For Episode 61, Shireen Limaye - the most recent captain of India's Women's basketball team - joins Hoopdarshan to talk about India's performances at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, the basketball scene in her hometown Pune, and hitting THAT shot to help India win Division B of the FIBA Asia Cup last year.
In this episode, co-hosts Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok also discuss a variety of topics in Indian basketball like the 3BL League, the BFI's competing 3x3 Tour, Federation Cup, NBA Academy India events, Brook Lopez's visit to India, and reflect on the second round of the NBA Playoffs so far.
Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.
For 26-year-old Amjyot Singh, the cricketer-turned-basketball superstar from Chandigarh, the moment was at the NBA G-League Draft on October 21, when his name was selected by the Oklahoma City Blue. A week later, he donned the jersey and stepped on court for the Blue, officially joining the select club of Indians in the NBA’s minor league.
For 24-year-old Jeena Scaria, the former high-jumper from Kerala who now jumps high on the basketball court, the moment was Puducherry on January 14 last year, when time expired on Kerala’s 68-59 victory over Telangana and secured her state’s first Senior Nationals title in over thirty-years. Scaria, dominant throughout the tournament, was her team’s unofficial MVP in this triumph.
Singh and Scaria are two basketball maestros in their prime, arguable the best male and female basketball players in the country right now. It was only right, then, that on one of the biggest nights in India sports, the two were honoured for their memorable performances over the past year.
Basketball honours were handed out for the first time at the Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA-2018) on Monday. Singh was named the Basketball Player of the Year by the jury’s choice, and Scaria the Basketball Player of the Year by popular choice. Both players were in attendance at the gala event in Mumbai on Monday, among a number of India’s top athletes. Badminton star Kidambi Srikanth claimed the highest honour of the night as India’s 2018 Sportsman of the Year.
Over the past year, Amjyot Singh’s crowning achievement was to become the second Indian (after Satnam Singh) to make it to the NBA’s G-League with the Oklahoma City Blue in late October. The sharp-shooting 6-foot-8 forward has seen his role grow with the Blue over the past few months and has taken a step closer to the NBA than any Indian citizen before him. Back home, Amjyot continued to be a lynchpin for India’s national team. He was India’s captain at the FIBA Asia Cup, and finished the tournament leading the team in points (13.0) and assists (4.3). He was also India’s top player at other international trips to the William Jones Cup and the BRICS Games.
Jeena Scaria took centre-stage for her home state when she led Kerala to their first Senior Nationals gold medal since the mid-eighties. She was one of India’s top players in the squad that won Division B at the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup in Bengaluru in July. She was also part of India’s 3×3 team which made it to the semi-final of the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup in Mongolia in late October.
Both players will now hope to script another memorable year in 2018. Singh continues to earn bit minutes for the Blue and is growing more comfortable in the league with each passing game.
Later this year, India will hope that he returns to the national team for a number of important tournaments, including the Common Wealth Games in Australia, FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in Syria and Jordan, and the Asian Games in Indonesia. Scaria will be counted on to be a leader for India’s Women’s team at the CommonWealth Games and the Asian Games, too.
This honour should boost the confidence of both these talented players so they can elevate their game to an even higher level over the next few years.
A ‘muhurat’ is an auspicious date, or series of dates, which bring good fortune to any venture. Hindu shaadis, for example, have been sticking rigorously to wedding muhurat days for centuries, ensuring that all the holy matrimonial unions are tied in the same two-week stretch in December when every citizen gains an extra six kilos on the laddoo overdose and bombastic brass bands become the soundtrack to every traffic jam.
There are muhurats for naming your child, muhurats for entering your new house, muhurats for that first haircut, and muhurats for buying a new car. Recently, however, it seemed that the basketball pundits finally shone their grace on the game: with major victories, star power, and record-breaking events, this past week ended up being one of the most auspicious weeks for basketball in India.
