Despite India's recent basketball ineptitude, FIBA rewarded BFI's K. Govindraj with the 2019 Asia President Award

At the eve of 2019 FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup, the International Basketball Federation honoured the best national federations from around the world in a glittering awards ceremony in Beijing, China, at the Sheraton Grand Beijing Dongcheng Hotel. According to FIBA's website, the ceremony was part of FIBA's XXI Congress. It "recognizes the most successful National Federations across a variety of awards."

The usual suspects walked home with the top honours. USA won for top rankings across the board. Other nations were honoured for tangible performances, like top rankings in junior levels, or in 3x3, or for featuring the most active 3x3 players, or for top social media presence, etc.

Last on the list of awards, however, was something that felt a little more subjective. The FIBA Presidents Award 2019, awarded to the leader of a National Federation from each continent. "This award," FIBA wrote, was"to recognize the work, commitment and positive impact on basketball made by each person and their National Federation during the past 5 years and was selected by FIBA President Horacio Muratore."

And for some inexplicable reason, the President Award for Asia went to... India's own K. Govindraj, President of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

From one angle, this is a matter of great pride for Indian basketball. We are fortunate - nay, honoured - to have a basketball president that has apparently had a better impact on the sport in the past five years than any other in the entire Asian continent - of all the other 44 nations. After a tussle in 2015 for leadership of the BFI, Govindraj's faction was recognised by FIBA over their opponents. So, Govindraj's honour was technically granted for less than the five-year stretch.

A stretch that included basketball not even being recognised by India's own government, a stretch that included the worst losing streak in recent history of India's men's basketball team, a stretch that included Indian players being unfairly banned by the federation, of an inexplicable "clerical error" that kept our top players out of important FIBA qualifiers, of embarrassing losses in those same qualifiers, of the federation creating obstacles for Indian players to chase other professional opportunities, of the BFI promising professional leagues and not delivering them, of poor public relations, of a website hardly updated, of social media accounts mostly barren, of the growth of a sport stunted.

The pros: BFI has made Bengaluru - their headquarter city - the de-facto home of most of FIBA Asia's Women's championships since 2017, including the 2017 FIBA Asia Championship for Women, the 2017 FIBA U16 Asia Championship for Women, the 2018 FIBA U18 Asia Championship for Women, and the upcoming 2019 FIBA Asia Championship for Women. This is awesome.

The cons: basically, everything else.

Govindraj's recent award came on the heels of a couple other honours from FIBA since 2017, including being appointed a member of the FIBA Competitions Commission and being elected as a member of the Central Board of FIBA Asia. In an article published earlier today on Ekalavyas, Gopalakrishnan R. succinctly pointed out how Govindraj's rise in ranks in FIBA has coincided with India's men's team's nosedive in performance. The on-court failures have been directly related to all the other chaos and mismanagement ailing the federation in Govindraj's tenure.

But FIBA, for some reason, continue to recognise him for his "work, commitment, and positive impact on basketball" in India, more than anyone else in the entire continent. Is it a case of FIBA judging solely by the surface-level events organisation, ignoring all of the rot beneath? Or (and more likely), is it because of Govindraj's connections and friendships with influential people in FIBA, helping his cause overseas, even though most basketball followers in the country have seen the federation fail the sport again and again over the past few years?

It was in July 2014, a little over five years ago, that India had arguably its greatest modern basketball moment, defeating Asia's finest squad - China - on their home floor in Wuhan at the [formerly-known] FIBA Asia Cup. This victory followed a couple more big international moments before the big dip: the political struggle for the federation at home, the disillusionment of star players with the federation, the bans, the losses. Over the past few years, the best Indian basketball stories - for Men, at least - have come despite the federation, of players rising to international leagues or making it to colleges abroad via other means.

And yet, Govindraj - and Indian basketball - have their honour. It is undeserved. Maybe the best-case scenario now is that, perhaps, it can be used retroactively, to urge FIBA to expect real progress from India, and for Govindraj to actually deliver it. Or at least, I hope so.

India's path to the 2019 FIBA World Cup explained - Qualifiers draw and Schedule

FIBA, the international basketball federation, made an important change to their competition system last year. Under their new calendar, qualification for the FIBA Basketball World Cup - scheduled to be held in China in 2019 - will follow a long journey of qualifying rounds. This is great news for Indian basketball fans: India will get the experience of playing in many more international basketball games in the qualifying process, and get the chance to host major FIBA matches on our home soil.

32 teams from around the world will play in the FIBA World Cup in 2019, out of which seven will be from the Asia/Oceania. Based on our past performances at the FIBA Asia stage, India are among the 16 Asian/Oceanic teams to have a chance to qualify for those seven spots.

