India Women’s basketball team finalised for Japan FIBA Asia Championship

The completed squad of Indian eves that will be leading the charge for India against some of Asia’s best basketball-playing nations has been announced by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). India will send a 12 players, four officials, and two official FIBA referees as part of their contingent to the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women in Omura-Nagasaki in Japan from August 21-28, 2011.



The players that India will send Japan for this prestigious tournament will be the same who represented India at the William Jones Cup in Chinese Taipei last week, including India’s only player to get a WNBA trial, Geethu Anna Jose, and other stars like Anitha Paul Durai and Prashanti Singh. 16-year-old star Shireen Limaye is the youngest member of this squad. India finished at fourth place at the William Jones Cup.



Indian team for 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women

Akanksha Singh (Delhi)

Anitha Paul Durai (Indian Railways)

Bharti (Indian Railways)

Geethu Anna Jose (Indian Railways)

Harjeet Kaur (Delhi)

Kruthika Lakshman (Karnataka)

Kokila Subramani (Tamil Nadu)

Prashanti Singh (Delhi)

Pushpa Maddu (Indian Railways)

Shireen Vijay Limaye (Maharashtra)

Smruthi Radhakrishnan (Indian Railways)

Sonika Ohylan (Delhi)*

Head Coach: Pete Gaudet

Assistant Coach: Abdul Hamid Khan

Trainer: Gopika Vijay Kachare

Physiotherapist: Sudhir Singh Rathore

FIBA Referee: Ceciline Michael Vino Vincent Francis Victor

FIBA Referee: Somasundaramoortyh Shanmugasundaram



*Sonika was a late replacement for Raspreet Sidhu, who was excluded from the team due to injury.



Asha Hegde (Delhi) have been selected as stand-by and will remain in camp with the National team.



India have been placed in Level I of the Championship, along with champions China, hosts Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Lebanon. In Level II, the teams are Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Singapore.



Hosts Japan will take on newly promoted Lebanon on the first day of the competition on Aug 21 with defending champions China taking on last edition’s runners-up and archrivals Korea. Chinese Taipei meet India to complete the day once proceedings.



India’s Preliminary Round Schedule

21st Aug, 2011 (Sunday): India vs. Chinese Taipei

22nd Aug, 2011 (Monday): India vs. Korea

23rd Aug, 2011 (Tuesday): India vs. China

24th Aug, 2011 (Wednesday): India vs. Japan

25th Aug, 2011 (Thursday): India vs. Lebanon



The Semi-Finals of the tournament will be held on 27th Aug, 2011 (Saturday), and the Finals on 28th Aug, 2011 (Sunday). Click here for Complete Preliminary Round Schedule.



About 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women



Omura, a castle town from where Catholic saint St. Marina de Omura hailed will play host to the 12 top women basketball teams in Asia from Aug 21-28, 2011. Six teams will form the Elite Level I, from where the champions will be decided.



The champions of the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women will earn an automatic entry to the 2012 London Olympics. The teams finishing second and third will earn the opportunity to represent FIBA Asia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers.



Six other teams will play in the Qualifying Level II with the top two attempting to earn promotion to next edition’s Level I.



India were the hosts of previous FIBA Asia Championship for Women, which was held in 2009 in Chennai and won by China.

24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women: India’s Group & Schedule

The schedule of games for the Preliminary Round of the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women has been announced. The championship will be taking place in Omura and Nagasaki in Japan from August 21-28th, 2011.

Indian Senior Women’s team have been placed in Level I, along with champions China, hosts Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Lebanon. In Level II, the teams are Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Hosts Japan will take on newly promoted Lebanon on the first day of the competition on Aug 21 with defending champions China taking on last edition’s runners-up and archrivals Korea. Chinese Taipei meet India to complete the day once proceedings.

India’s Preliminary Round Schedule

21st Aug, 2011 (Sunday): India vs. Chinese Taipei

22nd Aug, 2011 (Monday): India vs. Korea

23rd Aug, 2011 (Tuesday): India vs. China

24th Aug, 2011 (Wednesday): India vs. Japan

25th Aug, 2011 (Thursday): India vs. Lebanon

The Semi-Finals of the tournament will be held on 27th Aug, 2011 (Saturday), and the Finals on 28th Aug, 2011 (Sunday). Click here for Complete Preliminary Round Schedule.

About 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women

Omura, a castle town from where Catholic saint St. Marina de Omura hailed will play host to the 12 top women basketball teams in Asia from Aug 21-28, 2011. Six teams will form the Elite Level I, from where the champions will be decided.

The champions of the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women will earn an automatic entry to the 2012 London Olympics. The teams finishing second and third will earn the opportunity to represent FIBA Asia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers.

Six other teams will play in the Qualifying Level II with the top two attempting to earn promotion to next edition’s Level I.

India were the hosts of previous FIBA Asia Championship for Women, which was held in 2009 in Chennai and won by China.

Indian Senior Men & Women called for National Coaching camps

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has called up probables for Indian Senior National Men and Women’s teams for National Coaching camps in New Delhi from May 20th at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. The camps will help to decide while players will take part in two crucial FIBA Asia Championships later in this year.

List of probables for Senior Men’s team

The following players have been selected as probables for the Indian Senior Men’s Basketball team for participation in the 26th FIBA Asia Championship for Men to be held in Wuhan, China from September 15-25, 2011. The 1st National Coaching camp in preparation for the above mentioned tournament will be held from May 20th, 2011 – June 19th, 2011.

