passing and spacing, and the players did well to convert their open looks.

Despite averaging over 100 points a game, India's leading scorer, Vishesh, only put up 15 a game individually. Jagdeep Singh, who was one of the most explosive players on the court, made it a point to fire up the crowd and indimidate the opponents by a wide array of dunks, and averaged 12.33 points a game.

The only other player to crack a double digit average was a surprise package - 20-year-old big man Amrit Pal Singh has really come into his own under Natt. Amrit Pal was amazingly efficient, playing just 12 minutes a game but averaging 13.33 ppg to become India's second highest scorer. His presence in the post will a boon for the Indian team in the future, and his combination of size, strength, and speed, will send shivers down opponents' backs if he continues to improve the way he has.

I was also impressed by India's backcourt bench players, Koroth and Mishra, both of whom played the most amount of minutes in the qualifiers. They were both very influential in both creating the offense for others and of course, scoring themselves.

Natt's squad had great balance to it in terms of youth and experience. Two players thought to have been left behind by Indian Basketball's youth wave - Sambhaji Kadam and Riyazuddin - made great comebacks to the national side. Kadam was India's starting point guard, led the team in assists, and had a Jason Kidd-esque veteran role as the team's mature leader. Riyaz came off the bench to give valuable minutes as a glue-guy.

And then there's the youth: Punjab's young, big men Amjyot Singh (19) and Satnam Singh Bhamara (15) took important strides as their made their India debut. Both youngsters showed nervousness at times but also showed flashes of their incredible potential.

Oh, yes, you read that last paragraph right. Satnam Singh Bhamara, 15. That same 15-year-old, seven-foot-one, son of a Punjabi farmer, who is currently at a basketball scholarship at the IMG Academy in Florida (USA), and in his holidays, made a debut with the Indian national team and led them in rebounds (yes, he did). Bhamara is still nervous, still makes silly mistakes, still has slow reactions. But hell, he's FIFTEEN. Bhamara has a long way to go, but this tournament was a crucial first step in his development as a star for India.

Natt, a former NBA coach, had little knowledge or experience with Asian competition, but he did a great job in keeping India disciplined, no matter how ridiculously lopsided the advantage seemed.

So that was India - mostly good news and positivity. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for our opposition. And that is what concerns me, and that is what clearly concerned Natt, who will of course be playing against much upgraded competition in Wuhan. India has been grouped alongside Lebanon, Korea, and Malaysia. There will be no more 94 point wins and Natt will have little room to experiment with the bench. The FIBA Asia Championships will be a different animal, of course, and against certain competition, India may well be at the receiving end of the kind of punishment they have handed the SAARC competition.

"We're still a young group of guys, and we will still be getting better as a defensive team after each game," Natt told reporters after his first game as coach, "I'm really looking down the road, looking to get better defensively for the future."

And just as it had begun, we must also end with the defense. India will rarely get easier challenges than they did this week, but to toughen up against the big boys, it will be defense that will dictate the team's future.

India Men’s Squad for Middle Asia Zone Qualifying Round in New Delhi

The 12-man roster for the Indian Senior Men’s squad that will take part in the Middle Asia Zone Qualifying Round matches against SAARC teams in New Delhi from July 13-15th has been released by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and India coach Kenny Natt. India will play their first competitive international game under Natt against Sri Lanka on Wednesday evening at Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium.

Indian Team for Middle Asia Zone Qualifying Round

Sambhaji Kadam

Amjyot Singh

Hareesh Koroth

Prakash Mishra

Satnam Singh Bhamara

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi

Amrit Pal Singh

Eudrick Pereira

Trideep Rai

Riyazuddin

Yadwinder Singh

Jagdeep Singh Bains

Head Coach: Kenny Natt

Assistant Coach: Rajendar Singh

Assistant Coach: Pawan Kumar

Trainer: Zak Penwell

India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal will be competing in these qualifiers to determine which team qualifies for one spot at the 26th FIBA Asia Championship for Men, which will be held in Wuhan (China) from September 15-25.

See the schedule of the qualifying matches here.

The team above has taken shape more or less like I had expected it to. We seem to have a good balance of experienced leaders, players in their prime, and fresh youngsters who will be getting their first chance to represent India at the international stage. No captain has been announced yet.