We should probably begin this propitious week down in Bengaluru, where India played host to the top women’s basketball teams from Asia and Oceania in the prestigious FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2017. This was the first time that India was hosting a tournament of this magnitude since the same event was held in Chennai in 2009. India weren’t in the top tier at this championship and could only contend against lower pool teams in Division B. However, fans in attendance got to see several of the top players from the region hooped on Indian soil, including the Australian-American Kelsey Griffin (eventually the tournament’s MVP), China’s Li Yueru, Manami Fujioka and Moeko Nagaoka of Japan’s title-winning team, Korea’s Lim Yung-Hui and Danbi Kim, and more.
Team India, however, made the most of their circumstance in Division B and went on to top their group. Stars like Anitha Paul Durai, Jeena Scaria, Grima Merlin Varghese, and more all looked in top form with the hope to win the knockout stage and earn promotion to Division A.
By the time the knockout stage arrived, the tournament got ready to face a certain big distraction. Seven-foot-six-inches big, to be exact. In what turned out to be a pleasant surprise, Chinese basketball legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming arrived on India to watch the Cup in Bengaluru. Yao, 36, indisputably the most successful Asian basketball player in history, retired from the game in 2011 and is currently the president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Without much fanfare, Yao sat in his corner at the Sree Kantaveera Stadium, took in some high-level basketball action, and briefly donned a turban and shawl in a traditional Indian welcome from the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).
Less than 24-hours later, the basketball excitement in India was about to tuned up to a fever pitch. Kevin Durant of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors-the reigning NBA champion, Finals MVP, former MVP, four-time scoring champions, and definitely the greatest player to set foot on Indian soil-landed in New Delhi. The 28-year-old’s mission was to help the development of the sport in India, and from raising public awareness to helping out in the grassroots, and he did all of that in a couple of short days.
Durant was greeted with a happy set of fans when he landed in Delhi, and the fandom got considerably more star-studded at a reception with some of India’s biggest sports and entertainment celebrities on his first night. The next morning: Durant got to work. His foundation donated two basketball courts to the Ramjas School in New Delhi and he interacted with young schoolkids at the courts’ inauguration. Later, Durant headed to the NBA’s state of the art elite India Academy in Greater Noida, where he trained several of India’s top teenage basketball prospects. Durant’s time at the Academy ended up as he was joined by hundreds of more young players from the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme, as well has a few thousand who checked in via a live-stream from around the country, to create a Guinness World Record for “largest basketball lesson” (3,459 attendees).
While Durant was taking cheesy photographs at one of the seven wonders of the world in Agra, the basketball action was heating up down in Bengaluru. India had defeated Lebanon to reach the Division B final, and needed one more victory-against Kazakhstan-to ensure promotion. After falling to a 14-point deficit, India made a brave comeback to ensure that the game came down to one final shot. That shot was delivered by Pune-girl Shireen Limaye, who hit a clutch game-winner as time expired to give India a 73-71 victory and send the fans home more jubilant than a successful shaadi cocktail/sangeet party.
In the midst of all this, the BFI-Indian basketball’s governing body-were finally granted recognition among India’s National Sports Federations after spending a year outside this list by the government’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Two years ago, a drama between two parties competing for the BFI’s executive committee role had split the federation and caused the committee leading Indian basketball to lose support of several national bodies. Last month, the Indian Olympic Association finally granted affiliation to this “new” BFI, and the Sports Ministry decision last week was a cherry on the cake of the successful FIBA Asia Cup.
All in all, yes, it’s been a great few days to be a basketball fan in India. But like every married person know, a successful shaadi is not made by the date of its muhurat; it’s about all the hard work that follows. Indian basketball has enjoyed a fantastic week: now, it’s time to build about this awareness and positive energy and help the game reach the potential it deserves.
If you are an Indian basketball fan of any capacity, now is the time to pay attention.
On Tuesday August 8, the most prestigious of tournaments for India's men's national basketball team is set to tip off in Lebanon. The FIBA Asia Cup 2017 (formerly known as the FIBA Asia Championship) will be held among 16 of the best teams from the Asia and (for the first time) Oceania region from August 8-20. The tournament will determine the composition of the joint FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
The last iteration of this tournament was held in Changsha, China, in 2015, where the host teams romped undefeated to the title. Popularly known as the FIBA ABC, this tournament has been held 28 times in the past and China has won an incredible 16 of those championships. India put up some good performances at Changsha 2015 and improved to 8th place.
