Federation Games

The best way to solve Basketball Federation of India’s power struggle? A game of basketball, of course!

This article was first published in my column for Ekalavyas on April 9, 2015. Click here to read the original post.

Ms Poonam Mahajan (left) and Mr Govindraj are the two nominated Presidents
in each of the rival factions. Photo Courtesy: Ekalavyas

The stage was set for a showdown when two opposing factions of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) called two separate Annual General Meetings (AGM) in two different cities on two different days. The purpose of both these meetings was to select a new executive committee – including a new BFI president – for the federation that governs all things India Basketball. And that is exactly what happened. In Bangalore on March 27, in a meeting led by former president KS Gill, the Karnataka State Basketball Association’s secretary K Govindraj was elected president; in Pune on March 28, in a meeting organized by BFI CEO Roopam Sharma, the chosen president was Poonam Mahajan.

Two meetings. Two presidents. Two executive committees. One federation. With neither side willing to back down, it has become clear that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will have to step in to resolve the issue. A legal battle in court might be the next chapter in this ugly drama.

But what if the problem was resolved on a different kind of court? After all, ‘Team Roopam’ and ‘Team Govindraj’ are each fighting for the throne to lead Indian basketball. Somewhere along this political fight, basketball itself seems to have been ignored. Maybe the best way to solve the Basketball Federation of India’s power struggle is just a game of basketball.

Introducing… The Basketball Game for Basketball, where the competing factions of the BFI play step out on the basketball court for one 40 minute contest to decide it all.

This is a (mostly) a work of fiction.

Setting

Three years ago, the BFI dedicated the Mastan YMCA basketball courts in Mumbai to the memory of former Secretary-General and CEO Harish Sharma. Sharma was the leader of the BFI and the CEO position had been created specifically to keep him in a position of power. Other positions like Secretary-General, President, Treasurer, and the rest of the Executive Committee have to be elected on the basis of a vote at the AGM. There is a time limit of how many years any one individual can keep hold of a senior committee position. After Sharma’s death in 2012, his wife Roopam Sharma was made CEO (instead of the position being abolished) and the divide within the BFI grew wider: some supported her, others didn’t. Of course, this means that he newly named Harish Sharma Basketball Courts in Mastan, Mumbai should play host to The Basketball Game for Basketball.

Team Govindraj

Starting 5: K Govindraj (President), Teja Singh Dhaliwal (Senior Vice-President), RS Gill (former President), Chander Mukhi Sharma (Secretary-General), V Raghothaman (Tresurer).

Bench: Ajay Sud, D.R. Saini, Shafiq Shaikh, Bhupendra Shahi, L. Suren (Vice-Presidents), Shakthi Singh Gohil (Associate Secretary), Norman Isaac (Executive Committee Member).

Team Roopam

Starting 5: Poonam Mahajan (President), Roopam Sharma (Secretary-General), Mukut Medhi (Treasurer), RS Chahal (Senior Vice President), Prempal Singh (Associate Secretary).

Bench: Nandini Bassapa, Ashok Kumar Sahu, Rajesh Patel, Ajeet Singh Rathore, Dalbir Singh Kharab, Vinod Vachani (Vice Presidents), Ashok Rangeen (Associate Secretary).

First off, Team Roopam must be praised for diversifying the gender field and featuring two women in the starting lineup (Mahajan and Sharma) and one off the bench (Bassapa). They also have youth on their side, kind of: 34-year-old Mahajan is the youngest president of any Indian sports federation. Both teams have some great Indian coaches and former players but Team Govindraj may be a little more athletic (I’m using the word ‘athletic’ in its broadest definition possible).

Team Roopam may have some home court advantage, specifically because of Mahajan’s Mumbai connection (she is the BJP national secretary and MP from the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha constituency) and because of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) support that Mahajan brings as the first women president of the MSBA. Mahajan has a lot of political clout and had a powerful father Pramod Mahajan, whose one-time aide was none other than the late Harish Sharma, Roopam’s husband. By extension, the overall political advantage goes to the president-secretary general combination of Mahajan and Roopam Sharma.

Team Govindraj may have the legal advantage, however. As per BFI’s constitution and the India’s Ministry of Sports code, only the president of a federation can call an AGM, and thus, the meeting in Bengaluru – held under the guidance of departing president RS Gill – was technically the only ‘legal’ one. Team Govindraj also scored a major win when FIBA – the international body that runs basketball around the world – recognised them as the rightful office-bearers of the BFI.

Tip-off!

Usually, the illustrious names that have been mentioned above do their best at every major Indian sports event to find the most comfortable sofa seats courtside, sip in the finest local chai, and make sure that there is an extra timeout called in every top game so that they can be introduced midcourt to the diligently lined-up players. But this time, it will be the VIPs taking the court while our top players sit on the bleachers and watch. Unhappily.

With more aggressive intent to their side, Team Roopam try to control the pace of the game, running and gunning from the get go and trying to put as many points on the board early in the first quarter. There are a lot of turnovers, bad passes, and individuals attempting to play one-on-one hero-ball, but due to the sheer number of their attempts and their opposition’s slow start, Team Roopam are able to take a double digit early lead.

But as the game moves along, Team Govindraj grind the pace down to their comfort level and defend hard in the post. The game takes an even uglier twist as neither side is able to make their field goals anymore. There are a lot of stoppages, and with the help of the free-throw line, Team Govindraj crawl back to tie the game by halftime.

‘Fans’

The score-keepers seated on the side are representatives from the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) and judges from the Delhi High Court. Despite their best efforts, they have a difficult time keeping track of the awry field goal percentages from both sides.

Meanwhile, representatives from IMG Worldwide and Reliance Industries – the partnership of the two powerful companies that brought sponsorship rights to the BFI five years ago –watch and judge the game from the sidelines, scouting for the finest prospects to work with to help develop the game in India in the future. IMG-Reliance have been hoping to help the BFI launch India’s first professional basketball league, a process that seems to have been suspended consistently over the past few years. Other sponsors are present too, watching the tamasha, as are representatives from the NBA and NBA India, who have vested interest in the long-term development of the sport after these intriguing Federation Games.

The camera pans from the sponsors and CEOs to the other end, where India’s best players and coaches – the individuals who should actually be the stars of the Indian basketball story – are seated. About 10 months ago, Coach Scott Flemming and his team’s top players like Amrit Pal Singh, Amjyot Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and more helped India get a historic first win over China at the FIBA Asia Cup. Two years ago, India’s Women’s team – represented here by Coach Francisco Garcia, legendary player Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Paul Durai, Jeena PS and others – helped India finish at their best-ever fifth place at the FIBA Asia Championship for Women. Jose was even conferred an Arjuna Award  this year.

(None of these accolades are mentioned of course because Indian basketball achievements weren’t the top priority at this basketball game).

Hundreds of more children, all of whom are basketball enthusiasts hoping to become stars for India and abroad, sit terror-stricken on bleachers around the stadium. Many concerned coaches reach over to them and cover their eyes to save them from the horrors ahead.