I'm going to guess that Natt's starting lineup will include Sambhaji as the point guard, Vishesh as shooting guard, sharp-shooting Trideep Rai as the small forward, and the Punjabi big men duo of Yadwinder and Jagdeep as our post players. The pleasant surprise at the National camp for the past month has been the resurgence and maturity of Sambhaji: India had been facing a mini-point guard crisis, since Arjun Singh has been nursing an injury and TJ Sahi had to leave camp duo to personal reasons. Sambhaji, one of the country's best ball-handlers and passers, has regained his form and will add veteran leadership to the starting five. Hareesh Koroth will be backing him up off the bench.

Of course, it's great to see the 15-year-old 7-footer Satnam Singh in this list as he gets ready to make his debut for India. Behind the two starting big men and Amrit Pal Singh, Satnam and Amjyot Singh will be the pups of the big men group: but both the two Punjabis are massive players with massive potential. They may not get to play too much, but watch out for them when they do step out on court.

We'll find out tomorrow what starting five and tactics that Natt unleashes against Sri Lanka.

India to take part in Middle Asia Zone Qualifying Round against SAARC teams in Delhi

The Indian Senior Men’s Basketball team has been pooled with Sri Lanka as they prepare to take part in the Middle Asia Zone Qualifying Round against SAARC teams at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi, from July 13-15. The winner of this five-team qualifier event will qualify for the 26th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship which will be held in Wuhan (China) between Asia’s 16 best basketball teams from September 15-25.

Pool A: India, Sri Lanka
Pool B: Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan

India will play a maximum of three games in this round – these qualifiers will also be the first chance for India’s new American basketball coach, Kenny Natt, to see his team perform in competitive matches against international opposition. Natt, a former NBA coach, has been holding camp with the Senior Probables team for about a month at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi.

The final 12-man roster for India that will take part in this competition will be released tomorrow.

The qualifiers will be held in a league-cum-knockout basis. Two teams from each pool will qualify for the Semi-Finals. Here is the schedule of the games:

Match 1 - July 13 - 9:00 AM - Nepal vs. Bhutan

Match 2 - July 13 - 5:00 PM - India vs. Sri Lanka

Match 3 - July 13 - 7:00 PM - Bhutan vs. Bangladesh

Match 4 - July 14 - 9:00 AM - Bangladesh vs. Nepal

Semi-Final - Match 5 - July 14 - 5:00 PM - Pool A Winner vs. Pool B Runner-Up

Semi-Final - Match 6 - July 14 - 7:00 PM - Pool B Winner vs. Pool A Runner-Up

Hard Line - Match 7 - July 15 - 3:00 PM - L/O Match 5 vs. L/O Match 6

Final - Match 8 - July 15 - 5:00 PM - W/O Match 5 vs. W/O Match 6

The winner from these qualifiers will be slotted in ‘Group A’ of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship, along with Lebanon, Malaysia, and Korea.

17 Indian referees currently hold the FIBA license

They might not get the attention saved for the talented athletes on court or for the mastermind coaches on the sidelines, but it is no secret that good referees are the ones who truly run the show at a basketball game. The efforts of these hardworking individuals haven’t gone unnoticed, as 17 Indians currently hold FIBA’s official referee license.

Over the past year, many of our officials have made a mark on the international stage. In July 2010, West Bengal’s experienced ref Atanu Banerjee became the first Indian to officiate the final of a World Championship Game, as he was a referee at the FIBA U17 World Championship Final in France. In November the same year, another Indian referee made the country proud. Rameshkumar Durairaju from Tamil Nadu became the first Indian referee since 1982 to officiate an Asian Games basketball final, as he was the ref at the women’s final game at the Asian Games in Guangzhou (China).

This is the full list of Indian referees holding the FIBA license:

Atanu Banerjee

Sharad Vasant Bansode

Snehal Bendke

Peter Sonthosh Divaker

Rameshkumar Durairaju

John Anil Devanand Eluka

Zanim Mohamed Hashim

Manoj Subbayya Kotian

Harish Kumar

Shiba Maggon

Amarjot Singh Mavi

Rajnarayan Patro

Prakash Paquiaraj Sandou

Somasundaramoorthy Shanmugasundaram

Gens Varghese Vadayattu

Rajan Vellingirinathan

Ceciline Michael Vino

For aspiring FIBA refs, the Sri Lankan Basketball Federation is organising the FIBA Asia Referee Clinic from February 11-14th, 2011, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The clinic will be conducted by Lubomir Kotleba, the FIBA Sports Director. A part of this programme will consist of a clinic for new FIBA referee candidates. You can find more information about the clinic here.