China is set to be one of the favourites to regain their trophy again this year, although they will be fiercely challenged by Australia, who will be playing in the 'Asian' fray for the first time. The other top teams to watch will include New Zealand, Iran, and Lebanon.
In both cases, India sent out depleted squads due to injury and other professional obligations. Fortunately, that won't be the case anymore. India has recently announced their final roster for Lebanon and the team is as stacked as they could possibly be on paper, including the talented "Big Three" of Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Amjyot Singh, and Amritpal Singh, as well as the NBA drafted Satnam Singh who returns to national colours for the first time since 2013. Other players of note include the uber-athletic point guard TJ Sahi, 17-year-old phenom Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi, big men duo of Rikin Pethani and Aravind Annadurai, and the veteran swingman Prasanna Venkatesh. This is a relatively young squad (average age: 24).
Steering the ship from the top will be India's recently-hired foreign Head Coach Phil Weber, who holds a front office role in player personnel with the New Orleans Pelicans and has been an NBA assistant coach for nearly two decades. Utah Jazz video analyst Steve Klei is with the team as the assistant coach.
Coach Phil Weber with Team India at the 2017 William
Jones Cup
Team India for the FIBA Asia Cup 2017
Aravind Annadurai
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
Muin Bek Hafeez
Anil Kumar Gowda
Rikin Pethani
Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi
Amjyot Singh
Amritpal Singh
Rajvir Singh
Satnam Singh
TJ Sahi
Prasanna Venkatesh
Head Coach: Phil Weber
Assistant Coach: Steve Klei
Despite being stacked on paper, India has been struggling with injuries and availability. Most concerning is the health of Bhriguvanshi, India's only true elite backcourt player, who suffered a major knee injury at the BRICS Games and will not be at 100% at the FIBA ABC. Important players like Amritpal and Satnam joined the team late due to playing abroad, and Coach Weber was pressed for time in having them gel together with the rest of the team before the tournament.
India are in Group A of the tournament, along with the powerhouse squad Iran, Jordan, and Syria.
FIBA Asia Cup 2017 Groups
Group A: Iran, Jordan, Syria, India.
Group B: Iraq, China, Philippines, Qatar.
Group C: Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Korea, New Zealand.
Group A: Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Australia.
The availability of superstar center Hamed Haddadi is questionable for Iran right now, but the reigning FIBA Asia Challenge champions are still clear favourites to top this group with big names like Arsalan Kazemi, Oshin Sahakian and Rouzbeh Arghavan on the roster. Jordan's player to watch will be the naturalised American Kevin Ware, and their frontcourt threats including Mohammad Shaher Hussein, Ali Jamal Zaghab and Yousef Abuwazaneh. Syria are underdogs in this group but can be a threat with players like Michael Madanly and Ivan Todorovic on their team. India is the third-best team in this group in terms of ranking.
The top team in each group will move on automatically to the Quarter-Finals and the bottom team will be automatically eliminated. Teams ranked 2 and 3 in each group will enter a qualifying bracket for the Quarter-Finals.
India's Preliminary Round Schedule at FIBA Asia Cup 2017 - all timings IST
August 9 - Iran vs. India - 06:30 PM
August 11 - India vs. Jordan - 09:00 PM
August 13 - Syria vs. India - 11:30 PM
The knockout stages begin with the pre-quarter-finals on August 14 and the final of the tournament will be held on August 20.
The biggest women's basketball tournament in the continent - and beyond! - was held in our very own shores as India hosted the FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2017 from July 23-29 in Bengaluru. The top teams from the Asia and Oceania region took part in a week of memorable action at the Sree Kantaveera Indoor Stadium. The event came to a breathless end with two huge moments on Saturday: Japan defeated Australia in a nail-biter to win their third straight gold medal; and India were lifted in spectacular fashion with a game-winning shot to the Division B title and promotion to the higher Division A.
