Hoopdarshan Episode 80: India Coach Veselin Matic, NBA Free Agency, and Ajinkya

Hoopdarshan's 80th episode is going to be a long, emotional journey, highlighted with an interview with India's new national team coach, Veselin Matic of Serbia. Matic discusses his plans for Team India going forward, the U16 SABA triumph, and how he hopes to bring a change to Indian basketball. Furthermore, co-hosts Kaushik Lakhsman and Karan Madhok talk about the frantic NBA Free Agency as well as Marathi basketball movie 'Ajinkya'.

Matic was named the head coach of India's men's national basketball programme a few months ago and arrived in India with a wealth of basketball experience. He has coached the national teams of Iran, Lebanon, and Syria, been an assistant coach for a very successful stretch of Yugoslavia's national team, and coached club basketball in Serbia, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Lebanon, and more.

Also on this episode's Hoopdarshan: India's U16 SABA victory reaction, Satnam Singh's draft rights traded, NBA Academy Games, the new season of 3BL, Kawhi Leonard, Clippers, Lakers, Nets, Durant, Celtics... and deep-diving into the film 'Ajinkya' as part of our favourite obsession: basketball in Indian cinema.



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.

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India wins 2019 SABA U16 Championship in Dhaka to qualify for FIBA U16 Asia Championship

The wheels keep turning unabated for India's basketball dominance over our South Asian neighbours. India is by far the strongest team in the subcontinent, and every new generation of players emerges to reinstate our place at the top. The latest to do so were India's U16 boys team at the 2019 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) U16 Basketball Championship, held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) from July 3-5. India finished the tournament at a perfect 4-0 on Friday at the Dhanmondi Basketball Gymnasium and punched their ticket into the FIBA U16 Asia Championship next month.

India featured a long and athletic squad for the SABA Championship, captained by Kerala's Pranav Prince and coached by new Serbian head coach Veselin Matic. They faced off against hosts Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Maldives in the 5-team event.

India started off the tournament with a two-game day on Wednesday, facing off against both Nepal and Bangladesh. They started off in style, exploding for a 103-28 victory over Nepal in which Lokendra Singh (20) and Robin Banarjee (16) led a deep bench of scorers for India.

In Game 2, India played their best defensive effort of the tournament, cruising to the unbelievable scoreline of 95-8 in winning over the hosts Bangladesh. Captain Pranav Prince led all scorers with 18. India held Bangladesh scoreless in the fourth quarter.

On Thursday, India continued this epic momentum for their biggest win, 108-9 (a 99 point victory!) over Maldives. Banarjee scored 23 for India while Amrendra Nayak added 19. Maldives were held scoreless in the first and fourth quarters of the game.

The toughest challenge for India - relatively - came against Sri Lanka in their final game on Friday. The Lankans managed to hold India to their lowest offensive output, but India still raced to a 72-41 victory. Warnakulasurya Shehan Anthony Fernando of Sri Lanka was the game's highest scorer with 16.

India finished top of the standings after four games, with Sri Lanka at second place, and Bangladesh at third.

India will now participate in the 2019 FIBA U16 Asia Championship set to be held in Beijing (China) next month.

India announces youth boys team to participate in SABA U16 Qualifiers in Dhaka this week

With an eye forward at the FIBA U16 Asia Championship, India's youth boys basketball team will have to contend with their first hurdle this week. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, India will participate in the 2019 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Basketball Championship, from July 3-5. Team India, the tournament's reigning champs from 2017, will compete against Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, with the winner getting a spot in the All-Asian FIBA tournament next month.

India's U16 squad will be led by new men's basketball head coach Veselin Matic from Serbia. Kerala’s Pranav Prince, who is a member of the NBA Academy India, has been named the captain of India's U16 team. The Basketball Federation of India released the full team roster on Sunday:

India U16 roster for 2019 SABA U16 Basketball Championship

• Pranav Prince (Kerala) - captain
• Lokendra Singh (Rajasthan)
• Jitendra Kumar Sharma (Rajasthan)
• Digvijay Singh (Rajasthan)
• Achintya Krishna (Karnataka)
• Manoj B M (Karnataka)
• Robin Banarjee (Uttar Pradesh)
• Sahil (Haryana)
• Brijesh Tiwari (Madhya Pradesh)
• Eknoor Singh (Punjab)
• Arjun Unnikrishnan (Kerala)
• Amrendra Nayak (Chandigarh)
• Head Coach: Vaselin Matic
• Assistant Coach: Aman Sharma
• Physiotherapist: Ranjan Sharma

The team has been in training under Coach Matic at the Basketball Academy of Jayprakash Narayan National Youth Center in Bengaluru over the past month.