There are a total of 287 FIBA referees in Asia. China leads the way with 28.

China win FIBA Asia U18 Championship; India finish 13th

The talented squad of Chinese players put the final stamp on a dominating performance after beating Korea 103-80 in the gold-medal game of the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship, in Sana'a, Yemen, on October 1st to win their ninth title in 18 appearances at this competition.

Chinese Taipei finished in third place, Iran fourth, and Philippines in fifth.

Heading for this competition, India had assembled a team of talented youngsters who had experience playing together and had generated some positive results before the tournament, leading to heightened pre-championship expectations. Unfortunately, the team wasn't prepared to deal with the onslaught faced in a tough group, as three of their group games to Japan, Yemen, and Iraq.

The youngsters redeemed themselves slightly in the 13-16th place playoffs, rolling by Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka with considerable ease to end the tournament at 13th place. India failed to improve in their last two showings at the competition (2006 and 2008) where they had also finished 13th.

India started brightly against their toughest competitors Japan in the first game, but lost focus in the second half to go down 89-72. They suffered heavy defeats at the hands of their next two rivals, going down 95-58 to hosts Yemen and 87-58 to Iraq. As the Young Cagers had finished bottom of Group D, they were placed in the 13-16th place playoffs, where they finally showed some good play. India beat Saudi Arabia 89-75 and stomped over Middle Asia Zone rivals Sri Lanka 68-34 in the last game to retain the 13th spot.

The poor overall performance of the team goes on to show how far we still need to go to become serious threats in Asian basketball. India seem to have an easy time against teams we are supposed to beat, but regularly buck down early against any tougher competition. I'm still waiting for the day when we start making waves by in a competition like this one by causing an upset or two over some stronger teams.

There were a few silver linings to the performance, thought - India fielded a talented U18 squad that is sure to benefit from the experience. They were led by brilliant performances by Arjun Singh, who played four of the five games and averaged 22.3 ppg per contest. Other youngsters like Dishant Shah and Rakesh Kumar Yadav also showed some potential with their performances.

U18 team for FIBA Asia Championship for Men in Yemen

The Indian U18 men’s squad, set to represent the country in the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men in Sana’a (Yemen), from September 22 – October 1, was recently finalised. The contingent of 12 players, accompanied by two coaches, a physiotherapist, and two FIBA referees, left for Yemen on Sunday, September 19th.

The Young Cagers will play their first game against Japan on September 22nd.

The full U18 squad is:

Rakesh Kumar Yadav
Shadab Khan
Bobby Singh
Rajan Sharma
Arjun Singh
Amjyot Singh
Sunny Raut
Jaskaran Singh Gill
Anant Singh
Dishant Vipul Shah
Ajay Pratap Singh
Berdinent Carmel Joseph Charles Patrick

Head Coach: Ram Kumar Gahlawat
Coach: Senthilselvan Ventriselvan
Physiotherapist: Nilesh Bharat Shah
FIBA Referee: Rajan Vellingirinathan
FIBA Referee: Sharad Vasant Bansode

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has also named two stand-by players for the competition: Kirti Goswami and Sukhjeet.

India is amongst the 16 teams in this tournament, qualifying in Group D along with Japan, Iraq, and hosts Yemen. The squad will try to improve its performance in this tournament from the last U18 FIBA Asia Championships which were held in Tehran (Iran) in 2008 – India only managed finish 13th in that competition.

The schedule for India’s first round games is (With Local time at Sana’a):

Sep 22 – 12:00: India vs. Japan
Sep 23 – 19:00: India vs. Yemen
Sep 24 – 09:00: Iraq vs. India

The top three teams from each group will move on to the second round stage from September 25-29th, before the Quarter and Semi-Finals. The finals of the tournament will be held on Friday, October 1st.

India showed a strong performance to qualify for this competition when the Middle Asia Zone Qualifying Round games were played in Bangalore from August 12-14th, as they went on to beat rivals Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by an average of 39 points in each game.

India qualifies for U18 FIBA Asia Championship

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The future always looked promising for young basketball stars in India, and the U18 team came out and proved it with three massive victories over their neighbouring countries to qualify for the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championships. India were always favourites to finish top in the Middle Asia Zone qualifying games against teams such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh, but few expected the dominance that the young cagers displayed over the three games, winning each with an average of an incredible 39 points.