The FIBA Women's ABC was the first time India hosted a major FIBA event since the same championship was held in Chennai in 2009. A total of 15 teams took part this year in the two Divisions, featuring, for the first time, teams from the Oceania region, too. It was was the qualifying tournament for FIBA Asia at the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain.
Japan landed in India as two-time holders of the title, including the most-recent win in 2015 at Wuhan, China. In Bengaluru, they finished another magical run with a thrilling final victory over Australia. In a contest truly befitting a final fight for the crown, Australia and Japan went through seven lead changes and several ties in the final. Shooting guard Saki Mizushima ended up being Japan's unlikely hero, exploding for 26 points in the final including a clutch three that broke the deadlock in the game's dying minutes. Australian superstar Kelsey Griffin scored 30 in the final, but her efforts weren't enough and Japan sneaked by to a 74-73 victory at the end of regulation.
This was Japan's fourth title overall and third in succession, cementing their place atop Asian women's basketball. Griffin was named the tournament's MVP. Australia's Griffin was named tournament's MVP.
China won the bronze medal on Saturday with a comfortable 75-51 victory over Korea. Sijing Huang and Yueru Li each scored 16 for China in the victory.
The top four teams from Division A - Japan, Australia, China, and Korea - qualified for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2018.
After falling out of the top division at the tournament's previous iteration in 2015, India had to begin the 2017 competition at home from Division B. They would have no chance to compete for the title, but a Division B victory could secure them a place in Division A for the next FIBA Asia Women's Cup. With this mission in mind, India hired Serbian head coach Zoran Visic to lead a healthy and talented squad, featuring important players like the veteran Anitha Paul Durai, Jeena Scaria, Shireen Limaye, Kavita Akula, and more. India were placed in Group A of Division B along with Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and American Samoa, but American Samoa pulled out of the tournament before it began.
India opened their account on home floor against Uzbekistan in their first game, and captain Anitha Paul Durai ensured that the team got off to a positive start. A 19-9 run in the first quarter proved to be the big difference in the game. Paul Durai led all scorers with 28 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Grima Merlin Varghese, a late replacement to the squad in place of Poojamol KS, was India's surprise x-factor, scoring 17 in the victory.
India showed no mercy to South Asian neighbours Sri Lanka in their second preliminary group game, flying off to another quick start 23-10 and holding Sri Lanka to just three points in the second quarter. Varghese continued her dream run, pouring in 19 points and 10 rebounds for India's 88-42 win, which put them through to the Quarter-Final as group leaders.
The knockout stage began with another easy rout for India, an impressive 93-51 win over Fiji. Captain Paul Durai led India with 19, while Fiji's star player Miji Koiyamainavure (24) fell short despite a strong individual performance.
The semi-final presented India with their toughest challenge yet, against Lebanon. India had a hesitant start to the crucial match, and Lebanon, the more confident team from the get-go, marched to a 38-33 halftime lead. With Lebanon still leading by 2 at the end of the third quarter, India needed one last boost to carry them to the final stage. They got just that from Kerala's star Jeena Scaria, who went into beast mode in the fourth quarter, ultimately finishing with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists to help India go on a late run and win the game 79-69. Raspreet Sidhu added 17 in the win. Lebanon's Rebecca Akl and Chirin El Charif scored 20 and 17 respectively in the loss.
India's biggest test, appropriately, came in the Division B final against Kazakhstan. Playing in-front of a sell-out home crowd in Bengaluru (which was a relief, after several days of sparse audience at the event), India once again started slow, and fell down by 14 points midway through the second half. Led by the amazing Nadezhda Kondrakova (who finished with 30 points and 18 rebounds) and Zalina Kurazova (17) Kazakhstan were up by 8 at the end of the third quarter. Once again, Scaria came to the rescue (20 points, 6 assists), helping ignite India's big comeback in the fourth quarter. In crunch time however, India's hero turned out to be All-Around talent Shireen Limaye. Limaye hit two huge baskets in the game's last minutes, including a memorable game-winning shot with just five seconds left on the clock that gave India the 73-71 victory. The heroics capped Limaye's biggest game of the tournament, as she finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.