Second Half

Both teams start the second half with their more experienced players. For Team Roopam, coaches like Chhattisgarh’s Rajesh Patel, India’s junior coach Vinod Vachani, and Delhi’s Ashok Rangeen pit their collective strategies together to get some easy baskets for their team. For Team Govindraj, president Govindraj himself shows some moves from his playing days for Karnataka, while L. Suren rises off the bench to provide some defensive stops. Unfortunately, Team Roopam’s marquee player – president Poonam Mahajan – is confounded by the game that she is supposed to be presiding.

As the audience is subjected to a fourth quarter that no one wishes to watch, the game turns contentious, with the referees’ whistles threatening to steal the spotlight. An outlandish number of calls start going Team Roopam’s way, who opponents complain are winning the advantage due to political threats and blackmail. Team Roopam are unable to take advantage of the opportunity, however. The FIBA Commissioners presiding over this game – who have recently recognized Team Govindraj as the rightful office-bearers of the BFI – neutralize the refereeing scandal with imbalanced overseeing from their end.

By the final whistle, neither team has put up a particularly impressive score, all the players on court have picked up flagrant and technical fouls, and none of the fans are having a good time.

Final Whistle

Nobody is sure who won the game, but everyone knows that basketball lost.

Ajay Sud resigns from post of Basketball Federation of India's Secretary-General while the BFI divides in disarray

After several years of holding court as the Basketball Federation of India's (BFI) Secretary-General, Ajay Sud surprisingly resigned from his position earlier this month. Sud's resignation has come around a time of disarray for the BFI: with their Annual General Meeting (AGM) about 10 days away, factions within the federation that governs basketball in India have been divided. It is a problem that roots within a power and leadership struggle at the helm of the BFI and showed its effect when two separate circulars were sent to state basketball secretaries about the date and location of the AGM this year.

Around four years after becoming the Secretary-General, Sud has resigned from his post, and there are suspicious that the conflict and pressure within the BFI - especially in regards to the AGM - may have led Sud to this decision. While there are some claims that it was originally planned for the AGM to be held in Bengaluru on March 27, the new circular on the BFI website claimed that the AGM instead will be held in Pune (during the Federation Cup) on March 28.

For sporting bodies in India, the Secretary-General is one of the senior-most positions of operation. Federations like the BFI are led by a triumvirate of the President, Secretary-General, and Treasurer. All three positions have a maximum-allowed time of service and the Secretary-General is chosen by a vote by the executive committee, made up of secretaries of the state federations around India. Up to around 2011, the federation's Secretary-General was Harish Sharma, but the BFI created a new position – CEO – for him, which could be exempt from the maximum eight-year term of service and is not answerable to the federation’s president (RS Gill). Sud then replaced Sharma as the Secretary-General. After Sharma's death in 2012, his wife Roopam Sharma took over as the BFI CEO and has since held the position that gives her the power without a government-mandated time limit.

Within the BFI, senior leaders had discussed to now end the CEO position and degrade Roopam Sharma to the (non-permanent) Secretary-General position at the AGM; this could be the reason why those in support of Sharma as the CEO would be willing to a different annual meeting than those who were against it.

Sports journalist Kamesh Srinivasan - who has long-covered basketball for The Hindu and Sportstar - exposed the news about Sud's resignation and the split within Indian basketball on his blog a few days ago:

... a communication to the members was sent on February 28 about the AGM, with a promise that the details would follow shortly, as advised by the BFI president. However, the secretary general of the BFI, Ajay Sud, sent a circular on March 2, stating that the AGM would be held in Pune on March 28. Perturbed at having to go against the original understanding and directive of the president, the secretary general tendered his resignation the same day, after sending the circular.
"On moral ground and taking responsibility for what has happened, I extend my resignation... ", wrote Ajay Sud, in his communication
to the president, with copies to all the members of the association.

"I was pressured by some people to change the venue of meetings to Pune for which I gave my consent without the approval of President under
my scanned signatures on 2nd March 2015. As this action of mine was not according to my conscience and moral values... I resigned from the post of Secretary General", clarified Ajay Sud on Thursday.

The president RS Gill, who has served three terms in office and will be stepping aside after the AGM, took charge of the situation by sending the circulars to the members and also appointing a Returning Officer for the election to be held in Bengaluru on March 27, as he derived the powers to do so in the absence of the secretary general, as per the Constitution of the BFI.
However, the BFI with its headquarters in Delhi, swung into action and called the actions of the president as ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’. It has also sought the intervention of the Union Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), stressing that the president had no authority to act the way he had done.
"Under the given circumstances, the President should have called for an emergency meeting of the Executive Board to discuss the status and
to take the consent of the General House", wrote CEO Roopam Sharma, emphasizing that she had the "sole legal authority to represent BFI including all correspondence as per the constitution of BFI".

I suggest that you read the full post by Srinivasan that had earlier brought this entire issue to light.

In India, the sports development code – formed by the Ministry of Sports – only allows a maximum of eight years for principal office bearers of a sports federation. During the past decade, Harish Sharma was the overruling ‘father’ of BFI, and thus, Indian Basketball as a whole. The BFI created the CEO position for Sharma, explaining that it was created specifically to keep him in a position of influential leadership. But in early 2012, at just the age of 53, Harish Sharma passed away, leaving the leadership of the BFI in temporary disarray. Instead of reverting to the old constitution (without a CEO), the BFI named Harish’s wife – Roopam Sharma – as the federation’s new CEO a few months later. Without a government-mandated time limitation for this position, Roopam – who is also a Deputy GM of Air India (Ground Relations) – is still the CEO, and may continue to remain so. She and her Deputy CEO Prem Pal Singh remain responsible for the majority of BFI’s decision-making, and thus, for the fortunes and future of basketball in India.

While the BFI has expanded its grassroots reach over the last few years with massive school and college leagues across dozens of Indian cities, there remains some dissatisfaction among federation insiders who believe that the current administration is failing to focus on a long-term development plan for the game.

At the AGM - wherever it's held - the BFI will elect new leaders and executive committee. While Sharma fights to a) keep the AGM in Pune and b) keep her CEO position, she can also count on the support of associates elected as representatives in other states who have had her support to win their state-level elections.

A prime example of this is in Maharashtra, where the experienced previous secretary of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) M. Venkatesh did not find a place for himself in the new structuring of the state federation last month to the surprise of many who respected his work for leading the development of basketball in Maharashtra and nation-wide. BJP politician and Mumbai North Member of Parliament Poonam Mahajan was voted unanimously as the MSBA’s new president while; Venkatesh was excluded was the entire 15-member executive committee. The General Secretary and President of each state federation in India gets a vote at the national level in choosing the BFI's general-secretary. With favourable individuals at the helm of the states, the BFI leadership can hope to extend their hold of the national power structure.

Sud has unwittingly become the latest pawn to fall in this elaborate game that is more chess than basketball. When I interviewed him a few months ago, Sud had told me that he would definitely be trying for another term as Secretary-General at the AGM, but had added that, "There is a lot of politics going on in the BFI,". Now, a few weeks before the event itself, he has counted himself out of the running. He now serves only as the secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Basketball Association (HPBA).

