Revision as of 20:06, 25 June 2022

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.

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.