Before the draw for the qualifiers, India were placed in 'Pot 6'. The draw for all of the FIBA World Cup qualifying groups around the world - Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia/Oceania - was held in a major ceremony in Guangzhou, China, on Sunday. India were drawn into Group C, along with Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. And yes, that was former NBA legend Scottie Pippen holding up a piece of paper as he announced 'India'!

2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Draw for the First Round:

• Group A: China, New Zealand, Korea, Hong Kong.
• Group B: Japan, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Philippines.
• Group C: Syria, Lebanon, India, Jordan.
• Group D: Iraq, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Iran.

Teams in each group will play each other home and away between November 2017 to July 2018 in the First Round. Here is the schedule for qualifying games for India (home team first): Mark these dates on your calendars; it's still not clear where exactly these games will be played, but I'm already hoping for a big home crowd for our national men's squad wherever they play!

• November 23, 2017: Lebanon vs. India
• November 26, 2017: India vs. Syria
• February 23, 2018: India vs. Jordan
• February 26, 2018: India vs. Lebanon
• June 28, 2018: Syria vs. India
• July 1, 2018: Jordan vs. India

To qualify for the Second Round, India have to finish within the top three of their group. As they currently stand in the FIBA rankings, India are the third-best team in Group C, behind Jordan and Lebanon. And based on our recent trends of improvement, India is definitely better than what the current FIBA ranking (53) indicate. As long as the team can put up a strong performance up to their expectations, they will make it to the next round.

12 of the above 16 Asian/Oceania teams will be in the Second Round of the qualifiers, where they will carry over the results from the First Round (which is why it's important for India to not just finish in top three but amass as many points as possible), and then be divided into two groups of six. Between September 2018 to February 2019, teams in each group will once again play in home and away games among each other. The top three teams from each group, along with the best-placed fourth team, will qualify for the World Cup!

The 2019 World Cup is currently scheduled to be held in eight host cities in China from August 31 - September 15, 2019.

But before all that, India have to set their sights at the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup, set to be held in Lebanon from August 10-20, 2017.

Naturalization in Basketball: Is India getting left behind?

Indian basketball is on a steady rise. The national team scored a tiny improvement - from 14th to 11th at the recent FIBA Asia Championship and there is cautious optimism about the young crop of talents that could help raise the level of the game in the future.

But there seems to be one major issue troubling Team India: all players in the Indian national team are Indians.

Don't be confounded. India is amongst the very small handful of regulars competing for Asia's most prestigious basketball trophy that doesn't have a single foreign naturalized player on their roster. At the FIBA Asia Championship in Manila, Philippines in August, Indian defense stumbled against names like Jerry Johnson of Kazakhstan, Gregory Stevenson (aka Moon Tae-Young) of Korea, JR Henderson (aka JR Sakuragi) of Japan, and CJ Giles of Bahrain.

FIBA rules allow every team to have only one naturalized foreign player on their roster, if the player had been naturalized after the age of 16. Once a player plays for a country in an official FIBA competition after the age of 18, he or she cannot play for anyone else.

This ruling has given the opportunity to several talented, mostly American players, who struggle to find roster slots in the NBA (much less have a shot at USA's stacked national team) to make their senior international debuts with foreign squads. From research done by HoopsHype, when all Men's FIBA competitions in advance of next year's World Cup come to an end in September, 66 players born in the United States could have potentially represented 37 different countries.

In the past, the USA have also boasted of several high-profile cases of naturalized foreign players that boosted their national team. Legends like Patrick Ewing (Jamaica), Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria), and Tim Duncan (US Virgin Islands) all naturalized to play for America. Young All Star Kyrie Irving has dual citizenship of Australia and USA, and has already made it clear that when his number is called, he will be playing for the latter.

There are several high-profile cases of naturalized players in Europe, too. One of the most famous is American turned Russian JR Holden. Holden may have never played in the NBA, but the 37-year old enjoyed a legendary career in the European leagues. He was awarded Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin in 2003, led Russia to the gold medal at the 2007 EuroBasket, and was part of Russia's 2008 Olympic squad, too.

Congo's Serge Ibaka was granted Spanish citizenship in 2011 after living in Spain for a few years, and is now part of their stacked frontcourt. American Chris Kaman acquired German citizenship in 2008, since his great-grandparents were German, and has represented the German national team since the 2008 Olympics.

