India win 2015 South Asian Basketball Championship, qualify for FIBA Asia Championship

After several months of disarray and disappointments, Indian basketball has been saved by the very thing that it was failing to save: basketball itself. As the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) divided house and caused the Ministry of Sports to stop basketball events in India altogether, a temporary respite gave the country a chance to host the 4th South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Championship last week. India's Senior Men's squad responded in style, dominating all five of their South Asian opponents to finish with a perfect 5-0 record to retain the SABA Championship title. More importantly, by winning this title for the second consecutive time, India have qualified for the bigger, better challenge ahead: the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship later this year.

The SABA Championship was held in Bengaluru, India, at the Sri Kantaveera Stadium, from July 3-5, 2015. In the round-robin tournament, India defeated Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka to finish the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record.

India was short of some of the top available talent for this championship, including Satnam Singh (who has been drafted into the NBA), Amjyot Singh, Amrit Pal Singh (both are playing professionally in Japan), Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and Yadwinder Singh (both injured). Additionally, Head Coach Scott Flemming departed from the team and his successor, S. Bhaskar, didn't receive his leave from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in time to join the squad in Bengaluru. India instead fielded a younger, less experienced team - featuring five players making their senior debuts - and were coached by trainer GLR Prasad. Big man Rikin Pethani took on the captain's mantle for this tournament.

But no amount of hindrances could stop India, and the opponents from our neighbouring countries proved to be perfect fodder for India to improve morale, prepare for the FIBA Asia Championship, and distract media attention to real basketball instead of the ongoing political mess.

India started off the tournament against Nepal on Friday morning, and just like they have in the past, our opponents struggled against India's dominant size inside. Led by Narender Grewal's game-high 17 points, India showed no mercy defeating Nepal 90-37, outscoring them by at least double digits in every quarter for their best defensive performance at the tournament.

On Friday evening, India was back on the court to face Bangladesh, and this time, it was their offense that shone bright. Rising young star A. Arvind led all scorers with 19 as India unleashed hell from the very first tip, outscoring Bangladesh by 25, 22, and 28 in the first three quarters. When the dust settled, India sat easy with a 122-39 win, their biggest margin of victory at the championship (83 points!).

India played just one game on Saturday, against Bhutan. Once again, it was India's start that undid any hope for the opponents, as they got off to a 39-6 advantage, leading by 33 by the very first quarter. Bhutan shaped things up to match India 20-20 in the second quarter, but India kept their foot on the gas pedal after halftime and won the game 119-52. Point guard Joginder Singh returned to the lineup with a triple double (12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), Gurvinder Gill dropped 20 points, while Arvind notched 19 points to go with 10 rebounds.

In the last day of games, Sunday, India first played the Maldives, in what turned out to be their best offensive performance. Led by Prasanna Venkatesh (26), Rikin Pethani (21) and Akashdeep Hazra (17), India was dominant from start to finish en route to a 128-48 win.

The final game of the tournament pitted the two undefeated teams, India and Sri Lanka, against each other, with a title and a place at the FIBA ABC on the line. India didn't want to leave anything to chance after a 22-13 start, taking a 20 point lead at halftime and then blowing the gates open with a dominant third quarter. Aravind Annadurai scored 22 points and Pratham Singh added 17 for India in the 93-44 victory.

In total, India defeated each opponent by an average of over 66 points each. It was a balanced effort from beginning to end for India, who got to give a chance to a lot of young players, but it was A. Arvind who perhaps stood out with his consistent performances the most. The big question for India is how many of these young players will remain in the team's core with the FIBA ABC's come around. If our three best players in recent years - Bhrigvanshi, Amrit Pal, and Amjyot - return, they are sure to snatch back their starting spots and eventually kick some of the younger players out of the rotation. But that will be a good problem to have for the coach, who will need his veteran stars if India hope to make the same waves at the FIBA ABC as they did at the FIBA Asia Cup last year.

The winning team was given a cash prize of Rs 35,000 by the BFI. Trophies and medals were handed out to the top three teams of India (gold), Sri Lanka (silver) and Nepal (bronze).

Final Standings

• 1. India
  
• 2. Sri Lanka
  
• 3. Nepal
  

The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship will be held in Changsha, China from September 23 to October 3. The group draw for the tournament has already been made, and India will slot into Group A with Iran, Japan, and Malaysia.

India hosts 4th South Asian Basketball Championship in Bengaluru from Friday: Participants, Roster, & Schedule

Over the last few months, there has been a lot of talk about why basketball is not working in India and how one singular Indian is making basketball work for himself, abroad. Finally, it's time for the talk to end, and for India to start playing some meaningful basketball again.

India's Senior Men's national team will get a chance to bury recent distractions played by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) in the past and refocus their attention on the sport this week. From Friday, July 3 to Sunday, July 5, India will host the 4th South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Championship at the Sri Kanteevara Basketball Courts in Bengaluru. The tournament will pit six top teams from the South Asia Zone against each other and the winner will qualify for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, set to be held in Hunan, China, from September 23 to October 3.

The three-day tournament will be played in a round-robin format. India's Senior Men have been in camp in preparation for the tournament in Bengaluru for the past few weeks. After the Ministry of Sports had decided to disallow the BFI to hold any basketball events in India until they dealt with the federation's internal power struggle, the Karnataka High Court granted interim relief to the BFI just in time to let the games be played. GLR Prasad will be the team's head coach, taking over after the American Scott Flemming left a few months ago.