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas.com

Meanwhile, Venkatesh - who remains as one of the Vice Presidents of the BFI - has said that there is much work to be done to save the future of basketball in India.

“We should have a long-term plan,” Venkatesh told me, “We have foreign coaches, but our coaches should not be idle. They should always been doing something. We have plan for the Asian Basketball Championship (ABC) two years ahead every time. Who has to make the plan? Grassroots training isn't targeted or planned, either. That is the future of basketball in India. But we are continuing with the same old people and not getting any better performances at the ABC. When Harish Sharma was there, he was Secretary-General, the CEO of BFI, the Secretary-General of Middle Asia Zone, member of FIBA Asia, and IOA president. Today we don't have any Indian representation in FIBA Asia, Middle Asia etc."

Last summer, when India’s Men’s national team overcame the wildest odds and 40 spots of FIBA ranking to defeat the mighty China for the first time in the nation’s basketball history, it seemed that basketball in India was ready to take a great leap forward. American Head Coach Scott Flemming had successfully inspired the underdog side through self-belief and team-spirit to challenge several more talented teams at the FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan (China) and ushered in a promise of international success ahead.

Unfortunately, back home in their own country, India’s basketball heroes have returned to a different kind of team. To a broken federation of associations that are running the sport in India and allowing internal politics to stunt the growth of India’s basketball potential. Fans of the game will hope that there is a quick and clean resolution to the power struggle at the top and the BFI returns to the path of thinking about the sport, instead of thinking about itself.

65th Senior National Basketball Championship tips off in Rajasthan with Indian All Star Game

It may be the 'Holiday Season' for most of the world, but for the top talents of Indian basketball, the most serious time of the year has begun. At Bhilwara in Rajasthan, 51 combined Men and Women's teams from across the country have assembled to take part in the biggest event in the nation's domestic hoops calendar: the Senior Nationals. The 65th Senior National Basketball Championship for Men and Women tipped off in Bhilwara on Monday, December 29th. The championship is being organised by the Bhilwara District Basketball Association in collaboration with the Rajasthan State Basketball Association under the aegis of Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG-Reliance.

A day before the launch of the championship, the BFI celebrated 'Indian Basketball Day' in honour of late CEO Harish Sharma. On this day, the best players in the country took part in Men and Women's All Star games and a Slam Dunk contest. Cultural performances, prize distribution, and a remembrance ceremony for Sharma was also held.

27 men’s teams and 24 women’s teams are participating in this event that will be played in a league-cum-knockout format. The last iteration of the tournament was held in March 2014 at New Delhi and won by Tamil Nadu (Men) and Chhattisgarh (Women).

On the first day of the tournament, Kerala's Women started off with a dominant victory over Andhra Pradesh 78-39, as two Suryas from each side battled against each other. Kerala were led by Surya PR, who scored 19 points, while Jeena PS added 17. For AP, A Surya scored 23 in the loss. In another dominant showcase of talent, Tamil Nadu's women doubled the output of Uttar Pradesh to blow them out 72-36. Sunita led all scorers on the game with 20.

In an early Men's game, Indian Railways took a 10 point lead over Chhattisgarh in the first quarter, and held on to their advantage till the very end en route to a 76-66 win. M. Mishra (25) and H. Singh (16) were leading scorers for Railways, while AP Singh (20) and Kiranpal S (18) were the high scorers in a losing effort for Chhattisgarh.

The Indian basketball fraternity celebrated 'Indian Basketball Day' on Sunday, December 28th in honour of the late Harish Sharma's birthday. Senior BFI officials such as RS Gill, Ajay Sud, Nandini Basappa, K Govindraj, PJ Sunny and Naresh Aneja (FIBA Commissioner) spoke on the occasion and recalled Sharma’s contribution to the sport. Sharma had been instrumental in inking the long term contract with IMG-Reliance in 2010 that has led to a drastic improvement in facilities for the players, coaches and others involved in the sport.

As part of the ‘Indian Basketball Day’ festivities, two exhibition All Star matches were played that featured the top men and women players in the country. A Slam Dunk contest was also held for the high-fliers in the men’s division which was won by Amjyot Singh from Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Tamil Nadu. Amjyot, of course, is famous for another dunk earlier this year against China that capped off India's historic win over China at the FIBA Asia Cup.

India's Senior national men's 3x3 team, comprising of Pratham Singh, Yadwinder Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Amrit Pal Singh, were felicitated for their silver-medal winning effort at the Asian Beach Games in Phuket earlier this year.

Selected Scores

Women

• Kerala (Surya PR 19, Jeena PS 17) bt Andhra Pradesh (A Surya 23) 78-39 (27-6, 18-9, 11-14, 22-10).
  
• Tamil Nadu (Sunita 20, Ramya 15) bt Uttar Pradesh (R Gour 13) 72-36 (17-4, 16-12, 23-16, 16-4).
  

Men

• Indian Railways (M Mishra 25, H Singh 16) bt Chhattisgarh (AP Singh 20, Kiranpal S 18, KS Kumar 15) 76-66 (25-15, 17-20, 16-17, 18-14).
  

December 28th named 'Indian Basketball Day' in honour of Harish Sharma

If you live and breathe basketball, every single day is a cause for celebration, for playing or watching your favourite game and for honing your skills. But to further raise awareness for the growing status of the sport in India, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has announced a special day in honour of desi hoops, a birthday for Indian basketball.

(And it's today! Cue the music!)

In honour of the late Harish Sharma, the former CEO of the BFI and the visionary leader who helped Indian basketball take several steps forward during his 11-year tenure at the head of the Federation, the BFI has named today - December 28th - as 'Indian Basketball Day'. Sharma was born on this day in 1958 and passed away at the age of 53 in February 2012.

"What basketball is today is because of Harish Sharma," the BFI communicated through their official social media account, "He is and will always be known as the true Godfather of Indian Basketball. Thank you for all that you've done, you've provided the foundation that Indian basketball needed. It is now up to the rest of us to take what you taught us and build the sport to the top."

The announcement has come been just days before the commencement of the 65th National Basketball Championship for Men and Women - India's biggest domestic basketball tournament - in Bhilwara (Rajasthan).

So if you love Indian basketball, go out and celebrate the game on its first official birthday. Play hoops, watch hoops, and learn about Indian hoops. My word of selfish advice? Start here on this very blog: read through the articles in the past to learn more about Indian basketball events and players.

Starting this year, I will also share a gift with Indian hoop fans every Indian Basketball Day. This year's gift? Here is the full-length video of India's greatest ever basketball victory, the 'Wonder of Wuhan', an upset over Asian giants China at the 5th FIBA Asia Cup in July. There was no bigger moment for India in 2014!

She’s Got Game: Women’s Basketball stands toe to toe with Men in India

This article was first published in my column on Ekalavyas on June 3, 2014. You can find the original post here.

