China Kashgar win 2016 FIBA Asia Champions Cup; India's ONGC return winless

Asia's premier international club basketball tournament - the 2016 FIBA Asia Champions Cup - concluded in Chenzhou, China, on Sunday October 16 with the host country's representative China Kashgar winning the finale. This was Kashgar's (otherwise known as the Xinjiang Flying Tigers) first victory at the FIBA Asia CC, and they defeated Lebanese champions Al Riyadi in an entertaining final at Chenzhou's Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.

India were represented at this tournament by Dehradun's ONGC, who, despite featuring some top Indian talent, were ousted from the Preliminary Round stage without a win and finished tied for 9/10th place in the ten-team fray.

Kashgar's squad were led by naturalized Philippines player and former NBA player Andray Blatche. Blatche was the star man in the final, scoring 22 points with 8 rebounds for China, while his teammates Darius Adams and Abudushalamu Abudurexiti added 19 each in the victory. China led most of the way, and survived a furious comeback by Al Riyadi in the final quarter to notch the 96-88 win. Fadi El Khatib (23) and Dewarick Spencer (19) were the leading scorers for the Lebanese squad.

Spencer was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.

Also on the final day, Iran's Petrochimi confirmed a third-place finish for the bronze medal by defeating the UAE's high-risers Al Ahli, 100-74. Al Ahli's Samuel Young was a one-man wrecking machine, notching 43 points and 10 rebounds, but he got little help from his teammates. Petrochimi relied on a more balanced offense, backing up on the efforts of James White (22 points, 19 rebounds), Behnam Yackchali (22), and Gerald Robinson Jr. (21) for their blowout victory.

A day earlier, China survived a mammoth clash against Petrochimi 90-86 in the semi-finals to secure their spot in the finale. The game featured numerous twists and turns, and China had to bounce back from an eight-point halftime deficit to take the advantage at the end of the tense game. Blatche was again the hero, leading with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Darius Adams added 20. Petrochimi were held at bay despite 26 point efforts by both Behnam Yackchali and James White. In the second semi-final, Al Riyadi had no problem blowing past Al Ahli, 107-79. Dewarick Spencer scored 26 for the winning side, while Fadi El Khatib (20) and Alade Aminu chipped in crucial points, too. Al Ahli's lone warrior was Samuel Young, who had 32 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

The FIBA Asia CC tipped off on October 8th with ten teams, and India's ONGC - who had qualified for the tournament with their Federation Cup victory - were placed in Preliminary Round Group A with four touch matchups. They were led by head coach Dinesh Kumar and India international talents like Amrit Pal Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and Yadwinder Singh.

From the opener against Iran's Petrochimi onwards, it became clear that ONGC were going to be fighting an uphill battle in this tournament. Petrochimi used a balanced effort to take an early double-digit lead over ONGC and played hawking defense to cruise to an easy 95-51 win.

ONGC's second match was more of the same, this time against Iraq's Al Rayyan. Another poor offensive effort had ONGC playing catchup from the get go. Preston Knowles of Al Rayyan turned out to be sublime in this game, putting up 39 points and 14 rebounds in the 95-53 win. Al Rayyan's captain Mohamed Mohamed added 17 in the win. The lone bright spark for ONGC was India's star guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who notched 20 points and 8 rebounds in the loss.

Another tough loss followed the next day for ONGC, this time against eventual finalists Al Riyadi of Lebanon. For ONGC, the duo of Amrit Pal Singh (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (18 points, 11 rebounds) played their best, but they got little help from the rest of the squad. Al Riyadi were led by Wael Arakji (21), Karim Zeinoun (20), and Dewarick Spencer (17) in the 91-65 win.

ONGC's campaign got an early end with a fourth-straight loss in their final Preliminary Round game to Chinese Taipei's Pauian. ONGC played their best game of the tournament for about three quarters, staying within sight of the Taiwanese competition as they trailed 73-62. But it was all Pauian in the final period, who blew open the gates to cruise eventually to a 101-71 win. Chin-Pang Lin scored 19 for Pauian, overcoming strong performances by Amrit Pal Singh (19 points, 13 rebounds) and Riyazuddin (18 points) of ONGC.

