Basketball: India
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Basketball Federation of India
2023: India barred from Asian U-16 women’s tournament
Amit Sampat , July 13, 2023: The Times of India
NAGPUR: The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has barred India from participating in the U-16 Women's Asian Championship, thanks to infighting in the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). FIBA took the decision citing "third-party interference", after turmoil in the BFI before the elections led to a legal battle, where the court appointed an administrator.
Ironically, the biennial tournament was first staged in 2009 in India. Besides, for the first time ever, an Indian is the president of FIBA-Asia.
In February, when BFI elections were due to elect the new body for a four-year (2023-2027) term, members of some state associations challenged the election process. In the same month, and a few days before the current national body's term was about to expire, sitting BFI head K Govindaraj was nominated as new president of FIBA-Asia. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court in May appointed a former judge as administrator to run the affairs of Indian basketball which FIBA looks at as "third-party interference" which is a violation of its rules.
A day after the appointment of the administrator, the 2023 FIBA Asia General Assembly scheduled to take place at Bengaluru on May 22 was shifted to Kuala Lumpur. FIBA executive director-Asia Hagop Khajirian wrote about "administrative conflict within the BFI family" and said, "This conflict, unfortunately, escalated beyond the Federation's purview and led to the involvement of non-sports entities in the affairs of basketball in India."
Later, the administrator conducted selection trials at Rajnandgaon to pick the Indian U-16 women's team from May 31.
Despite the FIBA making it clear that India would not be allowed to participate in the Asian meet, the shortlisted players were asked to attend the camp till Monday.
Speaking with TOI, Govindaraj said, "It is very unfortunate that our team is not participating. For the first time in my 35-year association with basketball I am facing such a situation. I wish that this issue would have been resolved within the family. Even now, an amicable solution is possible.”
On July 5, the administrator-appointed returning officer conducted BFI's elections and Tamil Nadu's Aadhav Arjuna was elected as the new president. As per the Delhi HC order dated July 4, the election results of new BFI executive "shall be subject to the final outcome of the present LPA". The LPA was filed by the existing BFI, challenging the appointment of the administrator. The next hearing is on August 2.
BFI's new head Arjuna said, "I do not have enmity with anyone. We are here for the development and for that I am ready for any amicable solution within our Indian basketball family.”
With the game being played in the courtroom instead of a basketball court, FIBA will take the final call on the affairs after the decision of the Delhi HC.
NBA Summer League and Indians
Princepal Singh second Indian
Amit Sampat, August 12, 2021: The Times of India
A year after appearing in the NBA G-League, Princepal Singh became the second Indian to debut in the NBA Summer League, which is currently in progress in Las Vegas, on Wednesday. Sacramento Kings gave Princepal - son of an electrician in Gurdaspur, Punjab - a berth in their 16-member squad, reports Amit Sampat. In this off-season competition, all the 30 NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups. At 6 feet and 9 inches, Princepal is one of the tallest players in the Kings’ squad.
Asia Cup
2018: Star duo dropped, India lose FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier
Maxin Mathew, February 24, 2018: The Times of India
In a shocking turn of events, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) dropped the country’s two top stars - Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh - from the national team, hours before their crucial FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier against Jordan.
BFI secretary general Chander Mukhi Sharma said both players were excluded because they had not played for India in the past. Amjyot missed India’s qualifiers against Lebanon and Syria in November last year due to his commitments with the Oklahoma City Blue in the NBA G-League while Amritpal - who plays for Sydney Kings in Australia's NBL - had to skip the Syria home tie to attend to his ailing father.
“Because they didn't play for India in the past, the trust between the selectors and them was broken. Our disciplinary committee was looking into it,” Sharma said.
BFI president K Govindraj had, last week, announced that both players were in the 12-member Indian squad for the two qualifiers. However, the FIBA tournament website, which regularly updates the rosters of all participating teams, never included Amjyot and Amritpal’s names in the players list.
“Yes, they were not on the list of 24 we initially sent to FIBA. We could not be sure that they were going to be available. By the time they (Amjyot and Amritpal) confirmed, it was too late to add their names. We wrote to FIBA and were hopeful but they replied to us on Thursday stating that they could not play,” Sharma added.
The absence of the powerhouse duo - who sat in the galleries of the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium cheering their teammates - was sorely felt as India put up a brave fight, but were beaten 88-102 by Jordan, further sinking their World Cup qualification hopes.
India had a spirited start, channelling their offence through skipper Satnam Singh Bhamara (20 points) and forward Aravind Annadurai (28 points), who enthralled the crowd with a handful of two-handed dunks. One of Satnam’s mammoth dunks turned the backboard tower sideways and the game was held up for over 10 minutes as a flurry of volunteers struggled to realign it.