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas.com

As always, the women’s final was held first, a little bit earlier in the evening, before the prime-time crowds were expected to show up. Only a few of the other players, close friends, and some of the organizing officials sat through most of the game; looking around the arena, there were far more empty seats than occupied ones. As the game ended, anticipation arose for the men’s final which was to follow right after. Crowds doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. A calm arena had been turned into an energetic spectacle.

The scenes above don’t describe any one tournament – they are a glimpse of the sights and sounds at most sporting events. Throughout the sporting sphere in the country – and abroad, too – women who excel in popular sports like cricket, football, hockey, etc. are usually greeted with scarce attention from their Federations and scarcer crowds at their field of play.

Fortunately, for basketball in India, this is usually not the case. From the top level – where India’s best female players and national teams usually perform better than their male counterparts – to the grassroots – where young girls get an equal opportunity to shine as the boys – India’s women stand toe to toe with the men in the game.

For most of India – as it is in several other parts of the world – gender equality is still a work in progress. India still has a highly skewed child sex ratio (under age six) of 919 girls per 1000 boys. India stands 132nd out of 148 countries on the UNDP Gender Inequality Index. And women in several parts of India are at a disadvantage, facing limited access to resources, education, and are victims of gender-based violence. India has long been a patriarchal society where culture and custom has given social authority to men over women for thousands of years.

Perhaps it is because of these inequalities that, when given an opportunity, the discriminated gender has set out with a fire in their belly to prove a point and perform at a high level. For several years now, India’s women’s national basketball team has ranked much higher in the FIBA rankings than the men. While the men’s teams have struggled to break through to the top eight of recent Asian tournaments, India finished at an All Time best fifth place in the FIBA Asia Championship for Women last year. While basketball fans in India and abroad have been desperately searching for India’s answer to Yao Ming – the first of our nation to make it to the NBA – the closest Indian in the big leagues has actually been a woman: Geethu Anna Jose. Jose has played professionally in Australia and Thailand and came close to securing a spot in a WNBA roster a few years ago. Among Indian basketball fans, the names of female players like Jose, Varanasi’s “Singh Sisters”, Anitha Paul Durai, the successful girls from Chhattisgarh, and the youth brigade out in Kerala are as popular as the best-known male players.

Credit must be given to the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) as well as the various State Federations in the country who have managed to keep men and women’s basketball at relatively equal footing even though many have suffered from overall inefficiencies in other areas. A few years ago, the BFI’s late CEO Harish Sharma mentioned that as the BFI works to take the game of basketball to the next level, they would also maintain gender equality. “We will focus equally on men and women,” he had said, “Basketball is a gender-friendly sport!”

Indeed, it is. Or, it almost is. Despite having equal standing in almost every way (close to the same number of male and female teams participate in Indian national tournaments annually), the women still receive a smaller participating or medal-winning fee than the men.

In his excellent review of Indian Basketball for Fountain Ink magazine earlier this year, Ekalavyas’ own Gopalakrishnan R. reported that, while men in India receive employment on the sports quota in various government services, public telecom, banks, police departments, railways, and more, the women really have nowhere to go but the Railways.

“So when the Indian Railway boasts of a virtually unbeaten run in the last 20 years at the Senior National Championship,” wrote Gopalakrishnan, “It is simply because it is one of the few establishments that hires women!”

That ‘virtually unbeaten’ run by the Indian Railways women was finally stalled this year by Chhattisgarh, the rising stars of India’s women’s basketball, who won the Senior Nationals Women’s gold and ended Railways’ decade-long hold of the title.

Sometimes, an unlikely basketball success story can be traced back to the efforts of one individual. For Chhattisgarh, that individual has been Rajesh Patel, the coach of all of Chhattisgarh’s female teams of the sub-junior, youth, junior, and senior levels. Patel recruits talented players with potential at a young age from tribal and other disadvantaged economic conditions to the Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh and then helps them reach that potential. Since the Chhattisgarh state was formed in 2000, Patel’s vision has come to reality, with the women winning gold at every level, and several of his protégés making their way to India’s National squad.

Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu are also among the leaders of promoting women’s basketball on equal footing with the men. All these states – and several others who also have similar, successful models – have done a fine job of organizing tournaments with equal participation for both genders, a practice that has gone on to help produce top players from these states for the national squad. But once again, going back to Gopalakrishnan’s article mentioned above, opportunities for many women at the senior domestic level are few and far between.

At the international stage, India’s women have indeed been given the same opportunity to succeed as the men have. For the last few years, whenever a capable foreign coach has been hired for India’s national men’s teams (Bill Harris, Kenny Natt, Scott Flemming), the same has been done for the women (Tamika Raymond, Pete Gaudet, Francisco Garcia). Led by talents like Jose, the Sr women’s team finds themselves at 40th in the FIBA rankings (Men are currently 61st) and the Girls (U16) team are at 37th (Boys are 48th). India is now at fifth place among Women in Asia, behind only the unstoppable ‘big four’ of China, Chinese Taipei, Korea, and Japan. India’s women have been successful at FIBA Asia 3×3 competitions, too. While India’s male players have barely registered a blimp against the competition in Asia, Jose has been able to finish as Asia’s top scorer or be a part of All Tournament teams in recent FIBA Asia Championships.

India’s women do have a major advantage over the men when it comes to Asian tournaments: they have less competition. Higher-ranked nations in the men’s division like Iran, Jordan, and Qatar don’t field women’s basketball teams at all. India’s men have to play against tougher and larger number of opponents, and thus, struggle to emulate the success of the women.

Additionally, worldwide, women’s basketball is generally a lot more balanced than the counterparts in men. With the women’s game focusing on fundamentals and tactics a little more than athletic or physical ability, India’s women theoretically have had the chance to match closer to powerhouses around the world than the men do. While most Federations around the world have generally focused their attention on the men’s national sides, India’s efforts of keeping basketball ‘gender-friendly’ have helped the women stay competitive, participate in as many international tournaments as the men do, and receive the same level of coaching and physiotherapy.

At pretty much every level of the game, men’s basketball gets more attention and hype than the women. The NBA is more popular than the WNBA, FIBA’s Men’s Championships garner bigger crowds than FIBA women’s, and male players make more money and are given better sponsorships than their women counterparts. Considering this global gender imbalance, it isn’t shocking that the attention of fans and organizers in India is to find India’s Yao Ming or Wang Zhi Zhi and have an Indian player make it to the NBA.

But, it may well be more likely that the first Indian to make it to basketball’s biggest league will be a woman, and that big league will be the WNBA, rather than the NBA. Jose came agonizingly close when she earned tryouts with the Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks, and San Antonio Silver Stars three years ago. If her successors are given the right opportunity, they could take one step further. Last month, India’s Women’s coach Francisco Garcia mentioned that young players like Kavita Akula, Poojamol KS, and Jeena PS all have the talent to play in professional leagues abroad. If, at an earlier age, India’s young stars are given the right guidance, training, and opportunity, we might finally find a talent to break through to the highest level of the game.

Let’s be real: Basketball is too minor an issue to solve India’s gender inequalities. But a basketball success story could add to the growing list of talented sportswomen in India, and become yet another small step away from the generations of patriarchy in the nation.