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The victory earned India promotion into Division A for the next iteration of the tournament in 2019. They will replace North Korea, who will fall to Division B.
This well be a tournament that basketball fans won't easily forget. Even though India played in the lower division, they delighted the fans and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) by going 5-0 with incredible performances, and then winning the division in dramatic fashion. BFI announced a reward of Rs. 15 lakhs for the team for their efforts.
Coach Visic's contract technically expires at the end of this tournament, and the BFI will now decide whether or not they will choose to extend this successful coach to stay and build up Indian basketball for a longer period.
Paul Durai, who returned to this team after maternity leave, ended up as India's top scorer at the tournament (16.4 ppg). 22-year-old Varghese was the surprise package for the squad and should now feel confident of playing a major role in the team in the future, too. Raspreet Sidhu, Kavita Akula, Jeena Scaria, and Rajapriyadarshani Rajaganapathi were all part of India's main rotation throughout the tournament. And Limaye can return home safe knowing that she hit one of the biggest shots in Indian women basketball history!
One of the theories of how ‘Bengaluru’ gets its name dates over a millenia ago. An inscription found in Begur village, 14 kilometres from the city, states that the place – called ‘Bengaval-uru’ was part of the Ganga Kingdom till 1004. To face the battles fought at this spot, the inscription means ‘City of Guards’ in Halegannada (Old Kannada).
A few hundred years, many more kingdoms and governments, and a couple more name changes later, the city named Bangalore became Bengaluru again. And in 2017, some of the best guards on the continent- the basketball-playing kind- get set to invade India’s third-largest city.
Starting from Sunday, July 23, Bengaluru will host Asian basketball’s most-prestigious women’s trophy- the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup 2017-at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, situated in the heart of the city’s Central Administrative Area. This will mark the first time that India will host a major FIBA (the International Basketball Federation) tournament since the same tournament was held in Chennai back in 2009.
Basketball is still a niche sport in India, but a major tournament like this should shine a spotlight not only on the beauty of the game itself but also on India’s potential. With the help of home support, India’s national squad will be hoping to rise back to the elite division of teams in Asia.
India have never finished better than fifth-place in Asia, after the continent’s usual powerhouses: China, Japan, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei. This year, the addition of Oceania squads like Australia and New Zealand will add the two squads among the long-list of title contenders, too.
Following a miserable performance at the same tournament in 2015 in Wuhan, China, India fell to the lower level-Division B-of the championship, meaning that the home team will not have a chance to contend for the title with the Division A teams. But there is a silver-lining to this cloud: with most of the top teams in the continent in the tougher division, India will have a chance to put out winning performances against lower-ranked teams to delight the home fans.
The team’s hope will be to finish top in Division B and qualify for Division A for the 2019 iteration of the championship. India were drawn in Group A of Division B, along with southern neighbours Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and American Samoa, but the latter eventually pulled out of the competition. For India to be promoted to Division A, we will have to win Group A in our division, and then defeat the top ranked team from Group B, likely to be Lebanon or Kazakhstan.
To help see India through this task, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) appointed veteran Serbian Zoran Visic as Head Coach of the Women’s squad a month before the championship. Although Visic will face the challenge of getting the team prepared for this big challenge in such a short span of time, he will have a good mix of veteran and youth players on the roster to help lead the brigade. Team India will be captained by Tamil Nadu’s veteran star Anitha Paul Durai, and she will definitely be one of the stars to watch in the tournament. India’s best player is most likely Kerala-born Jeena Scaria, a multi-talented forward who was our leading scorer at the tournament in 2015. Others likely to play major minutes in this team will be Raspreet Sidhu, Kavita Akula, Rajapriyadharshini Rajaganapathi, and Shireen Limaye. Our tallest-ever women’s player-the 6’11” Poonam Chaturvedi-will hope to shrug off her injuries to play an important role, too.