Closer to home in Asia, the plethora of naturalized stars playing for the various national teams became a key factor in the FIBA Asia meet. Most teams have one, and it's always an interesting story. Former UCLA forward JR Henderson played professionally in Japan since 2001 and applied for Japanese citizenship in 2007. To comply with Japanese naturalization requirements, Sakuragi taught himself to read, speak and write Japanese at a "rudimentary level". He chose the name 'Sakuragi' which translates to 'cherry blossom tree', but is also the name of a character on the popular Japanese manga series Slam Dunk.

At the FIBA Championship, the Philippines featured big man Marcus Douthit, Jordan had Jimmy Baxter, Chinese Taipei fielded Quincy Davis, Lebanon featured Loren Woods, Kazakhstan had Jerry Johnson, and Korea gave the slot to Korean-American Gregory Stevenson, who became Moon Tae-Young. CJ Giles played professionally in the Philippines, Lebanon, and Iraq, before finally settling in with Bahrain and joining their national squad. Former NBA journeyman Jarvis Hayes finds himself a citizen of Qatar, and has become one of the stars of their national team. Qatar have faced controversies in naturalization before: At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, they were disqualified from the tournament when five of their players were found ineligible without proper citizenship documentation.

Then there are some high-profile cases from the weirder side of things. Word is that Knicks F/C Amar'e Stoudemire, who has Hebrew roots from the mother's side of his family, is applying for Israeli citizenship and has been invited to play for their national team by President Simone Peres. Stoudemire is currently a part-owner of Israeli pro club Hapoel Jerusalem. Meanwhile, basketball's greatest underdog-turned-star, Jeremy Lin, sparked interest by both Chinese Taipei (where his parents are from) and China (where his grandparents are from). He was offered Taiwanese citizenship to play for the national squad. But if he does so, unlike the other countries mentioned above, he would have to first renounce his current, American citizenship, and then re-apply for it again. For now, the 25-year-old seems to have not given up on the American dream.

There are some significant exceptions to the trend. Two of the best teams in Asia: Iran (the winners of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship) and China haven't needed naturalized talents to dominate basketball in the continent. China have a long history of basketball fanaticism and are always able to find decent talents amongst their 1.4 billion population. Iran have won the FIBA ABC three out of the last four times, and are riding high in the era of dominating big man Hamed Hadaddi. Without naturalization, both these countries have shown ways of remaining relevant and successful in Asian hoops.

Which brings us back around to good ol' Hindustan, the other naysayer refusing to take advantage of FIBA's naturalization rule. Like Taiwan, to become an Indian citizen, one has to surrender their foreign passport, but unlike Taiwan, one cannot apply for it again. India doesn't allow dual-citizenship. The rules for becoming an Indian citizen state that the foreigner must either have Indian descent, or if they don't, marry an Indian, and/or reside in India for about a dozen years. For those that don't wish to give up their foreign passports, the best that they can hope for is to become an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), but it means that they cannot vote, run for office, and will not receive an Indian Passport. And - and here is the part that concerns us - they can't represent Indian national teams in any sports.

Over the years, a number of extremely talented Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) have expressed an interest and desire to return to India and get a shot at the national team. These include former Canadian College player of the year Inderbir Gill, former Houston-Baptist player Timir Patel, and Australian-Israeli-Indian player (and former NBA India employee) Eban Hyams.

There are a whole host of Indian-origin players - past and present - who have played NCAA Division 1 basketball. If they weren't asked to surrender their US or Canadian passports, there would be no doubt that a handful of them would love to continue their basketball journey in India and help the national team against Asia's finest.

Scott Flemming, the American Head Coach of India's national Men's squad who had the front row seat as India played against other Asians (and naturalized Asians) at the FIBA Championship, seems to think so too. In a recent interview, he is quoted to have said, "On the international level, if the Indian government would loosen the rules allowing top players of Indian descent that do not have a passport to participate in our national teams, we could be much more competitive. I witnessed the majority of the other countries allowing such players to participate on their teams at the Asia Basketball Championship. In addition to that, most of them had “naturalized” players who were primarily from the United States. Right now, this causes a significant disadvantage."

So is India clearly getting left behind, or is there a long-term advantage in importing foreigners into the Indian roster?

If there is one major drawback to the naturalization trend, it is that in many cases, the talented foreign (mostly American) players become more than the system itself. They are expected to produce big numbers and dominate on both ends of the floor. Their presence might win, say, two more games at a FIBA Asia tournament, but in the process, they can hinder the development of the domestic talent. It is a delicate balance in finding an NRI - or other - to play for India; he may help the progress of the team, but in the process, he may hurt the progress of his teammates. Having a professional-quality player can bring positive energy into practice and help raise the training and preparation of Indian teams to international standards, but isn't that what a foreign coach is already there for?