India’s All Star Weekend: Basketball stars shine on courts dedicated to Harish Sharma

If you were an outsider to India’s hoop universe looking for a weekend crash course to everything in Indian Basketball, then the last couple of days in Mumbai were your chance: Over three dozen of the most talented and famous Men and Women Indian basketball players descended to the Mastan YMCA basketball courts in Nagpada for the 3rd Indian Basketball All Star Showcase, held from May 3rd-5th.

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Indian Basketball's All Star Showcase to tip off in Mumbai

The third Indian Basketball All Star showcase – a weekend highlighting the talents of India’s finest Men and Women basketball players – is set to be held at the Mastan YMCA Courts in Mumbai from May 3-5, 2012. Like previous years, the event will feature well-known basketball players from all across the country taking part in All Star Games, shooting, and dunking competitions. Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) will host this year’s events dedicated to the memory of the late CEO of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) Harish Sharma.

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Indian Basketball All-Star showcase in Mumbai from May 3-5

For the third year, the Mastan YMCA basketball court in Nagpada, Mumbai, will host the best of the best in Indian hoops talent in India’s own version of the basketball All Star weekend, from May 3-5, 2012.

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Roopam Sharma elected Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Basketball Association

Roopam Sharma, the newly appointed CEO of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), was also elected as the Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Basketball Association (DBA) via unanimous vote at a DBA Executive Committee Meeting. The widow of BFI's former CEO Harish Sharma, Roopam Sharma also follows her late husband as the DBA's Honorary Secretary.

According to the BFI, Sharma will be in charge of the day to day activities of the DBA as well as all basketball events that take place in Delhi. Roopam Sharma on behalf of the Basketball Federation of India would extend all the support needed to facilitate the DBA functioning.

Ms. Sharma added that "The additional responsibilities conferred on me by the DBA, it will be my duty to work with the utmost sincerity and dedication to bring in positive initiatives to promote basketball in Delhi. I will remain committed to cater to the challenges at all times but most importantly, I look forward to working in a cohesive manner to take the game forward."

Basketball Federation of India appoints Roopam Sharma as new CEO

During their Annual General Meeting held on March 11, 2012, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) appointed Roopam Sharma as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Sharma takes on the helm after the unexpected demise of former CEO and her husband Harish Sharma last month.

Roopam Sharma’s appointment as CEO was decided by the steering committee members of the BFI. Soon after her appointment, the new CEO assured all members that she would continue to perform the tasks that her husband has left unfulfilled. In a statement made on Tuesday, Sharma said, “I will carry forward the unfinished tasks of my husband in improving the standards of basketball in the country as passionately as he did.”

Sharma is a Deputy General Manager with Air India (ground handling). She has experience in marketing and organisation and had been associated with both FIBA and FIBA Asia to help them execute day-to-day affairs for the BFI.

Talking about her mission and plans for the BFI, Sharma added that she will discuss matters with those connected with the BFI family, including state affiliates, coaches, technical staff, and BFI functionaries, before concretising anything.

“It was my husband’s vision to put the game on a high pedestal and he had already taken basketball to a new level by signing a long-term deal with IMG-Reliance. Now it will be my endeavour to take the game to even bigger heights with the help of my colleagues at the BFI.

Sharma has also hoped that her experience in marketing will help her stand in good stead and she would make efforts to generate revenue to help run the BFI professionally. This was one aspect that her predecessor Harish Sharma had managed particularly well over his years as the BFI’s Secretary-General and then its CEO.

“The challenges are enormous,” said Roopam Sharma, “But with my experience, having been associated with the game as an organiser of the Master Prithvi Nath Sharma Memorial Basketball Championships, and the inputs that Harish had shared with me, I will be able to meet them.”

Harish Sharma (1958-2012): Indian Basketball’s visionary leader passes away

It is difficult to mourn a person’s death when you’d rather remember their life. And Harish Sharma, the visionary leader of Indian Basketball, certainly led a memorable life.

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3rd Season of Mahindra NBA Challenge to tip off

MUMBAI: The third season of the Mahindra NBA Challenge – the largest, multi-city, community-based basketball league in India – will tip off Nov. 5 in Mumbai, the National Basketball Association (NBA), Mahindra, and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has jointly announced.

For the first time, the program will feature the Mahindra NBA Challenge National Finals. Winning teams from the senior 19+ and junior 16-18 divisions for both men and women in each city league will compete against each other to determine the National Finals winner. The program will visit five cities, including Kochi for the first time. Leagues also will be held in Bangalore, Delhi, Ludhiana, and Mumbai.

The programme has rapidly expanded since its introduction in 2009 with the number of teams participating doubling in season two. The program has helped to identify and develop top basketball talent, with the Indian national team extending training camp invites to 20 male and female players that participated in the Mahindra NBA Challenge.

The five-city league will feature four age divisions for both men and women: Sub-Junior for ages 12-13, Youth for ages 14-16, Junior for ages 16-18 and Adults ages 19 and over.

“Now in its third season, the Mahindra NBA Challenge has become a premiere platform to help identify and develop basketball talent at the grassroots level in India,” said Senior Director of Development for NBA India Akash Jain. “With the support of Mahindra, BFI, and all our partners, we are pleased to enhance the program with new elements, including the first-ever national finals, which will help further drive interest in our game.”

The Mahindra NBA Challenge not only involves competitive games, but also provides opportunities for skill development with more than 200 total player and coaching clinics conducted to date. Additionally, six different NBA All-Stars and NBA/WNBA Legends have traveled to India over the past two seasons to run clinics for participants.

“Over the past two years the Mahindra NBA Challenge has played an integral part in the growth of basketball in India,” said CEO of BFI Harish Sharma. “Along with the NBA and Mahindra, we are excited to offer Indian players more opportunities to perfect their skills and elevate their game.”

BFI to launch second season of the Delhi School League for 10 boys’ & 8 girls’ schools in New Delhi

Delhi’s biggest school basketball competition, the Delhi School Basketball League for Boys & Girls, organised by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG-Reliance, will be back in the city for a second season, starting from Wednesday, July 27th, 2011. The league will be held between teams of 10 boys’ and 8 girls’ schools. Each game will be hosted by the home team on a home-and-away basis around the city.

To promote a competitive basketball environment amongst youngsters in the city, the first edition of the Delhi Basketball League was held successfully around the capital last year. The league returns with the same format this season: the boys’ teams have been separated into two groups of five each, while the girls’ teams into two groups of four. Each team will play all of its opponents in the group twice (home and away) before qualifying for the next round, the Super League, the winners of which will then meet in the Final.

The league will tip off at the home of the reigning champions, Montfort School, who will play DPS (RK Puram) in both the boys’ and the girls’ divisions on Wednesday morning. Last year’s runners-up Modern School will host DPS (Mathura Road) in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions on the first day.

League matches will be held from July 27th – August 14th. The Super-League and the Finals will be held between August 16th – August 25th, 2011. The winners of the league will be given cash prizes and bonuses from BFI and IMG-Reliance.