Yadwinder Singh (Indian Railway)

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Indian Railway)

Prakash Mishra (Indian Railway)

Arjun Singh (Indian Railway)

Shadab Khan (Indian Railway)

Kiran Pal Singh (Indian Railway)

Talwinderjit Singh Sahi (Punjab)

Jagdeep Singh (Punjab)

Amjyot Singh (Punjab)

Hareesh Koroth (Tamil Nadu)

Dinesh C.V. (Tamil Nadu)

Abhilek Paul (Tamil Nadu)

Trideep Rai (Uttarakhand)

Riyazuddin (Uttarakhand)

Sambhaji Kadam (Services)

Jai Ram Jat (Services)

Narender Garewal (Services)

Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh)

Janki Ram Nath (Chhattisgarh)

Eudrick Perreira (Kerala)

Basil Philip (Kerala)

Dishant Shah (Gujarat)

Bobby Singh (Uttar Pradesh)

Rakesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh)

Arvind A. (Karnataka)

In addition, three talented junior have been called up to the camps by the BFI to train with the Senior Men’s team to prepare the future stars for a bright future in basketball for India.

Amrit Pal Singh (Punjab)

Jaskaran Singh (Punjab)

Komal Preet (Punjab)

List of probables for Senior Women’s team

The following players have been selected as probables for the Indian Senior Women’s Basketball team for participation in the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women to be held in Omura and Nagasaki, Japan from August 21-28, 2011. The National Coaching camp in preparation for the above mentioned tournament will be held from May 20th, 2011 – July 3rd, 2011.

Geethu Anna Jose (Indian Railway)

Pushpa M. (Indian Railway)

Anitha P. (Indian Railway)

Smruthi R.K. (Indian Railway)

Reshma G. (Indian Railway)

Bharti Netam (Indian Railway)

Prashanti Singh (Delhi)

Harjeet Kaur (Delhi)

Akanksha Singh (Delhi)

Pratima Singh (Delhi)

Raspreet Sidhu (Delhi)

Asha Hagde (Delhi)

Jilna Jose (Chhattisgarh)

Aruna Kindo (Chhattisgarh)

Kavita (Chhattisgarh)

Rajeshwari S.N. (Karnataka)

Kruthika Lakshman (Karnataka)

Jeena P.S. (Kerela)

Soniya Joy (Kerela)

Lizy Mathew (Kerela)

R.Raja Priya Dharshnai (Tamil Nadu)

S. Kokila (Tamil Nadu)

Sneha Rajguru (Mahrashtra)

Amruta Bhuskute (Mahrashtra)

Shireen Limaye (Mahrashtra)

FIBA Asia releases 2011 Events Calendar

Press Release: The complete FIBA Asia calendar of events for 2011 has been announced.

The calendar will tip off with the 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup, FIBA Asia’s premier event for club teams, to be hosted by Philippines at Manila from May 28 – June 5, 2011.

Philippines will host a FIBA Asia event after a gap of six years. The last FIBA Asia event hosted by Philippines was incidentally also the Champions Cup – the 16th edition of the event – in 2005.

Wuhan in China and Omura-Nagasaki in Japan have already been chosen to host the two marquee events of the calendar – the 26th FIBA Asia Championship (Sept 15-25, 2011) and the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women (Aug 21-28, 2011).

Ho Chi Minh City, the capital of South East Asian nation Vietnam will host the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship at a date to be decided. The event will mark the first time Vietnam will host a FIBA Asia event.

Urumqi in China has been chosen as the host for the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women, at a date to be decided. Among other important events, Urumqi had hosted the 2006 FIBA Asia U18 Championship.

The two FIBA Asia U16 events are qualifying events for the corresponding FIBA World U17 events to be held in 2012.

Lauding the host of each events, FIBA Asia president Sheikh Saud Ali Al-Thani said: “Hosting an event is charming, but the challenges that come up can be understood only by the hosts. I congratulate each of the host and the National Federations for coming forward to host the events.”

“From FIBA Asia side I assure all support. I hereby call upon all the prospective participants for each event to provide all the necessary support so that each event runs smoothly,” Sheikh Saud added.

“I also welcome Vietnam who are joining our list of hosts,” Sheikh Saud said.

“Last year we had Yemen joining the list of hosts. This year it is Vietnam,” said FIBA Asia Secretary General Dato’ Yeoh Choo Hock.

“The quality of FIBA Asia events has seen a tremendous improvement in the last couple of years. I am confident we can not only continue but also improve our standards this year,” Dato Yeoh added.

“Organizing an event in new cities is always exciting. It provides a wonderful opportunity to widen the support base for our sport,” said FIBA Asia Deputy Secretary General Hagop Khajirian, also the Chairman of the FIBA Asia Committee for Marketing and Media.

“The fact that new cities are coming forward to host events is very encouraging. It means our sport is gaining in support from more people. I congratulate and look forward to working with all the host cities and National Federations,” Khajirian added.

The complete FIBA Asia 2011 calendar:

May 28 - June 5: 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup (Manila, Phillipines).
Aug 21 - 28: 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women (Omura-Nagasaki, Japan).
Sep 15 - 25: 26th FIBA Asia Championship (Wuhan, China).
Dates TBC: 2nd FIBA Asia Championship (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).
Dates TBC: 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women (Urumqi, China).