Visic’s squad stammered in their first exposure against international challenge at the William Jones Cup in Chinese Taipei earlier this month, finishing without a win in five matches against all higher-ranked squads. But the experience should definitely pay dividends when the team returns home to face more beatable competition.
The last time India hosted a tournament of this stature, Arjuna Awardee Geethu Anna Rahul ended up finishing as the leading scorer in the entire tournament. There is no game-changer like Rahul in the squad anymore, but between Scaria, Paul Durai, Akula, and more, India has players who will hope to make their turn towards superstardom in Bengaluru.
But as important as India’s performances on-court will be the performance and participation of fans off of it. This tournament is going to offer a chance for Indian sports fans to watch some of Asia’s best basketball talent competing at the highest level. Reigning champions Japan will return to defend their title with stars like Asami Yoshida and Yuka Osaki. Australia will feature many players that starred in their team for the Rio Olympics like Mariana Tolo, Belinda Snell, and Abby Bishop. Other players to watch will include China’s Sun Mengran, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting and Huang Ping-Jen, and South Korean superstar Danbi Kim.
The priority for home fans, however, will obviously be the home team. For those who are based in or near Bengaluru, the tickets to watch high-level basketball action for a whole day are going to be just ?100. The games can be followed online via the tournament’s official website. And there is hope that a domestic TV network (most likely Neo Sports) might show some of the games live in India.
So, watch the games, cheer on the team, and support the other stars showing up in India for the championship, too. Tournaments like these don’t come often in Indian Basketball, and it is a responsibility for fans like us to make them count. A successful performance by our home team – whom I like to call ‘Desi Heights’ – will just be the cherry on the cake. Let’s make the ‘City of Guards’ showcase its skills on battles on the hardwood, too.
In what turned out to be a pleasant surprise, Chinese basketball legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming arrived on India on Wednesday night to attend the FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2017 in Bengaluru. Yao, 36, indisputably the most successful Asian basketball player in history, retired from the game in 2011 and is currently the president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
The FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2017 is the biggest competition for teams from Asia and Oceania, and is being held in India for the first time in eight years from July 23-29. Yao's country-women from China are once again one of the favourites at this tournament and have most-recently defeated the Philippines at Bengaluru's Sri Kantaveera Stadium to make it to the semi-finals.
This is huge news, metaphorically and literally. Despite ending his playing years early to chronic foot injuries, the 7-foot-6 Yao enjoyed a successful career. He excelled in the CBA with the Shanghai Sharks in his youth, became number one pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, dominated the paint to become one of the league's best big men (he just happened to be playing in the Shaq era, unfortunately), and became one of the most popular basketball players worldwide. The Chinese sports icon won three FIBA Asia gold medals for his country and carried China's national flag for his delegation during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2016, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
This is Yao's second trip to India. Before he got into the fast-lane to superstardom, Yao took an early step to success in Calcutta at the FIBA Asia U18 Championship back in 1998, as an 18-year-old. Yao was the best player in Team China at the tournament and helped with win the gold medal and took home the tournament's MVP trophy. He was a rookie with the Shanghai Sharks then, and a few years later won the CBA MVP award, the CBA title, and was drafted to the NBA, and the rest is history. During an interview I did with Yao in Shanghai for SLAM Magazine in 2014, he told me that he still harboured great memories of India because of his early success.
China will be hoping that Yao's presence proves to be their good-luck charm as they look to end Japan's recent dominance at this competition and win the gold medal. Meanwhile, India is in Division B of the tournament and have a starkly different ambition: just to qualify for the higher Division A.
What makes Yao's trip even more special is that he arrived in India less than 24-hours before another worldwide super-duper basketball star, Kevin Durant. Durant, however, is spending in time in the north, where he will be training players at the NBA Academy India in Greater Noida.