ONGC finished 0-4 in the tournament. Amrit Pal Singh ended with averages of 17 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, leading ONGC in both categories. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi chipped in with 16.5 ppg in the course of the tournament, too.

This was obviously not the improvement that ONGC were looking for, as basketball club representatives of India, after a similar finish at the last FIBA Asia CC back in 2013. ONGC simply did not have the depth and firepower to match the loaded squads that they faced, many of whom featured naturalized foreign players and other foreign recruits to add to their strenghts. The club tournaments will remain a weak point for Indian basketball internationally until India can begin their own proper basketball league and bring together more talents to play for Indian clubs.

Dehradun's ONGC represent India at the 2016 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Chenzhou (China)

Domestically, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) are the 'superteam' of Indian Basketball, the desi Golden State Warriors, featuring a roster heady with several of India's finest and most experienced players, entering each competition as they earn equal parts of love and envy, and - for the last few years - almost always ending up with the gold. Now, this talented squad from Dehradun will get their chance to prove that their success can translate to rivals across the border, too.

Starting this weekend, ONGC will represent India at the 2016 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Chenzhou, the city in China's Hunan province. This is the premier basketball tournament for the best Men's basketball clubs - not national teams - from across the continent. The FIBA Asia CC tipped off today, Saturday October 8th and will be held until the finale on October 16. A total of ten teams from different Asian countries will be playing games over the next week at the Chenzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Chenzhou. This is the return of the tournament after a two-year hiatus since the 2013 edition which was held in Jordan.

The participating teams this year are divided into two groups of five each, with ONGC in Group A along with Petrochimi, Al-Riyadi, Al-Rayyan, and Pauian. All the selected teams have won their local club championships - ONGC qualified with their recent win at the 2016 Federation Cup in Goa.

2016 FIBA Asia Champions Cup Groups

• Group A: Petrochimi (Iran), Al-Riyadi (Lebanon), Al-Rayyan (Qatar), Pauian (Chinese Taipei), ONGC (India).
• Group B: Al Shorta (Iraq), Barsy Atyrau (Kazakhstan), Westports Malaysia Dragons (Malaysia), Ah Ahli (UAE), Xinjiang Flying Tigers (China).

ONGC are sending a roster featuring three important members of India's national squad that tore through the international FIBA Asia Challenge in Tehran (Iran) last month, winning four games, including upsets over China, Philippines, and Chinese Taipei. It was India's finest international performance in twenty-seven years. These three players - India's captain Amrit Pal Singh, star guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and veteran forward Yadwinder Singh - will no doubt be the fulcrum for ONGC on both ends of the floor. ONGC's roster also includes veterans like Mohit Bhandari, Trideep Rai, Riyazuddin, and Arjun Singh. They will be led by head coach Amit Kumar Singh.

ONGC roster for 2016 FIBA Asia Cup

• Amrit Pal Singh
• Mohit Bhandari
• Vinay Dabas
• Anoop Mukkanniyil
• Trideep Rai
• Abhishek Rai
• Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
• Riyazuddin
• Arjun Singh
• Yadwinder Singh
• Muraleekrishna Ravindran
• Udai Bhan Singh Rawat
• Head Coach: Amit Kumar Singh
• Assistant Coach: Dinesh Kumar

ONGC's Preliminary Round schedule for 2016 FIBA Asia Cup - all timings IST

• October 9 - ONGC vs. Petrochimi - 10:30 AM
• October 10 - Al Rayyan vs. ONGC - 10:30 AM
• October 11 - ONGC vs. Al-Riyadi - 3:30 PM
• October 12 - Pauian vs. ONGC - 12:30 PM