The slow progress of basketball in India is definitely a concern. Fans have waited long enough for local talent to develop (without outside boosts), and yet, that talent continues to produce similar results in international tournaments. Without that outside boost, we may never see a stark improvement. Or maybe the answer lies in finally launching a domestic basketball league that will help young Indians see a clear future in basketball, bring more professionalism in the sport, and help Indian scouts find and train players and take advantage of the billion-plus population the same way that China has.

For now, the debate rages on. This is a government matter, beyond just the world of sport, and it seems unlikely anytime soon that India will allow dual-citizenship the same way that other nations do. Until that day, we have to wait for home-grown talent to keep progressing, and maybe in the process, we will finally find a diamond or two in the massive Indian haystack.

An NBA exhibition game in India next year? Vivek Ranadive & the Sacramento Kings surely hope so...

Indian-born software mogul Vivek Ranadive killed many birds with the same basketball-shaped stone earlier this year. When Ranadive's majority-owned group bought the Sacramento Kings, he succeeded in saving the Kings from Seattle to keep them in Sac-Town, he brought hope and optimism to a franchise struggling on court and with its fanbase, and, most relevant to desi fans, he became the first majority Indian-origin owner of an NBA franchise. Ever since then, the tech billionaire has brought back some positive vibes to the Kings, planning for a new arena, hiring new Head Coach Mike Malone, completely reinvigorating management and staff, drafting Ben McLemore, trading away former ROY Tyreke Evans, motivating their centerpiece DeMarcus Cousins (and giving him a contract extension), and turning 'Sac-Town' to 'Shaq-Town' by welcoming once Kings-tormentor Shaquille O'Neal into the franchise's ownership group. Excitement over the new ownership has helped the Kings surge to the number one spot in the NBA in new ticket sales.

But Ranadive isn't done yet. The Mumbai-born has spoken various times of turning the Sacramento Kings into a 'global brand', and specifically about popularizing the team back in his motherland. He wants to set up outreach programmes to connect with Indian fans and even added that he wants DeMarcus Cousins to be a household name in India (for all the right reasons, hopefully).

How is he planning to achieve all this, you ask?

By bringing the Kings - physically - to India. On NBA.com, Scott-Howard Cooper wrote yesterday that the Sacramento Kings have already started talks with the NBA and with officials in India about playing an exhibition game in Ranadive's native country as early as next season.

Next season? As in by the end of 2014. As in about a year from now. Ranadive mentions that finding a place to play would indeed be a challenge - "We have to find the right facility," he says, "Right now they don’t have one. But we have a year and the NBA is very, very supportive about building the brand in India." - but he seems to be fairly optimistic at this point.

Now I have been to very many basketball stadiums around India in recent years (I use the word stadium, and not arena, purposely), from Ludhiana to New Delhi, from Raipur to Nagpur to Mumbai. There has indeed been a recent positive surge in the construction of decent public indoor stadiums around the country. Until very recently, most of the biggest basketball tournaments in India - even the biggest national-level competitions - were held outdoors on shoddy courts with shoddier rafters. That trend has been thankfully changing. Over the last few years, nationals - of all age sub-divisions - have been held in indoor courts, in Cuttack, Patna, Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, and more. Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium even hosted the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship for Women, and it is perhaps the most advanced government basketball facility in India at this point along with the Talkatora and Thyagaraj stadiums in New Delhi.

But even our best, most advanced basketball facilities are a far cry from the high standards that the NBA expects. The NBA has been to Asia several times for pre-season games of course, mostly in Japan, China, and Taiwan, and this year, for the first time to the Philippines. China will once again host the 'NBA China Games' matchups in Beijing and Shanghai, bringing the Lakers and the Warriors to their shores this year. China has several international-quality basketball arenas around the country, all of which are a major upgrade over anything India has to offer, and many are used by the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) teams. But most of these international-level facilities would still fall below NBA requirements, and only a handful of Chinese arenas - in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou - have lived up to the NBA expectations so far.

All this adds up to reiterate that the NBA has very high expectations. The courts must be perfect to NBA-quality surface, NBA-quality backboards, rims, and nets. The balls provided must be the type that NBA players are comfortable with. The arena must be have adequate security for the players, the staff, and the fans. The arena must be clean. The fans should have comfortable seats from courtside and all the way up to the top. All the entrances and exits must be clearly marked. There needs to be check for fire hazards and escape. There needs to be the technology - the hardware and the software - to run the scoreboards, timers, and more. There must be clean, comfortable, and high quality locker rooms with good facilities for the players. And of course, dozens of clean restroom facilities for the thousands of attending fans. There needs to be a way to control big crowds arriving and leaving such an event. And so much more.