Hoopdarshan - the Indian Basketball podcast - celebrates their half-century in style. With the FIBA Asia Women's Cup 2017 around the corner, set to be held in India in Bengaluru, hosts Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok are joined by Indian basketball legend and Arjuna Awardee Geethu Anna Rahul. Rahul helped us preview the tournament, talked about her past experiences with Team India, playing pro in Australia, the WNBL, discussed the chances of her comeback to the national team, and much more!
Tune in to the latest episode for our thoughts on India's campaign at the FIBA Asia Women's Cup, on how Indian Men are preparing under new head coach Phil Weber, catch up with news our performances from the William Jones Cup, and hear an amazing David Robinson story.
Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.
Last month, 21-year-old Kavita Akula made spectacular news by becoming the first Indian basketball player to win a full NCAA Division 1 scholarship, at the Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Now, as she prepares for her summer role as a star point guard for India at the 2017 FIBA Asia Women's Cup, Akula joins the Hoopdarshan podcast to talk about her scholarship, her improvements from IMG Academy to college ball in the USA, and India's chances at the Asia Cup in Bengaluru next month.
In addition, co-hosts Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok also review the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant's upcoming visit to India, and India's Men's squad at the 2017 BRICS Games.
Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.
Seven years ago, the IMG Academy in Florida selected eight Indian teenagers on scholarship to be trained in basketball and educated in the United States. The youngsters developed in different ways and some found more success than others. The biggest name in the group turned out to be Satnam Singh, a seven-footer from Punjab, who in 2015 bypassed college to become the first Indian player to be drafted to the NBA.
But while Satnam hogged the limelight, another star from the original group of eight has blossomed from the shadows.
Talented guard Kavita Akula - from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh - has made history by becoming the first Indian-born female basketball player to receive a full scholarship from a Division 1 college in the United States, the Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. After making a name for herself in two years of junior college at the Garden City Community College (GCCC) in Kansas, this is a major step forward for the 21-year-old.
Akula signed a letter of intent with Grand Canyon on Monday and will be joining them in September this year. ESPN reported that Akula will major in business management and marketing.
Akula had two offers on her plate -- one from Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona and another from Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania -- but she decided to sign with Grand Canyon because of their new head coach, Nicole Powell, who is a former WNBA All-Star. "Coach Powell has great energy and she is looking for somebody who can lead the team, and I thought I will fit in well," Akula said. "Coach said my experience playing junior college will help the team."
Before she begins her new journey, however, Akula's attentions will be diverted back home. Over the next few months, she will be practicing with India's national women's team as the prepare for the prestigious FIBA Asia Women's Cup, set to be held on home soil in Bengaluru in July. Akula was last part of Team India at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship where she couldn't break into the rotation. With her game seeing rapid improvements over the last couple of years, she will be expected to play a much bigger role this time around.
At GCCC, Akula led the team in three-pointers in both her freshman and sophomore campaigns, falling five treys short of the school’s career record, set by Marci Johnson from 1999 to 2001. She was a rising star in Chhattisgarh before being picked for the IMG Academy and has played for India at the junior levels in the past. You can read more of her fascinating basketball journey in this older article by Aishwarya Kumar for ESPN.
The last time India's Women's squad played in a major FIBA Asia tournament, they returned in failure. India lost all of their preliminary group games in Level 1 and then lost their playoff game, too, to fall down to the lower Level 2 of the tournament. It was a difficult time for our national team, and the last two years have been spent with the mission to return to the higher rung of competition.
In a few months, India will have some extra motivation for success: home court. For the first time since 2009, we will be hosting not one, but two major FIBA Asia events - the FIBA Asia Women's Cup and the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women - over the next few months. The former of these will be held in Bengaluru from July 23-29.
As the competition dates loom nearer, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and FIBA took the next major step in preparation: On Wednesday morning in Bengaluru, the official draw for the FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2017 was held at the city's Krishna Hall. This year's list of squads, for the first time, include teams from the Oceania region in the Asian competition, too. The expanded fray of participants also presented a changed format in the tournament, with two groups in each "Division" (instead of Level). India were drawn into the lower Division B, Group A, along with Sri Lanka, American Samoa, and Uzbekistan.
