Team India heads to Nepal for 2nd South Asia U16 Basketball Championship

This week, the youngest players to sport an Indian national basketball jersey will get their first opportunity to represent the country at the international stage. The 2nd U16 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Basketball Championship will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from September 5-9, 2017. India will be among five teams from the South Asian region to take part in this tournament, which will serve as a qualifier for the upcoming FIBA Asia U16 Championship later this year.

Organised by the Nepal Basketball Association, the tournament will feature hosts Nepal, India, Maldives, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka withdrew from participation before the beginning of the tournament, so instead of a group stage followed by knockouts, the entire tournament will be held in round robin formats for the five teams, and the top finishing team will be declared champion. India will start as favourites, even though we did not participate in the previous (2015) edition of this tournament.

Recent youth standouts and big man duo of Punjab's Prince Pal Singh and Madhya Pradesh's Harshwardhan Tomar are likely to be India's leading performers at this event. India will be coached Vibhor Bhriguvanshi, the experienced coach of the Uttar Pradesh and Varanasi teams. He will be assisted by Babu Davis and accompanied to Nepal with manager Kulvinder Gill.

Team India for 2nd SABA U16 Championship

• Prince Pal Singh
• Binod Rajak
• Harshwardhan Tomar
• Mani Thakur
• Ajmer Singh
• Gaurav Sheoran
• Priyanshu
• Jerom Prince George
• Prashant Tomar
• Nitish Beniwal
• Vigneshwar Upadhyay
• Rajveer Singh Bhati
• Head Coach: Vibhor Bhriguvanshi
• Assistant Coach: Babu Davis
• Manager: Kulwinder Gill

India's Schedule for the 2nd SABA U16 Championship - all timings IST

• September 5 - India vs. Maldives - 1:15 PM
• September 6 - Bangladesh vs. India - 12:45 PM
• September 8 - Nepal vs. India - 1:15 PM
• September 9 - India vs. Bhutan - 10:45 AM

The FIBA Asia U16 Championship will be held in Malaysia later this year. Korea won the 2015 edition of this tournament in Indonesia, while India dropped to 13th place.