These are a lot of expectations to produce anywhere in India - even if it's just for one stadium to turn into an NBA-level arena - over one year. No stadium in India has the type of court, facilities, security measures, or technology that could sniff at NBA standards. Most of the best courts are perhaps in private schools, colleges, or clubs, but even they might not be good enough (or large enough) to handle an NBA game anytime soon.

New Delhi hosted the CommonWealth Games in 2010, and once you look past the deplorable concerns and controversies associated with these Games (there's a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to these controversies), you could conclude that, at the very least, many of the sporting facilities in Delhi were given a major face-lift. A lot of new facilities were built (many of them are going to waste now, but that's another issue for another day) and many of them resembled international-level infrastructure during the course of the Games. And yet, even facilities that satisfy the Commonwealth organizers (or the IOC, or FIBA) may not be up to NBA standards.

And even if a NBA-quality facility is built in India over the next 12 months, would the cost of it be justified? Outside of the elites, very few average Indians would be able to afford an NBA exhibition, unless the costs are slashed heavily, and in which case, the investors of the entire project would be suffering a devastatingly heavy loss.

The NBA continues to break boundaries and reach new borders, and every year, they take teams for exhibition and regular season games to more and more nations around the world. I understand the urgency for Ranadive, the Kings, and the NBA in general to set sight on India as it's next big market, after China. India has 1.2 billion people, and even one percent of that audience buying into the NBA would make the entire effort into a success. But India is a complicated place: our minds may evolve to accept and love the NBA, but just like everything else, the infrastructure might take a lot longer to catch up.

In an interview with Jared Greenberg on NBA.com recently, Ranadive spoke in further detail about the potential of a future basketball revolution in India:

"Cricket will always be the national pastime in India," Ranadive said, "But if basketball can be a strong second, I think it will be an important step towards my vision of NBA 3.0, making basketball the premier sport of the 21st century. It's already become the fastest-growing sport in India. Following our purchase of the Sacramento Kings, there has been a lot of publicity, thanks to the NBA as well. It's the kind of sport that can be played in a poor country like India; it can be played by one person, by a few people, by boys, by girls, in villages, in cities, you don't need a lot of space for it like you do for cricket. So I fully expect it to be very very popular. Also, Indians love numbers, and there's a lot of numbers associated with basketball! So I think in about 10 years [the sport] will be a huge phenomena in India."

This is a man who came to USA with 50 dollars in his pocket and turned it into a billion and bought himself a basketball team, so we would be foolish to bet against him. I applaud Ranadive's outlook and his mission to make India the next big avenue for basketball, and thus, help the game itself become the 'premier sport of the 21st century'. But an exhibition game next year might be a dream too big, too soon.

China win double gold at Asian Youth Games 3x3 Basketball Tournament

China, hosts of 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, dominated the competition's 3x3 Basketball tournament, winning gold medals in both the boys' and girls' divisions, defeating Chinese Taipei in the final each time. It was China Boys' second consecutive gold in the competition while the Girls improved from their silver medal finish back in 2009.

A total of 18 boys teams and nine girls teams took part in the six-day tournament that tipped off on August 17th. Both the finals were held on August 22nd.

China's boys defeated Chinese Taipei 21-14 in the Final. Korea finished third in the tournament by defeating last year's boys' winners Iran 20-18 in the bronze medal game.

The girl's final was also between China and Chinese Taipei, won by the Chinese youngsters 16-10. Thailand clinched the bronze medal with an earlier victory over Uzbekistan, 16-4.

Athletes from a total of 44 Asian nations took part in the second iteration of Asian Youth Games. India, who finished 18th out of 20 teams in the boys' 3x3 basketball competition at the 1st Asian Youth Games in Singapore back in 2009, were banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because of government interference in the election process of India's Olympic Committee. In other sports, Indian athletes took part in the competition under the flag of 'Independent Olympic Athletes', but courted more controversy when 17 of them were thrown out of the field for being over-age.

Team India (Men & Women) contend at 1st FIBA Asia 3x3 Basketball Championship in Qatar

We know who the best basketball teams in Asia are. And now, for the first time, Asia’s top sides will contend amongst each other in an official FIBA tournament to reveal who will emerge as the strongest country in the game’s strongest side in the 3x3 basketball format. Worldwide, there has been increased attention on 3x3 hoops – from international tournament to inner-city competitions – and we’ll see the format competed at the top Asian level on May 15-16 at the 1st FIBA Asia 3x3 Basketball Championship for Men and Women in Doha (Qatar). Both of India’s Senior Men and Women’s teams have qualified for the tournament.