The hosts enjoyed an 18-10 lead midway through the first quarter, but Jordan slowly got into their offensive rhythm. Guards Mahmoud Abdeen (18 points) and US-born naturalized Jordanian Darquavis Tucker (18 points) created space to knock down their jumpers with ease.
Result: India 88 (Aravind Annadurai 28, Satnam Singh 20, Justin Joseph 16) lost to Jordan 102 (Md Shaher Hussein 19, Mahmoud Abdeen 18, Darquavis Tucker 18, Yousef Wazaneh 15, Mousa Alawadi 12).
2021
Indian books Asia Cup berth
Amit Sampat, August 23, 2021: The Times of India
It's official. The Indian men’s basketball team will compete in the Asia Cup for the tenth time in a row.
The South Asian giants, ranked 78 in the world, qualified for the continental event after hosts Saudi Arabia sent Palestine packing on Sunday with a 96-72 win in the final game of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers held in Jeddah. After a not-so-satisfactory show from the Indian team, the fate of their qualification for the 16-team Asia Cup to be played in Indonesia in July next year rested on the Saudi Arabia-Palestine game.
The 19-point defeat against Saudi Arabia would have been enough for India to miss the Asia Cup berth — for the first time since 2001 — had Palestine won the last qualifying game by three points or more. The Palestinian team would have then marched ahead.
With Saudi Arabia finishing the event on top of the table, India booked their qualifying berth at the second spot. For the first time since 2013, Saudi Arabia too qualified for the continental event.
U-16 Asian Championship
2022
A
Amit Sampat, June 17, 2022: The Times of India
Nagpur: Young Indian cagers scripted history in Qatar. For the first time in the Fiba U-16 Asian Basketball Championship history, the Indian boys team made it to the quar terfinals of the continental event.
India’s best finish in the tourney was the 10th position, which they achieved in 2009, when the event was first played 13 years ago.
In the qualifying game for a spot in the quarterfinal of the tournament, India outplayed lower ranked Indonesia 97-53 to confirm their berth among the best eight in Asia at Doha, Qatar.
B
Amit Sampat, June 18, 2022: The Times of India
Nagpur: A day after confirming their first quarterfinal berth in the 13-year history of Fiba U-16 Asian Basketball Championship, India went down fighting to Japan 84-91, putting up a fine display of grit and character in Doha, Qatar.
Up against one of Asia’s best teams, the 50th ranked Indian cagers had a nervous start. As the game progressed, India grew in confidence and tried many defensive moves to keep Japan at bay for the most part of the second half.
The early lead that India conceded, however, proved costly as they lost by just six points. The last time India played Japan in 2018, they had suffered a 52-point (57-109) loss.
With this seven-point quarterfinal defeat, India narrowly missed their maiden World Cup berth as the top-four finishers in Asian meet have earned the ticket for the July 2-10 event in Spain.
A slow start for India in their maiden quarterfinal contest allowed the 32nd ranked Japanese boys to snatch the early advantage as they won the initial two quarters 26-16 and 24-19 respectively, to take a 15-point lead at the lemon break.
Japan looked like they would dictate the tempo early on, but India tightened their defensive screws after the break and went on to dominate the third quarter 28-18 to bring down the lead to just five points. Japan managed to keep their advantage in the neck-andneck final period 23-21 to register a hard fought seven-point (91-84) victory and qualify for the World Cup.
While Japan won the battle of boards 42-34, India’s pressure defence helped them gather more steals 8-4 as they went on to score 21 fast-break points.
For India, a valiant 31-point effort from Kushal Singh went in vain. Lokendra Singh and Harsh Dagar played well for their 23 and 21 points respectively.
India’s stand-in coach Mohit Bhandari told TOI: “We played hard, but we lost the chance to qualify for the World Cup. We allowed some easy baskets from outside the paint. We gave 13 three-pointers accumulating 39 points. Had we stopped some of their three-pointers, things would have been different. Defensively too we were weak as they were too fast. Despite all that, we came close 4-5 times but didn’t maintain the momentum. ”
U-18 Asia Cup
2024
A
Amit Sampat, Sep 7, 2024: The Times of India
Nagpur : It took eight long years for Indian cagers to end the playoff drought, and the boys in blue did it in style when they upset U-18 Asia Cup favourites Lebanon 64-62 to confirm their last eight berth at the Prince Hamza Hall in Jordan.
Just two days after defeating Kuwait and snapping a six-year winless streak in the biennial tournament, India advanced to face 2022 semifinalists Lebanon in their first knockout game. Determined to secure a position among Asia’s elite eight teams, India executed their game plan perfectly, starting with a strong defensive effort that made it difficult for Lebanon to score. They then shifted gears offensively in the middle quarters, building a 15-point lead by the start of the fourth period.