“We will be looking to continue the positive momentum that we build with this league from last season into this year,” said Harish Sharma, the CEO of the BFI, “This is a unique sports league for the school-level, and it will continue to help us identify young talent in the city as well as help promote the exciting game of basketball amongst youngsters here.”

Last season, both the boys’ and the girls’ teams from the Montfort School were crowned as champions, after both of them defeated opponents from Modern School (Barakhamba).

Participating Teams:

Girls

Group A: Montfort School, Delhi Public School (RK Puram), Bal Bharti School (Pitampura), Oxford School.
Group B: Modern School, Delhi Public School (Mathura Road), St. Michael’s School, Carmel Convent School.

Boys

Group A: Montfort School, Delhi Public School (RK Puram), GD Goenka School, Bal Bharti School (Pitampura), Oxford School.
Group B: Modern School, Delhi Public School (Mathura Road), New Green Field School, Air Force Bal Bharti School, St. Michael’s School.

Junior Nationals: Tamil Nadu boys beat MP to become Junior Champions; Kerala girls win gold again

In front of Delhi’s large hoop-loving audience that collected together to watch India’s best under-18-year-old basketball players at the Thyagraj Stadium on Tuesday, the eight-day long 62nd Junior National Basketball Championship for Boys & Girls came to an enthralling end as Tamil Nadu boys and Kerala girls clinched the gold medals.

For Kerala, this win stretched their dominance over the younger-level basketball in India: Kerala have now won the last two Junior Championships as well as the last two Youth Championships. For Tamil Nadu, who ended up as runners-up to Punjab in the tournament last year, the gold medal in Delhi on Tuesday was a fitting way to bury the demons of last year’s final loss.

In the boys Final, Tamil Nadu faced another team who matched them in high-flying athleticism – Madhya Pradesh. TN still took the early initiative, starting the game hot and taking a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter. TN seemed to be on cruise control for most of the game, and before the start of the final quarter, were still leading by 11, 55-44. But it was here that MP put up one last inspired run and chased TN, making it a 4-point game with just seven minutes to go.

But TN regained their composure, made all the clinical plays in the final stretch of the game, and survived to be crowned champions, 77-64. It was TN’s unselfish ball-movement that saw them hoist the winner’s trophy this year. The final belonged to TN’s Sivabalan S, who was able to forget about the disappointment of 2010 to score 34 points and 11 points. Arvind A hadded 18 points for TN. For MP, it was a disappointing finish to a great tournament – their high-scoring dup of Amit Kanarjee and Siddharth Chouhan played well in a losing effort in the final, scoring 21 and 17 points respectively.

In the earlier Final, Kerala continued their dominance over girls’ basketball in the country by rolling to a comfortable victory over Tamil Nadu. Just two months ago, Poojamol KS scored 40 points in the Final of the Youth Championships in Nagpur to help seal the title for her side. On Tuesday, she again started the game with the fire to give her team the win. After a close first quarter, Kerala began to dominate the second period, turning on their defense, and on the other end, scoring at regular intervals, to secure a massive 18-point lead at the end of the first half.

Tamil Nadu could never recover from this second-quarter debacle: the match was an interesting battle between two talented bigs on each side: Rajapriya Darshini for TN and Jeena PS for Kerala. While Darshini more than held her own (19 points, 9 rebounds), Jeena put up a strong performance too, with 17 points and 17 rebounds, continuing to stake her claim as the best rebounder in the Nationals.

TN failed to make up the deficit in the second half, as Kerala’s Surya PR continued her consistent play all championship to put up 28 points. Poojamol ended with a dominant 25 points to go with 15 rebounds. When the final buzzer sounded, Kerala celebrated, having cruised to a 83-67 victory.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Boys beat Chhattisgarh 78-62 to win the third-place playoff, behind Loveneet Singh (23) and Baljeet Singh (16). For Chhattisgarh, B. Dinesh scored 26 points. In the girls’ third-place playoff, Chhattigarh beat Karnataka to claim the bronze medal in a close game, winning by 78-76. Anjana Ekka (24), A. Kavita (17), and Sagarika (16) were the leading scorers for Chhattisgarh. For Karnataka, Navaneetha scored 27 and Simonelle added 20.

RS Gill, the president of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), Harish Sharma, the CEO of the BFI, Ajay Sud, the BFI’s Secretary General, and Bobby Sharma, the Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, Basketball for IMG Worldwide, were amongst the various dignitaries present at the Finals.

The winning teams in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions were rewarded with a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000. The runners-up were handed Rs. 50,000, and third-place received Rs. 25,000.

Final Scores

Girls: Kerala (Surya PR 28, Poojamol KS 26, Jeena PS 17, PG Anjana 10) bt. Tamil Nadu (Rajapriya Dharshini 19, Suganya L 11, Ramya R 10) 83-67 (22-20, 27-11, 24-19, 10-17).

Boys: Tamil Nadu (Sivabalan S 34, Arvind A. 18, Kasi Ranjan M. 14) bt. Madhya Pradesh (Amit Kanarjee 21, Siddharth Chouhan 17) 77-64 (24-11, 20-22, 11-11, 22-20).

3rd/4th Place Playoff

Girls: Chhattisgarh (Anjana Ekka 24, A. Kavita 17, Sagarika 16) bt. Karnataka (Navaneetha 27, Simonelle 20, Sagarika 13) 78-76 (20-19, 14-16, 34-19, 10-22).

Boys: Punjab (Loveneet Singh 23, Baljeet Singh 16, Manpreet Singh 12, Gauravdeep Singh 10) bt. Chhattisgarh (B. Dinesh 26, Ajay Pratap Singh 15) 78-62 (20-12, 15-12, 26-16, 17-22).

Junior Nationals mark another leap for Basketball in India

Basketball in India made a new type of history when the 62nd Junior National Basketball Championship for Boys & Girls tipped off at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi on July 5th. The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) was already carrying the positive momentum of a successful partnership with IMG-Reliance, the hiring of three world-class coaches for the national teams, and a more organised grassroots development programme: with the inauguration of the Junior Nationals that are taking place in three indoor, air-conditioned, wooden courts at the Thyagraj stadium, the Federation has been able to provide high-quality infrastructure and facilities for the country’s best young players to showcase their talents.

The championship was declared open by Ajay Maken, the Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports (Government of India) who was the Chief Guest of the programme. “Basketball has been close to my heart from the beginning,” Maken said at the opening ceremony, “The Federation has world-class infrastructure to utilise for its National Camps at the Indira Gandhi Stadium and for this championship at Thyagraj – I’m sure that basketball is going to take a giant leap and come up very fast, very soon, on the global level.”

Harish Sharma, the CEO of the BFI, welcomed Maken, and highlighted his support in offering BFI the high-level infrastructure, both at the IG Stadium and the Thyagraj Stadium. “This is the first time in the history of the National Championships in India that we have three indoor, air-conditioned courts for use for the players,” Sharma said, “Basketball is on the rise in India: we want to compete at a high level and show the world that India can be the best!”