On April 24 in Kuala Lampur (Malaysia), FIBA Asia held the draw for the inaugural edition of the 2013 events, which included the 3x3 Championships in Doha and the U18 3x3 Championships that will be held next week in Bangkok (Thailand). For the Doha 3x3 Championship, India’s Men have been drawn in Group B along with Indonesia, Turkmenistan, and Iran, while the Women have been drawn in Group B with Qatar Grey, Mongolia, Lebanon, and Nepal.

A total of 16 men’s teams (from 15 nations) and 10 women’s teams (from nine nations) will be taking part in the inaugural tournament. Hosts Qatar will be fielding two teams for each division.

Despite being minnows in many recent FIBA Asia Basketball tournaments, India has actually enjoyed quite a successful recent history in 3x3 competitions at Asia level. India's Men and Women both dominated the South Asian Beach Games in Sri Lanka two years ago where they both won gold medals; and more importantly, India's Women's team won gold at the 3rd Asian Beach Games in China against the hosts last year.

Here are India’s Rosters for this tournament. Each team has four players; three starters and one off the bench.

India Men: Ajay Pratap Singh, Ranbir Singh Virdi, Arjun Singh, Pratham Singh.

India Women: Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Paul Durai, Manisha Dange, Pratima Singh.

The group stage of the tournament will be held on Wednesday, May 15, and the knockout stages will be held on May 16th. Here the Schedule for India’s group stage games on May 15 (all timings Doha):

Men

- 4 PM: India vs. Indonesia
- 6 PM: Iran vs. India
- 7:20 PM: India vs. Turkmenistan

Women

- 4 PM: Lebanon vs. India
- 6:40 PM: India vs. Qatar Grey
- 7:20 PM: Mongolia vs. India
- 8 PM: India vs. Nepal

The first thing to note from the list of participating teams in either division is that Asian basketball heavyweights China aren't taking part in the competition, and neither are Korea and Japan Women. Nevertheless, there will still be some big challenges for India to survive if they hope to make history at this first-time tournament. The Men's team - which consists of younger, more inexperienced players rather than India's Senior level veterans - will face a major powerhouse in Iran in the group stage, and will have to look out for other challenging sides like Lebanon, Jordan, Japan, Qatar, Chinese Taipei, and Philippines ahead.

India's Women's side could have a real chance at a podium finish. Without the big four of China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei in contention, India could be considered as one of the early tournament favourites. With experienced superstars Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Paul Durai, Manisha Dange, and Pratima Singh leading the way, this team will be aiming for gold.

Hoops Route: A journey across Asian Basketball

This feature was first published on Court Side News on January 26, 2013.

To understand Asian Basketball presents the daunting task to try and understand what binds Asia in itself. Separated by seas, mountains, Great Walls, culture, religion, and many, many languages, it is a continent like no other. And yet, despite its magnitude and its separations, the dozens of nations of the world’s largest continent remain tied together in the same cluster of brilliance and chaos. For thousands of years, the continent remained connected with trade routes like the Silk Road. Now, it is the rising economies, the populations, and its diversity that give the continent its unique identity.

And it’s sport, too. While Football and Cricket are two of the most popular sports in Asia, the popularity of basketball has been rising at an exponential rate. China, Japan, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, and several hoops-strong Middle Eastern nations are contributing to the growing population of basketball players across the world. Although they are not at the level of teams from the Americas or Europe, Asian nations have been steadily rising with their national teams and their professional leagues. And as these nations rise economically, there is bound to be a time – sooner rather than later – that the populated continent begins to make bigger splashes in world basketball.

Here is a brief overview of Asian hoops.

We start where the Silk Road starts (or ends, if you work in the other direction!) – China! The most populous nation in the world is also the continent’s strongest basketball representative. While the country’s own estimates of ‘300 million basketball players’ (the entire population of the United States) might be a tad too exaggerated, it is still one of the most hoops crazy nations on the planet.

China has dominated Asian champions for years and only seems to be getting better. They have made more appearances in the Olympics Basketball tournament (8) than any other Asian nation. In recent years, they only seem to be getting better. China has produced a handful of NBA players (more than any other Asian nation) in the past, led by Asia’s biggest ever superstar, Yao Ming. Players like Wang Zhi Zhi, Yi Jianlian, Mengte Bateer, and Sun Yue have flirted with the NBA in the past, too.