The games were played at the Sri Kantaveera stadium in Bangalore from August 12-14th. India defeated Nepal in the first game 50-30, Bangladesh 91-44, and destroying a Sri Lankan side 84-44 in the finale.

India were led by great performances by individuals such as Arjun Singh, Dishant Shah, Shadab Khan, Amjyot Singh, and others.

Sri Lanka will qualify as a second place berth from the Middle Asia Zone along with India. Kazakhstan, who had a podium finish in the 2008 edition of the competition (they lost to hosts Iran in the finals), are an automatic qualifier to the event from the group. India have some way to go to improve on their previous performances, as they finished a measly 13th out of the 15 teams in the 2008 competition.

In the 2010 competition, set to be held in the city of Sana's in Yemen from Sep 22 - Oct 1, India will have a chance to face off against other qualified countries such as Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Japan.

The top three teams from this competition will play in the FIBA U19 World Championship 2011 in Latvia.

India's squad for the qualifiers was:

Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh)
Sunny Raut (Madhya Pradesh)
Dishant Shah (Gujarat)
Rajan Sharma (Punjab)
Jaskaran Singh (Punjab)
Anant Singh (Rajasthan)
C. Berdinent Carmel Joseph (Tamil Nadu)
Bobby Singh (Uttar Pradesh)
Rakesh Kumar Yadav (Uttar Pradesh)
Arjun Singh (Indian Railways)
Shadab Khan (Indian Railways)
Amjyot Singh (Chandigarh)

Officials:
1. Mr. Ramkumar, Head Coach
2. V. Senthilselvan, Asst. Coach
3. Nilesh Shah, Physiotherapist

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India lose to Afghanistan in SAG final

Despite an inspired second-half comeback, India lost to Afghanistan 65-64 in the final of the South Asian Games basketball tournament, at Dhaka (Bangladesh) last night.

India's national basketball team, The Young Cagers, had lost to Afghanistan once in the group stages of the tournament.

Afghanistan.

Seriously, Afghanistan.

Here's an excerpt of the final's recap from The Hindu:

India tasted its first setback of the 11th South Asian Games here on Friday. First the Indian football team bowed out in the semifinals losing to host Bangladesh 0-1 and later the men’s basketball team was beaten by Afghanistan in a rousing final 65-64.

Trailing 35-44 at half-time, the Indians made a remarkable recovery in the next two quarters to tie the score at 58-all. The Indians, 49th in the FIBA ranking, kept the pressure on and took the vital lead with four minutes to go.
Jagdeep Singh, who was the Indian playmaker, missed a couple of lay-up shots at the crucial minutes and this allowed the Afghanistan to sink in a two-pointer to regain the lead by one point.

Apart from the Afghanistan losses, the Vishesh Bhriguvanshi led squad actually performed well in the rest of the tournament. India was in a group with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. They won their other two group games, highlighted by a 52-point drubbing of Sri Lanka (led by Vishesh's 31-point explosion).

In the semi-final, India defeated the hosts Bangladesh 96-54 before losing to Afghanistan for the second time in the close final on Friday night.

Indian basketball team at South Asian Games

The South Asian games, being held at Bangladesh this year, were inaugurated yesterday at their capital city of Dhaka. Along with hosts Bangladesh, the other participating countries are India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, and Afghanistan.



India is sending a contingent of 331 athletes, and will be taking part in all of the 23 sports, except, funnily, T-20 cricket! They are the overwhelming favourites for the competition.

The basketball team for this tournament is being led by Varanasi boy Vishesh Bhriguvanshi:

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi of the Indian Railways will lead the men’s National basketball team that will take part in the SAF Games that got underway today at Dhaka, Bangladesh.
For the Dhaka meet, the players had been training attending the national coaching camp from January at SAI Bangalore.
According to Basketball Federation of India (BFI) secretary general, Harish Sharma, the team is a blend of youth and experience, and should deliver the goods.

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Captain), Yadwinder Singh, Prakash Mishra, Arjun Singh (all Indian Railways), Talwinderjeet Singh, Jagdeep Singh (both Punjab), S Robinson, Hareesh Koroth, Vineeth Revi (all Tamil Nadu), Mihir Pandey, Trideep Rai (both Uttarakhand) and Kiran Pal (Chattisgarh.
Aleksandar Bucan (head coach), Mohit Bhandari (assistant coach)
Suryaveer Singh Shekhwat (manager).