While the duo of Amrit Pal Singh and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi are two of the best at their positions in Asia, ONGC are bound to struggle against all of the Preliminary Round teams because of the international inexperience of the rest of the players on ONGC's roster. Dominating against IOB or the Indian Army may be one thing, but going against experienced club teams from other countries - many of whom feature excellent foreign imports - is going to be a huge challenge to overcome. ONGC's toughest matchup will likely be against Qatar's Al Rayyan, who were the runners-up in 2013 and are looking for their third title at the FIBA Asia CC. Iran teams have won five titles at this tournament, and Petrochimi will be hoping to become the sixth. Over in Group B, China's Xinjiang - featuring former NBA player Andray Blatche and recently drafted Zhou Qi - will be one of the title favourites representing the home nation.

ONGC will hope not to repeat history from 2013, where they lost all six of the games they played in and finished at last place (eighth). But Indian basketball has managed to turn heads and make rapid improvements over the recent years: will ONGC continue to wave the tiranga high and cause some more shocks for the Asian basketball world?

Foolad Mahan (Iran) win 2013 FIBA Asia Champions Cup; India's ONGC end 8th

It was an all Middle Eastern finale between a club from Iran and a club from Qatar, hosted by the city of Amman in Jordan. And in the end, the 24th FIBA Asia Champions Cup title was lifted by Iran's Foolad Mahan, who made a strong fourth-quarter run to break a close tie and defeat Qatar's Al Rayyan 84-74. The FIBA Asia Champions Cup pitted together nine of the leading club sides from nine different Asian countries. Uttarakhand'd ONGC - who represented India - had a tournament to forget, losing all six of their games to end at 8th place.

On the final on Saturday in Amman, Foolad Mahan was led by the trustworthy duo of Mahdi Kamrani (21 points) and Hamed Haddadi (20 points, 14 rebounds), who was coming off an MVP performance at the FIBA Asia Championship. Haddadi kept up his dominant play and the dominance of Iran in Asian tournaments as Foolad Mahan came back from trailing by five points at the end of the third period to posting a 10 point victory. Slovenian Sani Becirovic added 19 for the winning side.

Al Rayyan, who seemed to be in charge of things after a strong third period, couldn't match Mahan's intensity in the decisive final period. Naturalized American Boney Watson had 27 points in a losing effort while Yasseen Musa added 18.

On the same day as the finals, local Jordanian side ASU blew past Al Hala of Bahrain en route to a 107-76 victory to secure the bronze medal. The high-scoring effort by ASU was led by Ahmad Alhamarsheh (29), Wesam Al Sous (20), and Ayman Idais (19). Import player Rasheim Wright had 26 points to lead Al Hala.

On Friday, eventual winners Foolad Mahan had their way against Al Hala, dominating them with a 121-73 victory. Joshua Asselin had 21 points to lead Foolad while Kamrani added 20, who sped past in the second half of the game after a close first. In the second semi-final, hosts ASU fell to Al Rayyan in a close contest, 71-67. Boney Watson was unstoppable for Rayyan, leading all scorers with 27 points.

The 24th installment of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup featured teams mostly from the Middle Eastern region, and the only outsiders were ONGC - representing South Asia - and Kazakhstan's BC Capchagay, from the Central Asian region. ONGC and Capchagay were grouped together in Group B, along with Al Rayyan and Iraq's Duhok. The group was were missing a side from Philippines, and with only four members in the group, all teams were guaranteed a spot in the Quarter-Final and a top eight finish.

ONGC sent a 12-member squad - led by coach Durgesh Bhatia - and featuring Indian internationals Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Amrit Pal Singh, and Yadwinder Singh, along with savvy veterans like Mohit Bhandari, Trideep Rai, Sridhar Shanmugum, and Murali Krishna.

ONGC's first game at the contest was against Capchagay. After a close first quarter, Capchagay pulled away with a strong performance in the second period and ONGC were left to play catch-up soon after. Despite balanced scoring performances by Amrit Pal (20), Bhriguvanshi (19), and Rai (18), ONGC's comeback attempt failed as they lost the contest 79-72. Vsevolod Fadeikin of Capchagay led all scorers with 22.