The championship certainly started with some high-level hoops action. In a close, back-and-forth afternoon match-up, Karnataka and Rajasthan Boys battled till the end in a thriller, that was finally won by an inspired Karnataka side. Karnataka’s Michael John hit two clutch free-throws at the end of the game to secure a 72-71 win. Karan Joshua led the way with 21 points for Karnataka. For Rajasthan, the duo of Manish Singh (22 points) and Dadhich (17) led a three-point onslaught that almost stole the game from their opponents.

It was a disappointing start for the girls from the hosts Delhi side, who suffered an embarrassing loss at the hands of Tamil Nadu. TN had a blistering start to the game, leading 27-4 at the end of the first quarter, and 41-9 at halftime. A balanced attack from the TN side saw them win by 39 at the end of the game, 74-35.

In another girls’ game, Kerala, the reigning champions of the Junior Championship, began a positive start to their title defense by riding on 40 points by superstar Jeena PS to defeat Punjab, 86-34. Kerala have boasted of great results in the junior levels of basketball in recent years, as they are two-time winners of the Youth title and are hoping to repeat at the U18 level as well. Jeena was assisted by 27 points by Anjana PG. For Punjab, Nagma Mirza scored 26 in a losing effort.

Finally, Chhattisgarh Boys also had a good start to their championship by securing an easier than expected victory against Andhra Pradesh. Chhattisgarh led the whole way, and didn’t take their feet of the accelerator at any point in the game. Sameer Kumar Rai scored 18 points and Bobby Singh added 16 for Chhattisgarh who stood 77-24 winners at the end of the game.

Scores

Boys

Chattisgarh (Sameer Kumar Rai 18, Bobby Singh 16) bt. Andhra Pradesh 77-24 (30-8, 14-8, 22-4, 11-4)

Karnataka (Karan Joshua 21, Hrishi Keshu .B. Naidu 15, Yashas. R 10) bt. Rajasthan (Manish Singh 22, Sharad Dadhich 17, M.P.Singh 13) 72-71 (23-24, 13-15, 11-11, 25-21)

Girls

Karnataka (S. D'Souza 17, Navaneetha P.U 14, S. Goutham 12, Madhuvri. K 12) bt. Chhattisgarh (A.Kavita 18, S.Mandal 14), 67-54 (12-16, 9-16, 18-15, 15-20)

Madhya Pradesh (Deepika David 16, Jhilik Roy 12) bt. Chandigarh 64-17 (12-5, 22-2, 9-8, 21-2)

Andhra Pradesh (Shaheen Rebello 11) bt. Goa (P. Yamun 20, F. Jyothi 12) 59-23 (16-4, 20-3, 11-8, 12-8)

Kerala (Jeena P.S 40, Anjana P.G 27, Surya P.R 13) bt. Punjab (Nagma Mirza 16) 86-34 (22-5, 11-16, 32-5, 21-8)

Uttar Pradesh (Barkha Sonkar 24, Ohriti Aroda 10) bt. Orrisa (Sitamani Tudu 23, Minarshi 15) 56-48 (17-8, 20-16, 12-8, 7-16)
Tamil Nadu (Kiruthika.V 15, Raja Priya 14, Ramaya. R 12) bt. Delhi 74-35 (27-04, 14-05, 16-07, 17-17)

Delhi Boys; Kerala Girls become 2011 Youth Champions

On an evening where India’s best young basketball talent competed against each other to win the top prize, the real winner was the spectacle basketball. The Finals of the 28th Youth National Basketball Championship for Boys & Girls were held at Divisional Sports Complex at Nagpur (Maharashtra) on Thursday – in both the boys’ and girls’ Finals, each team saved its best defense for last. The boys from the capital side Delhi used their length to snuff out a strong Madhya Pradesh side to lift the title. In the girls’ section, last year’s youth winners Kerala continued their hot streak, going undefeated in this year’s edition and beating a strong Chhattisgarh side in the final to become repeat champions.

The Boys Final was a defensive juggernaut, as both teams played their toughest defense to deny their opponents from getting any shots at the basket. Both teams were quick and athletic, but baskets weren’t coming easy for anyone. Delhi led most of the way though, especially behind the rare combination of skill and size shown by Pradeep Kumar. MP committed too many turnovers as Delhi took a big lead – MP attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, even making it a three point game with just 5:24 left on the clock, but Delhi regrouped well after a timeout and enjoyed their best offense in the tournament’s last five minutes, cruising to a 58-47 win.

Neither side was spectacular from the field, as MP shot 26 percent, and the winners, Delhi, just 21 percent. But Delhi’s players, led by Akimjeet Singh, did an incredible job attacking the basket, winning fouls and getting to the free throw line. The 17-5 difference in free throws made was also the difference maker between the two teams.

“We prepared for this tournament one day at a time,” said jubilant Delhi coach JN Nehra, “We studied the strategy and playing style of each opponent that we faced, and we prepared for each one differently. That helped us get to the top.”

There was no stopping Kerala as they out-dueled Chhattisgarh in an entertaining Girls’ final. Poojamol KS, who had been Kerala’s best player all tournament, put up her best performance in the Final, putting in 40 points and grabbing 13 rebounds – her opposite number, Anjana Ekka of Chhattisgarh, also gave a tough fight, scoring 37 points to go with 13 rebounds and game-high 6 blocks.

The Girls’ final started slowly, but Chhattisgarh quickly took control of the game. Kerala boasted of several long and athletic players, but they ran into a big roadblock as Chhattisgarh’s 6 foot 6 inch Centre Poonam Chaturvedi guarded the post. But Poojamal was too swift for even Chhattisgarh’s defense, and she shot a high percentage en-route to her 40 point night. Kerala did a great job in combating Chhattisgarh’s size with speed.

The game was reminiscent of Chhattisgarh’s semi-final with Maharashtra, where they came back big in the second half for a close win. It was a different story in the Final: Kerala continued to play well in the second, isolating Anjana Ekka who was on a shooting spree for Chhatisgarh. Poojamal and the rest of Kerala went blow for blow with Anjana, and in the end, there would be no comeback as Kerala won 70-61.

“I was very confident about this game,” Poojamal exclaimed after clinching the title for her side, “Our team had a lot of practice before this tournament to deal with pressure situations such as this final, and I was ready tonight. I am very happy about winning this championship and it is a great achievement for the state of Kerala.”

Mr. Harish Sharma, CEO of the BFI, congratulated all the players who participated in he championship, and added, "I'm proud of these young stars, they have worked hard for this achievement and I hope that they will have a great future. Basketball in India is at a turning point and it will be these young players who will lead the way in the coming years."

Earlier in the day, the host Maharashtra side, whose boys’ and girls’ teams had both lost at the Semi-Final stage, played in the third-place playoff matches. Maharashtra Boys faced a motivated Chhattisgarh, who led the game from start to end for a comfortable 73-56 win. Akash Bhasin, one of the tournament’s best scorers, had 32 points for Chhattisgarh, while T. Shantanu paced Maharashtra with 26.

