India to take part in FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship in Italy from Friday

Groups, schedule of games, and other challenges that will take place in the 1st FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship (YWC) for U18 Boys and Girls in Rimini Italy from September 9-11, 2011, have been announced by FIBA. India have been invited to send teams for both the boys’ and girls’ competitions, which are amongst the 60 total teams taking part in the tournament.

India’s Boys’ side have been placed in Group A, along with Tunisia, Greece, Estonia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Slovenia. The top four teams from the group will advance to the Quarter Final stage of the tournament.

India’s Girls’ side have been placed in Group C, along with Sri Lanka, Sweden, hosts Italy, USA, and Guam. Once again, the top four teams will advance to the Quarter Final stage of the tournament.

Here is the complete list of teams in their assigned groups:

Boys

Group A: Tunisia, India, Greece, Estonia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Slovenia
Group B: Austria, Jordan, Serbia, Singapore, Syria, Spain, Qatar, Italy, Egypt
Group C: England, Japan, Canada, Romania, New Zealand, Turkey, Nepal, Latvia, Germany
Group D: Netherlands, Czech Republic, USA, South Africa, Bulgaria, Croatia, Guam, Russia, Denmark

Girls

Group A: Greece, Tunisia, Russia, Australia, Canada, England
Group B: Jordan, Angola, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, Netherlands
Group C: Sri Lanka, India, Sweden, Italy, USA, Guam
Group D: Germany, Austria, Japan, Ukraine, China, Syria

Here is India’s schedule of group games:

Boys

Sep 9, 12:00 PM: India vs. South Korea

Sep 9, 1:40 PM: India vs. Puerto Rico

Sep 9, 3:00 PM: India vs. Estonia

Sep 9, 5:40 PM: India vs. Slovenia

Sep 9, 6:20 PM: India vs. Sri Lanka

Sep 10, 12:00 PM: India vs. Ukraine

Sep 10, 1:20 PM: India vs. Greece

Sep 10, 3:30 PM: India vs. Tunisia

Girls

Sep 9, 1:00 PM: India vs. USA

Sep 9, 2:20 PM: India vs. Italy

Sep 9, 3:40 PM: India vs. Sweden

Sep 9, 5:00 PM: India vs. Guam

Sep 10, 1:00 PM: India vs. Sri Lanka

The knockout/classification matches will begin on the evening of Saturday, September 10th. Finals will be held after 6 PM on Sunday, September 11th.

FIBA 3x3 Rules: In this half-court basketball competition, each team will have four players – three starters plus one substitute. Each game will be 10 minutes long, with two halves of five minutes each. A one-minute overtime is held if the score is tied at the end of regulation. The shot-clock is 12 seconds, and the scoring limit is 21 points (that is, the first team to 21 wins). No time-outs are allowed: substitutions are to be made in dead-ball situations.

Outside of the 3x3 tournament, there will be many other tournaments taking place for the players to participate in, including a Free Throw Contest, Shootout Contest, Skills Challenge, and a Dunk Contest.

Here are India U18 basketball teams for the 1st FIBA 3x3 World Championship:

Boys

Kirti Goswami (Madhya Pradesh)

Love Neet Singh (Punjab)

Ajay Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh)

Sivabalan Gnanasekaran (Tamil Nadu)

Coach: Kulwinder Singh Gill

Girls

Jeena PS (Kerala)

Aishwarya Natarajan (Tamil Nadu)

Amrutha Bhuskute (Maharashtra)

Shireen Limaye (Maharashtra)

Coach: Pete Gaudet