Despite two of India’s top performers fouling out in the final quarter, Lebanon mounted a spirited comeback, but their efforts were thwarted by a sensible play of 5-foot-9 point guard Ankush from Haryana.
Ankush scored a game-high 14 points on 47.6-percent shooting to take control of the proceedings after India’s tallest cager Mohammad Ishan and skipper Lavish left the court one after the other for committing five personal fouls.
Before being fouled out, Ishan and Lavish played crucial roles in India’s impressive performance in the second and third quarters, which ultimately propelled the team to a 55-40 lead at the start of the final period.
World Cup
2023
India stuns Israel
Amit Sampat, Sep 2, 2023: The Times of India
A day after they braved freezing weather conditions to lose both their opening ties on World Cup debut, young Indian cagers pulled out the biggest upset of the FIBA 3x3 U-18 with a stunning 21-19 win over higher ranked Israel in Debrecen, Hungary. India, ranked No. 34 in the world, gave Israel (No. 11) a tough time, starting the game on a belligerent note. They scored baskets from all corners of the court with lanky guard Kushal Singh scoring six of his game-high nine points from behind the arc.
After Lokendra Singh drew the first blood, he made it 3-0 with a two-pointer. Though Israel scored their first two-pointer at the stroke of second minute, Harsh Dagar and Lokendra snatched the advantage back with two quick conversions to take 7-2 lead.
Within two minutes of the 10-minute encounter, India stretched the lead to seven points with a handy 11-4 advantage. The experienced Israel cagers tightened their defensive screws with inside-out shooting to bring the score close in the next two minutes with India holding on to their lead at 13-11.
On a Time Out, the Indians motivated each other by saying, ‘don’t look at the score, just keep playing’, and they did just that on the court, taking a 5-point lead at 17-12. Aware of the 21-point deadline — a team that scores first 21 points wins the game — Israel swung back into the game when they brought parity at 17-17 and took the lead for the first time (18-17) with 4 minutes remaining on the clock.
Despite trailing for the first time, India continued to play freely and Dagar scored to level the score at 19-19. Both the teams were just a basket away from winning. While Israel tried to finish the game from the arc, Indian players chose to drive in with Lokendra leading the charge. After drawing a foul, Lokendra netted a Free Throw to give India a 20-19 lead.
India beats Kyrgyzstan
Amit Sampat, Sep 3, 2023: The Times of India
Nagpur : High on confidence after their thrilling win over Israel, the Indian quartet outplayed Kyrgyzstan 21-7 in their last league game of the FIBA 3x3 U-18 basketball World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary.
With this win, India finished the ‘group of death’ in the third position after Israel defeated European championship finalists and table toppers Latvia in a thrilling last game 22-19. Despite finishing in a creditable third position against some higher ranked teams in the group, Indian cagers missed the quarterfinal berth by a whisker and bowed out of their first World Cup with heads held high.
At the end of the league stage of five teams, both Israel and Latvia posted three wins each to qualify for the quarterfinals. Israel finished on top after beating Latvia. Had Latvia defeated Israel, India would have moved to the quarterfinals for scripting the biggest upset of the World Cup where they stunned Israel, the No. 11 in world.
In their facile 14-point win over Kyrgyzstan, India’s future stars — Harsh Dagar, Jaideep Rathore, Kushal Singh and Lokendra Singh — made timely contributions in their effort. While Harsh top scored with 8 points, Jaideep (6), Kushal (4) and Lokendra (3) played well. After jumping to a six-point (9-3) lead in the third minute, India never looked back and sealed the contest with ease. India’s national head coach, Veselin Matic of Serbia, who is in Hungary with the team, was satisfied with the performance.
Speaking with TOI, Matic said, “Two wins on a World Cup debut is not at all a bad start to our long journey. I said on the first day that we got rains at a time when we were ready to play the first match. Then, a five-hour delayed the start with a sudden drop in temperature, which didn’t go our way. Since we suffered a close loss to Ukraine, it was about getting some luck from the results of other teams. After a bad start to the competition, that too due to the weather which we are n ot a ccustomed to, we found the way on how to play good game.”
2019
Amjyot, Arshpreet banned for brawl
Sabi Hussain, Nov 29, 2019: The Times of India
India’s top hoopsters, Amjyot Singh and Arshpreet Bhullar, have been axed from the Indian contingent for the upcoming South Asian Games (SAG) in Nepal after the inquiry committee – formed to investigate the alleged drunken roadside brawl involving the two – recommended a long suspension from the game for the country’s star basketball players, TOI has learnt.
The committee submitted its report to the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). The players have not been formally notified yet about the ban period. Apart from the duo, two other players who had accompanied them to a late evening party in Bengaluru without informing the coaches –- former India captain Amritpal Singh and a junior national camper in the U-17 age category — have also been found guilty by the inquiry committee for violating the curfew hours and breaking the protocol of the national camp. However, the committee didn’t find them directly involved in the scuffle which had resulted in all four players being briefly detained by Bengaluru cops earlier this month.