ONGC started strong once again in their second game against Duhok, but once more, couldn't maintain the momentum. They only trailed by six at halftime, but dominating performances by Duhok's imports Ronald Traylor Jr. (28) and Ricardo Marsh (19) led the Iraqi side to an eventually comfortable 99-70 win. Bhriguvanshi led ONGC with a valiant 26 point performance.

ONGC didn't stand a chance in their final group game versus eventual semi-finalists Al Rayyan. Al Rayyan played strong defense and were led by Alvin Mofunanya's 16 points in the offensive end to defeat ONGC 85-58, a performance that included holding down the Indian side to just seven points in the opening quarter. Amrit Pal had finished with 16 points for the losing side.

Finishing bottom of their group, ONGC were drawn in the Quarter-Final against the top finishers of Group A, Foolad Mahan. The tournament-winners had no troubled blowing past ONGC to a 104-56 win. Kamrani (20), Asselin (20), and Becirovic (16) helped Foolad's multi-pronged attack as the Iranians dominated each quarter on both ends of the floor. Bhriguvanshi (20) and Amrit Pal (17) were again ONGC's leading scorers.

The Indian side were now relegated to contest for the 5-8th place playoffs. They fought in a rematch against Duhok first, but once again, the Iraqi side's imports were too much for ONGC to handle. Marsh (29) and Taylor (26) were unstoppable, but ONGC stayed close throughout the contest, and took the lead at halftime. ONGC stretched their advantage to five at the end of the third quarter, but a strong defensive finish by Duhok held ONGC to just 12 points in the final period. Duhok won 85-82, overcoming impressive outings by Amrit Pal (26) and Rai (22) in the process.

ONGC's final game was another rematch, this time against Kazakh side BC Capchagay. Capchagay started strong to take an eight point advantage in the first period and then never looked back. Bhriguvanshi had a tournament-best 32 points of all Indian players, but it wasn't enough as ONGC fell to a 101-74 defeat. Amrit Pal added 17 for ONGC. Capchagay were led by MR Adamu (21), Daniil Seleznyov (16), Vsevolod Fadeikin (16).

Going 0-6 in the championship, ONGC finished the tournament at 8th place. It was certainly not pretty and a lot more weaknesses were exposed of the Indian players against stronger mostly Middle-Eastern teams. Additionally, ONGC were amongst the only sides in the tournament without foreign imports or naturalized players, and couldn't keep up with their higher quality opponents.

Still, the experience could prove valuable, especially for young Center Amrit Pal Singh, who continued his improvement and continued to take strides in becoming India's best big man. Amrit Pal scored 17.7 points per game, good enough for second best in his team, and was one of the tournament's top rebounders, grabbing 10.2 boards per contest. Bhriguvanshi led ONGC in the scoring department with 19.3 ppg.

India's ONGC to take part in 2013 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Jordan

Pitting together the top clubs from various Asian countries, FIBA Asia's official international club tournament - the 24th FIBA Asia Champions Cup - is set to be held in Amman, Jordan from September 13-21, 2013. The tournament will feature nine top club men's basketball teams from nine different Asian countries. India's Men's champions from the 2013 Federation Cup in Bangalore - Uttarakhand's ONGC - will be the sole representative from South Asia at Amman.

The annual Champions Cup returns in interesting circumstances, as last year's final in Lebanon - between local side Al Riyadi Beirut and Mahram of Iran - was put off due to security concerns in the region.

India's ONGC are currently riding a wave of great success domestically, particularly after they signed Indian international stalwarts Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh into their star-studded veteran mix. They qualified as India's top side after the blowing past Chennai's IOB at the BFI's Federation Cup Championship in February this year.

ONGC have been placed in Group B of the Champions Cup's Preliminary Round, along with Al Rayyan, Duhok, and BC Capchagay. A team from Philippines to represent South East Asia - the San Miguel Beerman - pulled out from the tournament due to unavailability of players. Since there are only four teams in the group, they are guaranteed to qualify for the knockout stage, but they will shoot for as high as finish as possible to get a favourable draw in the Quarter-Finals.