China also features one of the most powerful basketball leagues in Asia, the CBA. At 18, it’s still a relatively young league compared to the rest of the world, but it has grown in strength considerably since its inception and is now becoming a viable option for many of the world’s best talents outside the NBA. While the league still suffers from growing pains – like some lackadaisical quality, an uneven bridge of talent between foreign and local players, and refereeing scandals – it has improved every year and has a brighter horizon.

Challenging China’s dominance in Asia are a trio of Middle-Eastern nations who boast of athletically gifted players who regularly spring a surprise over the Chinese sides. Iran, Lebanon, and Jordan are the three strongest sides from the West Asian Basketball Association (WABA) region. Iran, who are two time champions of the FIBA Asia Championship, are a regular threat and even played in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They feature Hamed Haddidi, a Center who has dominated Asian competition and is currently a fringe player on the Memphis Grizzlies. With Yi’s return to China, Haddidi is the only Asian still in the NBA. Outside of Haddidi, some of the best known players from this region include Samad Nikkah Bahrami (Iran), Fadi El Khatib (Lebanon), and Sam Daghlas (Jordan). Top clubs from the WABA nation take part in the annual WABA League, one of the most hotly contested club competitions in Asia.

Unfortunately, Women’s Basketball doesn’t get the same interest and attention in several WABA countries, and their teams lag behind other powerhouses in Asia.

On the Eastern end of China’s massive borders are three neighbours who are regular contenders, especially in the Women’s divisions: Korea, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. They have their faint NBA credentials: Japan’s Yuta Tabuse and Korea’s Ha Seung-Jin have both made NBA appearances in the past. All the countries have well-organised – if not necessarily competent – domestic leagues. Chinese Taipei hosts the popular William Jones Cup tournaments for Men and Women annually.

The Philippines have one of the most interesting legacies in Asian hoops. The basketball-crazed nation has been infected with the hoops bug for over a century thanks to their historical American influence. They have won 8 titles in the FIBA Asia Championship (second only to China) and have made several memorable Olympic appearances. Their best days might be behind them, but the national team has seen a recent resurgence. Their chances for future glory have been further boosted as they will play host to the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. The Philippines also boast of a popular league – the PBA – and have perhaps the most culturally-inbred love of hoops out of all nations in Asia.

We’ll finish our brief Asian hoops-de-joie with India. If China is Asian hoops promise fulfilled, India is the continent’s sleeping giant. Together, the two nations comprise of a third of the world’s population. For most of China, the sport of choice is basketball, but in India and its South Asian neighbours, it is Cricket that dominates proceedings. Despite the large numbers and improving economic status, India is still not a consistent sporting nation outside of Cricket, and basketball, amongst other sports, suffers from this. There is no league in India and the best players have to make do with semi-pro status. The national teams are still far away from challenging Asia’s best, and no individual yet has made a name on the global scale. India’s biggest success story is of Women’s star Geethu Anna Jose, who has dominated Asian competitions and came close to a WNBA contract.

Despite its current state, India represents the hoops potential for all of Asia. Long has the continent been a sleeping giant in basketball, hounded by disregard to the sport, mismanagement, and archaic training regimes compared to their North American or European counterparts. Just as the status of these nations has risen in recent decades in other fields, so will improvements eventually come in sports, and particularly for our interest, in basketball.

And hopefully, the continent’s powerhouses can turn potential into reality and consistently produce world class basketball talent.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup gets bigger and better!

In a meeting of FIBA’s Central Board in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, on Sunday, FIBA has given the green light to some major changes in the format of its biggest international basketball competitions – including the Basketball World Cup – and the calendar of international basketball events. The new moves are designed to hopefully emulate the success of international football and give an exciting new identity to international hoops.

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India's U18 Boys’ head to 22nd U18 FIBA Asia Championship in Mongolia

India’s U18 Boys’ squad has been announced for the 22nd U18 FIBA Asia Championship, which will be held in Mongolia’s capital city Ulaanbaatar from August 17-26, 2012. After spending time in camp in New Delhi for the past month, the 12-man roster to represent India at this event was released by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) on Sunday. Here is an India-centric preview of the upcoming tournament!

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Asia’s Finest: The past, present, and future of Asian Players in the NBA

On the launch of the Basketball Without Borders Asia camp in Tokyo – a 4-day event where current and former NBA players interact and train young Asian hopefuls – the NBA’s Senior Vice President Kim Bohuny held the firm opinion that Asia’s will have definitely have a future presence in the world’s best basketball league.

“I wouldn’t say that Asia is underrepresented,” Bohuny said, “What the NBA would like to do is just really work with FIBA and FIBA Asia to invest in development here. You have many talented young players and I really believe that the future of the region is very bright.”

