2018 Basketball Without Borders Asia concludes in Greater Noida; India's Sanjana Ramesh named camp MVP!

With the best junior players from around Asia/Oceania in attendance, playing on the country's best basketball facilities, coached by Indian basketball stars, NBA and WNBA players, and world-class coaches, the 2018 Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp was held in India for just the second time from May 29-June 1. The fourth and final day of BWB Asia 2018 concluded in thrilling fashion as the 66 campers from 16 countries and territories in Asia-Pacific competed in championship games and a pair of All-Star games.

And at the end, one of the brightest shining stars was India's own Sanjana Ramesh. The Bengaluru girl stood brightest among her competitors at the camp and was awarded the camp Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy on Friday. In the boys' division, the MVP award was given to Rence Forthsky from the Philippines.

Corey Brewer (Oklahoma City Thunder), Caris LeVert (Brooklyn Nets), Kelly Olynyk, (Miami Heat), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks), two-time WNBA Champion Ruth Riley, and former WNBA player Ebony Hoffman will coach the top high-school age campers from throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Indian basketball stars like Satnam Singh and Amjyot Singh also took part in the coaching efforts. Also in attendance was Coach Scott Flemming, former head coach of India's national men's team and currently the head of NBA India Basketball Operations.

The camp got underway in the morning with the girls championship game between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx. Coached on the sidelines by Ruth Riley and Sakshi Sheoran, the Lynx defeated the Liberty 20-13. Paige Price from Australia led the Lynx with a game-high 7 points.

The boys championship game then followed, with the Milwaukee Bucks going up against the Brooklyn Nets. Led by coaches Darvin Ham and Satnam Singh, the Bucks edged past the Bret Brielmaier and Caris LeVert led Nets team 22-18. Samuel Jenkins from New Zealand scored 8 points in the winning effort.

At the conclusion of the championship games, the two boys and two girls All-Star teams were announced. Team Red of the girls All-Star team was coached by Ruth Riley, while Ebony Hoffman served as coach for Team White. Team Red defeated Team White 27-18, with Dan Zhao from China leading her teamto victory with 8 points.

Following that, the boys All-Star Game was played between Team Red(coached by Bret Brielmaier, Caris LeVert, Darvin Ham and Satnam Singh) and Team White (coached by Ryan Saunders, Mike Wells and Corey Brewer). Team Red emerged with the 39-37 win thanks to a team-high 8 points from bothClancey Bird and Mac Stodart.

During a break in the boys All-Star game, the boys and girls 3-point champions took part in fun shooting games. Boys 3-point champion Amir Hossein from Iran went up against Caris LeVert, while girls 3-point Champion Indiah Bowyer from Australia competed against Ebony Hoffman.

"I have not only improved as a basketball player but also as an individual," said Forthsky. "The focus here was on your overall development at the personal and professional level, and I am glad to have won MVP at the end of all of it."

"Whatever I have learnt here playing with international players and coaches I am going to take that back and share the knowledge with my fellow players," said Ramesh. "Basketball is my life and these four days at the camp were the best I have had in my life."

Indian players Rajvi Desai, Suniskha Karthik, Sreekala Rani, Pushpa Senthil Kumar, Siya Deodhar, Grishma Niranjan, Khushi Dongre, Sanjana Ramesh, Priyanka Behal, Harshwardhan Tomar, and Princepal Singh made the All Star teams on the camp's final day. Yadav won the Girls Grit Award at the camp, too.

List of Awards:

• Boys Grit Award: Taine Murray (New Zealand)
• Girls Grit Award: Vaishnavi Yadav (India)
• High-Flyer Award: Lachlan Joseph Bofinger (Australia)
• Boys 3-Point Champion: Amir Hossein (Iran)
• Girls 3-Point Champion: Indiah Bowyer (Australia)
• Boys All-Star Game MVP: Chen Chiang-Shuan (Chinese-Taipei)
• Girls All-Star Game MVP: Dan Zhao (China)
• Boys MVP: Rence Forthsky (Philippines)
• Girls MVP: Sanjana Ramesh (India)

Ramesh's MVP trophy was a repeat of a similar feat achieved by Vishesh Bhriguvanshi at the last BWB Asia event in India in 2008. Bhriguvanshi was the MVP of that camp in New Delhi and went on to become India's best backcourt player and a national team captain. Hopefully, this award is a sign of greater things to come for Ramesh, Yadav, and the other top Indian performers at this camp.

BWB Asia 2018 was receded by a first-ever basketball development camp May 27 – 29 for the 18 female prospects from throughout India as part of The NBA Academies Women’s Program. 1996 Olympic Gold Medallist and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Jennifer Azzi, Riley and former college coach Blair Hardiek – the global technical directors for women’s programming across the league’s seven academies – oversaw this camp. India's starlets Ramesh and Yadav shared the co-MVP awards at this event.