24th FIBA Asia Champions Cup Groupings

Group A: Al Hala (Bahrain), ASU (Jordan), Foolad Mahan (Iran), Khas Bronchos (Mongolia), Al Jaish (Syria).
Group B: Al Rayyan (Qatar), Duhok (Iraq), ONGC (India), BC Capchagay (Kazakhstan).

ONGC's roster for FIBA Asia Champions Cup

• Dinesh Kumar
  
• Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
  
• Amrit Pal Singh
  
• Sridhar Shanmugum
  
• Anoop Mukkanniyil
  
• Des Raj
  
• Yadwinder Singh
  
• Mohit Bhandari
  
• Trideep Rai
  
• Riyazuddin
  
• Murali Krishna Ravindran
  
• Sabeer Ahmed
  
• Head Coach: Durgesh Bhatia
  

Aside from Vishesh and Yadwinder, ONGC feature up-and-coming India international big man Amrit Pal Singh as well as savvy veterans like Bhandari, Trideep, Sridhar, and Murali Krishna.

Preliminary Round Schedule for ONGC - All Times IST

• September 14 - 6:30 PM: BC Capchagay vs. ONGC.
  
• September 15 - 8:30 PM: ONGC vs. Duhok.
  
• September 16 - 8:30 PM: Al Rayyan vs. ONGC.
  

The Quarter Finals will begin after the Preliminary Round, and the Final is scheduled for September 21st.

Al Riyadi (Lebanon) win 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup

For the first time in the club’s history, Al Riyadi of Beirut (Lebanon) lifted the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the premier club basketball championship for men in Asia, after defeating two-time reigning champions Mahram Tehran (Iran) 91-82 on Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Manila (Philippines). Al Riyadi finished the 22nd edition of this championship that was held from May 28th – June 5th with a perfect 7-0 record and the gold medal.

Co-organised by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (Basketball Federation of the Philippines) and FIBA Asia, the tournament pitted 10 of the best Asian club basketball teams against each other. Mahram Tehran, who were bidding for a three-peat after winning the 2009 and 2010 editions of the tournament, had to settle for silver in the final after losing to Al Riyadi.

The star of the show in the final was El Cheikh Fadi El Khatib, who scored a tournament-high 41 points to lead his team to victory. Jean Abd El Nour pitched in 32 for Al Riyadi in the Final. Mahram Tehran were led by M. Sadam Nikkhah Bahrami (28) and Christopher Williams (21). The team from Iran actually led by a point at the end of the third quarter, but Al Riyadi held their nerves to dominate the final quarter, make some crunch plays, and steal the win.

Al Rayyan (Qatar) beat home team Smart Gilas (Philippines) 74-61 in the third-place game to win the bronze medal.

Mahram Tehran win Asia Champions Cup

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Iranian club Mahram Tehran BC won the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2010 that was held in Doha (Qatar) from May 22-30. Tehran beat the Qatari home team Al Rayyan in the final 93-73. Tehran have successfully repeated as champions. Al-Riyadi Beirut (Lebanon) finished in third place.

Iran are on a particularly good run in Asian basketball, as their national squad also won the FIBA Asia Championship held in Tianjin (China) last year.


Why am I writing this? The Fiba Asia Champions Cup is kind of like the Champions League of Asian basketball teams - the best teams from different leagues in the continent get together to play in this prestigious competition. This year's tournament featured clubs from Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Phillipines, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Yes, so countries around the world which are, no offense, barely functioning such as Lebanon, Syria, or Iraq, have basketball clubs that perform better than ours. Or do they really? Or is it just our system that doesn't allow a 'club' to participate in such an event? I'll be thrilled to see National Championship winners from India participate in this competition and see where we stand. I'm sure Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Indian Railways can put up a bit of a fight...

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