The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) took a legal opinion in the case of Amritpal and the junior camper and is understood to have let them off with a possible warning. However, based on the committee’s recommendation, the federation has come down hard on both former India captain Amjyot and Arshpreet for their gross indiscipline and has decided to punish the two with lengthy suspensions. The committee took the version of policemen also into account. According to sources, apart from their no-show at the SAG, Amjyot and Arshpreet will also miss the 3x3 basketball Olympic qualifiers in March in India for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Four Indians for BWB Asia camp
Amit Sampat, August 10, 2019: The Times of India
A year after they their first exposure with players and coaches from neighboring countries, Maharashtra cager Siya Deodhar and Amaan Sandhu of Punjab have earned a second chance to participate in the 11th Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia camp at Tokyo, Japan, from Aug 14 to 17.
While Siya and Amaan will participate in their second Asia camp organised jointly by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Punjab’s Harsimran Kaur and Arvinder Singh have been picked to attend the BWB Asia camp for the first time.
Nagpur forward Siya is the only player from Maharashtra. The other three cagers are from Punjab. Amaan is from Mohali, Harsimran is a resident of Jalandhar and Arvinder learned the basics of the sport in Barnala. All four will be part of the 64 best prospects in both the boys and girls’ section from Asia, Australia, Oceania and the Pacific during the fourday camp. Last year the camp was held at the NBA-India Academy, Noida.
The total number of Indian players attending the elite camp is now 62. In the previous 10 editions, 58 Indian cagers attended the BWB Asia camp. “Any kind of event that we do oversees it helps India kids to showcase their level, showcase how they are improving.
Jr NBA Global Championship: good show
Amit Sampat, August 11, 2019: The Times of India
Indian cagers almost did the unthinkable on the fourth day of the Jr NBA Global Championship.
Playing their hearts out, the boys brought the HP Fieldhouse courts to a standstill as the world’s second best U-14 basketball team, Canada, escaped to post a 64-56 victory in over-time here at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida on Saturday. It was a quarterfinal clash in which fortunes fluctuated every moment.
Indian cagers rallied splendidly to almost stop World No 2 — as per Fiba age group rankings after the US — in their strides. Rallying splendidly from 7-16 to bring parity 49-49 at the hooter, the young Indian stars did all that was required for a generation to remember and as the news of a Canada-India game heading towards over-time spread, the court was surrounded by hundreds of onlookers. The presence of a strong crowd may well have set the competitive juices flowing in both camps. What followed was fast-paced and attacking basketball in the four extra minutes. As luck would have it, pressure took its toll on India and they came under severe foul trouble, which at the end was enough for Canada to convert easy free-throws and qualify for the semifinals after winning the OT 15-7.
It took four minutes for India to open their account as Canada scored 12 unanswered points and pocketed the first quarter 16-7. India defended well in the second as both the teams scored nine points each and Canada maintained a nine-point advantage at the halfway mark.
“We would have won in the regulation period had we committed less turnovers. Initially we were nervous playing the quarterfinal against Canada, and it took time to settle. In the extra time too, we came under pressure and missed some rebounds which eventually cost us the game,” India’s star performer in the tournament, Harsh Dagar, told TOI. “I learnt to communicate and keep the team above self,” he said.
2021
Princepal first Indian to lift NBA trophy
Sports Desk, August 20, 2021: The Indian Express
Just 20 years and 6-foot-9 from Firozpur, Princepal Singh Bajwa is turning heads at the right place and right time. The cager became the first Indian to lay hands on precious NBA title when his team Sacramento Kings defeated Boston Celtics 100-67 to bag the Summer League in Las Vegas.
The last time, the Kings tasted success was in 2014. The Punjabi lad played the final exactly for 4:08 minutes in the game of 48-minute duration and made history by making first Indian in NBA history to be part of a championship roster at any level of the NBA. Satnam Singh Bhamra also from Punjab was the first Indian to play in the NBA for Dallas Mavericks in 2015.
The volleyballer turned basketballer, Prince, the NBA Academy India alumni, finished with two points – scoring the Kings final bucket which took them to 100, while also winning a rebound too.
Last week, on August 12, he made debut at the Summer League, where he checked-in for the final 1:22 minutes of a Kings’ win over the Washington Wizards.
The 2017 NBA Academy Global alumni and the first member of NBA Academy India, Prince has another first too when he signed a pro contract for NBA G- League Ignite.
In India, he helped Punjab win the Khelo India Youth Games last year. In 2017, he won a gold medal for India in the South Asian Basketball Association U-16 comprising Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Makldives and Bhutan.
Early this year, he also represented the senior India team for the Asia Cup.