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Li-N-A: Jeremy Lin busts the myth of basketball genes

Jeremy Lin is not the first Asian-origin person to dominate on a basketball court. Asians of all backgrounds have been breaking ankles, hitting threes, dunking and shutting their opponents down, and they’ve been doing it in playgrounds, in sweaty gyms, in schools, colleges, and in professional leagues around the world. Lin isn’t even the first Asian to be an NBA star: a certain 7 foot 6 behemoth by the name of Yao Ming would like to take credit for that. Many others from China or Japan or Iran have had their brief stints at the highest level of the game.

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An NBA preseason game in India? Dream on...

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The NBA is a very rich league, a league much richer than other sporting leagues in North America, and a huge reason for this is that the NBA is a lot more famous internationally. There are three major reasons for this:
1) Basketball is the one sport that both North Americans and the majority of the rest of the world understand and enjoy.
2) There once lived a man named Michael Jordan who was the biggest thing since basketball itself.
3) NBA commissioner David Stern is a shrewd man - and ever since he took the role of commissioner in 1984, the one thing that the NBA has done best is spread the game to other parts of the world while at the same time feature more and more international players in their own league.
Let's focus on point number 3: there are countless examples of the NBA's efforts to promote itself to a far greater international audience than just those in North America. Outside the US and Canada, NBA games are regularly broadcasted live in at least 31 more countries around the world. The recent All-Star game was broadcasted in 215 countries in 41 languages! The NBA has set up a dedicated 'Global' page to showcase its efforts around the world, and it has global websites in Brazil, France, India, Taiwan, Canada, Germany, China, Japan, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong, and the UK. There were 83 international players from 36 different countries on NBA rosters to start the 2009-10 NBA season.
And then its the NBA's outreach and grassroots events in other countries that continue to make them the ubiquitous name in basketball. The Basketball Without Borders (BWB) programme has served as "has served as a summer camp for young people designed to promote friendship, goodwill and education through sport." BWB have been to India, too, and as you may know, the NBA has teamed up with Mahindra to start a recreational league in three Indian cities this summer. Programmes such as BWB have also encouraged current and former NBA players to visit other countries, including India.
So where do we go from here? In most countries, usually the NBA's next step has been the most interesting one - organizing preaseason games featuring NBA teams on foreign soil. The NBA has been holding games exhibition games in Europe for several years already, and recently announced that the Lakers, Knicks, and T'Wolves will be playing again in Europe this October.

Even Asia has had its share of NBA action: The NBA has played six games in Japan since the 1990s, and has held preseason games in China since 2004, after Chinese star Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets in 2002: the first game obviously featured the Yao-powered rockets against the Sacramento Kings. In 2009, when the Nuggets met the Pacers in Taipei, it became the eight Asian city to host either an NBA regular season or preseason game, along with Tokyo, Yokohama, and Saitama in Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China; and Macau.
You know where this train of thought of heading... an NBA game in India? FUGGEDABOUDIT! What is the one thing in common amongst all the other countries that we lack back home in India? We have the money if someone chooses to spend it (for proof, see IPL). Our extra large population ensures that even a small percentage of NBA fans make up for enough to provide enough audience for any game. And the IPL has proven that we have the technological, energy and security infrastructure to host large sporting events.

No, what we really lack back here are good, ol-fashioned arenas! Not the kind of sharp-shooting, gun-toting Arenas that plays for the former Washington Bullets; no, I mean actual, international quality indoor basketball courts, made of good quality, polished hardwood (or similar surface), with fiberglass boards, and the capability to hold a large-capacity audience. Yes, there are some new courts around the country now which come close, but we're talking NBA-quality here, people! Yes, the NBA has brought in everyone from AC Green to Dikembe Mutombo opened several courts in India over the past few years, but we're far, far hehind.
Hell, even the Indian national team has to practice on shoddy surfaces most of the time. One of the biggest complains is that the best players in India play most of their basketball on concrete courts with rubber balls, and so when they move on to play on a hardwood court with a leather basketball they are constantly struggling to adjust. Even the men's national team members that have been training with JD Walsh, Craig Esherick, and Dr. Bob Baker in Bangalore have had to work in embarassing facilities.
I'm sorry, but there's no way that David Stern is going to allow his preciously talented millionaire NBA stars to break a sweat in any of our Indian courts.
Who knows, maybe the Reliance-IMG alliance to develop sports facilities in India will change things in the future. The extremely distant future. Otherwise, no, no chance in hell.
Go ahead, David Stern, NBA, Reliance... prove me wrong.

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