Punjab's junior basketball player Gagandeep Kaur felicitated with the unusual title "Player of India"

Gagandeep Kaur is a rising young star in Indian basketball. The teenager from Amritsar, Punjab has already represented India's junior and youth teams in various international basketball tournaments, including most recently at the 3rd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women in Colombo (Sri Lanka) last year, where India finished at fifth place. Domestically, Gagandeep has already played in nine national and 12 state tournaments.

Gagandeep Kaur (# 8) celebrates India's win
over Malaysia at 3rd FIBA Asia U16
Championship for Women at Colombo

And now, thanks to the Punjab government, she is also something called the "Player of India" (via Times of India).

On Monday, Punjab's Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderjit Singh Bolaria felicitated Gagandeep with this unusual title at a ceremony in Amritsar. Gagandeep was accompanied by her mother at the ceremony as well as the principal of Government Girls School where she studies. The young player was also handed a cash award of Rs. 2 Lakhs.

Congratulations to Gagandeep Kaur for this mighty-sounding honour and I wish her the best so that one day, she can truly become one of the best basketball players in the country.

(For now, can someone explain to this ignorant blogger what a "Player of India" actually is? Thanks in advance).

BFI to conduct national training camp for India's U16 boys & girls

India's best under-16 (youth-level) boys and girls basketball players will be in national training camps from next week, in preparation for their respective FIBA Asia Basketball Championships. The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has listed 16 probables for the boys' squad and 25 for the girls' team to report to their respective camps from all across the nation. The boys' camp will be held at the SAI courts in NSWC, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, while the girls' camp will be held at STC Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Both camps are scheduled from August 19 - September 15 this year.

India's U16 boys are scheduled to participate in the 3rd FIBA Asia U16 Championship in Tehran (Iran) from September 25 - October 4. Upon completion of their training camp in Gandhinagar, the final 12-man roster will travel to Dongguan (China) for an exposure trip against various Chinese clubs, before heading to Iran. India qualified for the championship in Tehran after winning the SABA Qualifiers against South Asian rivals in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a month ago.

The 3rd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women is set to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from November 17-24, 2011. India qualified for this championship after finishing fifth at the previous edition of the U16 Women's ABC in Jinan (2011), and thus remaining in the competition's Level I.

India's foreign head coaches Scott Flemming & Francisco Garcia will be overlooking the boys' and girls' squads respectively, while Tritesh Guha (Boys) and TD Biju (Girls) have also been named coaches for the teams.

India's Boys U16 Probables

- Mahipal Singh (Rajasthan)
- Akhilesh Kumar (Rajasthan)
- Yogesh Kaneriya (Rajasthan)
- Prabhnoor Singh (Punjab)
- Rahul Memla (Punjab)
- Jaipal Singh (Punjab)
- Bitto (Delhi)
- Ashish Briggs (Madhya Pradesh)
- Vishal Kumar Gupta (Delhi)
- Sunil (Delhi)
- M. David Boon (Andhra Pradesh)
- Mithun Das (Chhattisgarh)
- Dhimant Sahi (Tamil Nadu)
- Ashutosh Kumar Singh (Uttar Pradesh)
- Erash Hooda (Karnataka)
- Arjun Pandit (Delhi)

International Coach: Scott Flemming
Coach: Tritesh Guha
Assistant Coach: RS Gaur
Strength and Conditioning Coach Zak Penwell

India's Girls U16 Probables

- Vandana Arya (Chhattisgarh)
- Riya Verma (Chhattisgarh)
- P. Divya (Chhattisgarh)
- Divyangna Singh (Delhi)
- Tannu Hooda (Haryana)
- Namrata Hooda (Haryana)
- Bhandanya HM (Karnataka)
- Lopamudra Thimmayam K (Karnataka)
- Sandhya CR (Karnataka)
- India Nelson (Kerala)
- Mayukha KT (Kerala)
- Nimmy Mathew (Kerala)
- Anitha PV (Kerala)
- Sakshi Pandey (Madhya Pradesh)
- Shreya Salian (Maharashtra)
- Sakshi Arora (Maharashtra)
- Shreya Joshi (Maharashtra)
- Mugda Amroolkar (Maharashtra)
- Gangandeep Kaur (Punjab)
- V Srividhya (Tamil Nadu)
- MG Shinu (Tamil Nadu)
- K Prithi (Tamil Nadu)
- Urvashi Malik (Odhisa)
- Pallavi Kumari (West Bengal)
- Vimmy Varkey (Kerala)

International Coach: Francisco Garcia
Coach: TD Biju
Assistant Coach: Abay Chawan
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Zak Penwell