In the Girls’ playoff, the highly-touted Maharashtra team shrugged off the disappointing semi-final loss to Chhattisgarh from a day earlier and won a highly-competitive game against the speedy girls from Haryana. Haryana Girls, one of the stories of the tournament, stayed neck to neck with Maharashtra throughout the game. In the third, Maharashtra finally opened up a big lead as their stars Shireen Limaye (17 points) and Shruti Menon (16) began to click. Haryana’s fourth quarter comeback wasn’t enough as they lost 70-63. Rimpy Hooda had 21 points for Haryana and Bharti Sihag added 18.

Final Scores

Boys: Delhi (Akimjeet Singh 16, Pradeep Kumar 15, Pankaj Rathi 15) bt. Madhya Pradesh (Shivam Mishra 23) 58-47 (14-9, 13-9, 7-13, 24-16).

Girls: Kerala (Poojamol KS 40, Arthy Vimal 12) bt. Chhattisgarh (Anjana Ekka 37) 70-61 (16-21, 9-15, 20-16, 16-18).

3rd/4th Place Playoffs

Boys: Chhattisgarh (Akash Basin 32, Saif Hashmi 10, M. David Boon 10) bt. Maharashtra (T. Shantanu 26, Rohan Ramesh 11) 73-56 (21-16, 19-15, 16-12, 17-13).

Girls: Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 17, Sruthi Menon 16, Ishwari Pingle 11, Kritika Divadkar 11) bt. Haryana (Rimpy Hooda 21, Bharti Sihag 18, Monika Vats 11) 70-63 (23-21, 14-12, 22-12, 11-18).

Nagpur welcomes 24 boys’ and 23 girls’ teams for Basketball’s Youth Nationals

The future of basketball in India will assemble together to compete for the ultimate prize – the Youth Nationals Championship. The 28th National Basketball Championship for Youth (U16) Boys and Girls will be organised by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) at Nagpur (Maharashtra) from May 26, 2011 – June 2, 2011. The Indoor Stadium in Mankapur in Nagpur will be hosting this championship.

Only players born on or after 1st January 1995 are eligible to participate.
24 boys teams and 23 girls teams from across the country have confirmed their entry into this tournament. The participating squads are:

Boys: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Pondicherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Girls: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Pondicherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

“The Youth Nationals will be a great exhibition of the young and upcoming players in the country,” said Mr. Harish Sharma, the CEO of the BFI, said, “These youngsters will become the future superstars of Indian basketball.”

The 27th Youth Nationals, held in Trichy (Tamil Nadu) from June 1-8, 2010, were won by Punjab (Boys) and Kerala (Girls).

Basketball Federation of India Signs World-Class Coaches to Lead Indian National Basketball Teams

BFI Appoints experienced former NBA and elite U.S. college coaches to take training and development efforts to the next level for both players and coaches

New Delhi, May 17, 2011: The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has announced the appointment of three preeminent American coaches to lead India’s men’s and women’s national basketball teams, and further the BFI’s grassroots growth of the game in India. Kenny Natt, with 3 years playing and 13 years coaching experience in the National Basketball Association (NBA), was named as the Head Coach of the Indian Men’s Senior Team, and esteemed U.S. college men’s and women’s coaching veteran Pete Gaudet as the Head Coach of the Indian Women’s Senior Team. Natt and Gaudet will be taking over the reins from Bill Harris and Tamika Raymond, respectively, who led such efforts in 2010. Additionally, Zak Penwell, a highly trained, experienced, and regarded strength & conditioning coach will serve in that capacity to support all men’s and women’s national basketball team efforts. All the three coaches will be based at the Basketball Federation of India in New Delhi.

IMG Reliance, which recently partnered with BFI to develop the sport of basketball in the country, was instrumental in identifying and forging the relationships with this top coaching talent.

For 13 seasons, Kenny Natt was an assistant coach for the NBA’s Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Sacramento Kings, including as the head coach of the Kings during the 2008-09 NBA season. The Players coached by Natt include NBA legends John Stockton and Karl Malone, as well as current NBA superstar LeBron James. Natt also had a 3-year NBA playing career with the Indiana Pacers and the Jazz, having been the 7th pick in the 2nd round of the 1980 NBA Draft.

The epitome of an accomplished basketball coaching veteran, Pete Gaudet has been in basketball for more than 40 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position. He has coached both men and women at the highest levels of American college basketball, including positions at West Point, Duke University, Vanderbilt, and The Ohio State University, and has extensive technical and international basketball experience. While at Duke, Gaudet won 2 NCAA men’s championships and made 7 Final Fours, coaching 8 All-Americans, 3 national players of the year, and 12 NBA draft picks.

As the BFI’s Strength & Conditioning Coach, Zak Penwell will be responsible for developing and implementing specialized nutritional, strength training, and conditioning programs for all Indian national men’s and women’s teams. He will also advise Indian coaches throughout the BFI system to enhance and nurture the development of top basketball talent throughout the country. Penwell comes most recently from Scotland’s Sportscotland Institute of Sport, where he worked with athletes from a range of national teams including swimming, basketball, sprint canoe, judo, rugby, golf, curling, triathlon, and field hockey. Since 2006 he has spent over 40,000 athlete contact hours in the weight room, with over 550 elite collegiate and international-level athletes. Penwell is a graduate of the U.S. men’s and women’s college basketball power the University of Connecticut, where he earned two degrees from the top Kinesiology program in America.

In addition to individual skill development and team coaching of the elite men’s and women’s players in India, Natt, Gaudet, and Penwell will play integral roles in the development of basketball coaching talent in the country, educating and mentoring Indian basketball coaches throughout the BFI system. They will also be deeply involved in construction of the BFI’s and IMGR’s overall basketball development plan for both the Youth and Senior Men’s and Women’s National Team programs.

“We are excited beyond words to bring on board these three incredible coaches, who will play a critical role in helping us achieve our vision of growing basketball in India by developing and showcasing the best player and coaching talent in the country,” commented Mr. Harish Sharma, BFI Chief Executive Officer. “The introduction of this wealth of basketball knowledge and ability is a watershed moment for Indian basketball.”

“IMG Reliance played a pivotal role in making this foundation for the future a reality, and is indicative of the tremendous potential that the BFI-IMG Reliance relationship holds to take basketball to greater heights in India."

Sharma added: “The support given to the BFI and IMGR by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports of the Government of India was instrumental in making the hiring of the coaches possible. The Government of India continues to offer its full backing of our vision for growing the sport of basketball in the country.”

“IMGR’s relationship with BFI has been an endorsement of the true spirit of partnership,” said Bobby Sharma, IMG Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, Basketball. “The support from management at the BFI for our ideas and the framework for the sport of basketball in India has been wholehearted. The appointment of these world-class coaches marks the beginning of an exciting journey, and we are confident that the elite Indian basketball players and coaches will begin to have their true potential unlocked before our eyes, under the guidance and leadership of Kenny, Pete and Zak. In line with the vision articulated by Mrs. Nita Ambani and the active support from the BFI, IMG Reliance looks forward to encouraging the growth of this talent pool of young Indian men and women, as they compete internationally and successfully represent India on the world stage.”