Results: FIBA Asia Women's Cup 2017 Draw
Division A, Group A: New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, North Korea, China.
Division A, Group B: South Korea, Philippines, Japan, Australia.
Division B, Group A: Sri Lanka, India, American Samoa, Uzbekistan.
Division B, Group B: Lebanon, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Fiji.
Japan, the champions from 2015, will be among the favourites again, but will have to contend with a couple of strong sides in Australia and South Korea in their group. China and Chinese Taipei will be the strongest squads in Division A's Group A.
In terms of FIBA's World Rankings, India is still the fifth-highest ranked team in Asia, and should be able to top their group easily. India's main threat is likely to be Uzbekistan. If India can top Division B, they will be promoted to Division A for the next iteration of the championship.
The draw ceremony in Bengaluru on Wednesday was attended by BFI President K Govindaraj, BFI Secretary-General Chander Mukhi Sharma, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his Sports Minister Pramod Madhvaraj and Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning KJ George.
Kerala's Jeena Scaria has quickly become India's finest women's basketball player, a young leader for the Women's national squad, the team's "chechi" (elder sister). In episode 43 of Hoopdarshan, Jeena joins hosts Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok to talk about her expectations for India at the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup on home soil, her leadership in helping Kerala win the Senior Nationals after a three-decade wait, and the scarce opportunities for women in Indian basketball.
In the new episode, Kaushik and Karan also discuss Kevin Durant's planned trip to India, the superstar players in the UBA Basketball League, and why home food will help India's performances at the Women's FIBA ABC.
Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.
These will be the first FIBA Asia events that India will host since 2009, when the cities of Chennai and Pune hosted the FIBA Asia Women's Championship and the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women respectively. The BFI announced tentative plans to bid for both the events for 2017 last week, and the bids were confirmed and accepted by the FIBA Regional Office in Asia on Friday.
India will host the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Bengaluru from July 23-29. This tournament is the expanded version of the former FIBA Asia Championship for Women and will include teams from Oceania as well. India will also host the expanded 2017 FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women from October 22-28 in an yet-undecided host city.
The other major announcement was that the expanded 2017 FIBA Asia Cup will be held from August 17-27 in Beirut (Lebanon).
At the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship for Women in Wuhan (China), India played at the higher Level 1 and lost all five of their Preliminary Stage games to end the tournament at sixth place. They then lost a Level 1 playoff as well and fell to Level 2 for the 2017 FIBA Asia Women's Cup. Japan won the tournament.
India's U16 girls had a similar finish at the 2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women in Medan (Indonesia), where they finished winless at sixth place in Level 1 and fell to Level 2 after losing their playoff game as well. China won the tournament.
Here's a full list of every FIBA Asia national tournament ever hosted by India, with winners in brackets:
Kolkata 1981: FIBA Asia Championship (China).
Kolkata 1998: FIBA Asia U18 Championship (China).
New Delhi 2000: FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women (China).
Bengaluru 2004: FIBA Asia U18 Championship (Iran).
Chennai 2009: FIBA Asia Championship for Women (China).
Pune 2009: FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women (China).
Hosting another such major tournament will give our domestic players and fans a closer look at some of the best in the continent and force us to upgrade our facilities at home to handle a tournament of this stature. International stars like Ramu Tokashiki and Asami Yoshida (Japan), Danbi Kim (Korea), Shao Ting and Sun Mengran (China), Liz Cambage (Australia) and more could play a part in the FIBA Asia Women's Cup this year. The U16 tournament will be a showcase of the stars of the future!
Moreover, hosting a tournament will hopefully help boost our local players to give a better performance, too. The best recent example is of Geethu Anna Jose, who dominated for India at the 2009 FIBA Asia Women in Chennai and finished as the tournament's top scorer. India's national women's squad has some exciting young talent, led by names like Jeena Scaria, Poojamol Subhashmon, Bhandavya Mahesha, plus veterans Anitha Pauldurai, Shireen Limaye, and more.