Participating Teams: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka

Team India Roster

• Joginder Singh
  
• Narender Grewal
  
• Akilan Pari
  
• Vikash Kumar
  
• Pratham Singh
  
• Arvind A.
  
• Vinay Kaushik
  
• Akashdeep Hazra
  
• Gurvinder Singh Gill
  
• A. Aravind
  
• Prasanna Venkatesh
  
• Rikin Pethani - (captain)
  
• Coach: GLR Prasad
  
• Manager: Goutan Ganguly
  

India, who are usually the favourites against the South Asian opponents, will be fielding a relatively weaker and younger roster than usual. Satnam Singh Bhamara is busy after getting drafted to the NBA. Amjyot Singh and Amrit Pal Singh have taken their talents to the BJ Summer League in Japan. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh are both injured.

In their place, the remaining veterans in the squad: Rikin Pethani, Pratham Singh, Narender Grewal, and Joginder Singh will be counted upon to fly the Indian flag and help see the team through to the FIBA Asia Championship later this year. Pethani has been named captain but the leadership duties will likely be shared by all four named above. Look for the likes of Gurvinder Singh 'Gary' Gill to step up and make a case for himself for a more constant role in the national side. If India are able to qualify, it is likely that the team that flies to China looks starkly different from this one, especially if our best players Amjyot, Amrit Pal, and Vishesh are able to make a comeback.

India's Schedule

• July 3 - 9:30 AM - Nepal vs. India.
  
• July 3 - 5 PM - India vs. Bangladesh.
  
• July 4 - 11 AM - Bhutan vs. India.
  
• July 5 - 9:30 AM - India vs. Maldives.
  
• July 5 - TBC - Sri Lanka vs. India.
  

With our national team a little weakened, our opponents will probably be spelling blood, and these tournament should be closer than the past South Asian championships usually have been (except for our battles against Afghanistan). The organizers have smartly scheduled India vs. Sri Lanka as the last game of the tournament; there is no 'final' in the round-robin style, but these two teams are the early-tournament favourites, and unless there is a major upset, this game will likely be the decider of which team goes to Hunan in September.

If you are in or around Bengaluru, try your best to make it to the stadium and cheer for India!

4th South Asian Basketball Championship is back on in Bengaluru after Karnataka High Court grants interim relief

Good news ahead! The Karnataka High Court has granted interim relief to the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to host the 4th South Asian Basketball Championship in Bengaluru from July 3-5!

Satnam Singh Bhamara was one of the 24 names announced by the BFI to take part in a senior men's national coaching camp in Bengaluru this month, being held in preparation for the South Asian Basketball Championship in the same city. The only problem was that Satnam was never going to be there. The 7-foot-2 19-year-old phenom had other priorities, like making history for Indian basketball in other ways. On Friday, Satnam became the first Indian citizen to be drafted into the NBA when he was selected 52nd by the Dallas Mavericks at the 2015 NBA Draft. All of India - including other star basketball players in the country - erupted with joy.

While Satnam prepared for the big draft day, the other Indian star players who actually attended this camp in Bengaluru were stuck in a limbo. Where Satnam had succeeded as an individual, the government and the federation in India had failed the rest of the Indian basketball team. Despite winning the right to host the 4th South Asian Basketball Championship, organized by the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA), the political infighting between various BFI factions in India led the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to bar all official basketball events in the country. The SABA Championship - which would pit India against other South Asian nations and act as qualifiers for the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship - were scheduled to be held from July 3-5 at the Sri Kantaveera Stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

It was the worst news possible for basketball fans in the country. From our side, we put up a brave face to show that - even if the government stopped the BFI - they couldn't stop Indian basketball, with the #CantStopIndiaBasketball social media campaign. Fortunately, the pressure from those within the legally-acknowledged faction of the BFI - Team Govindraj - were able to score a small victory for themselves just a week before the big tournament.

On the same day (India time) that Satnam was drafted into the NBA, Team Govindraj and the BFI received some good news of their own. The Karnataka High Court has allowed the faction of BFI presided by Karnataka's own K. Govindraj to host the SABA Championship. Indian players who have been at the camp were practicing and preparing under great uncertainty. With the tournament/qualifiers inching closer, this would be a great weight off their shoulders and a chance to focus on basketball instead of the bickering and the politics.

Let Gopalakrishanan R of Ekalavyas tell you more:

BFI Secretary General from the Southern Camp, Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, hailed the High Court verdict, saying that it proved that the “Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs exceeded its jurisdiction.” He goes on to accuse the Sports Ministry of “damaging the prospect of the game in the country by unnecessarily, illegally and arbitrarily asking BFI not to hold the event.”
This immediately clears visiting team contingents to submit Visa applications online. However, going by the letter, it is next to impossible for Afghanistan to participate at this event, as they need to apply at least 60 days in advance... India will be without its key forwards and centres from Punjab: Satnam Singh... Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh are playing in Japan. It is also probable that veteran starters Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh will not be part of the line up, as both these ONGC are yet to join the camp.

India has other problems, too. The team currently doesn't have a head coach, since Scott Flemming left the country last month. While the rest of the country celebrates the potential for growth of Indian basketball following Satnam's achievement, the ground reality at camp in Bengaluru was that there was still a state of disorder and mess. Apart from being without a coach, the team continued to lack match practice without much international exposure and continued to practice and play on less-than-ideal basketball surfaces.

As it was earlier reported, the participating teams at the 4th South Asian Basketball Championship will likely be India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. With a depleted, distracted team, this may be the best opportunity for one of our rivals to spring a surprise and qualify ahead of us for the FIBA Asia Championship. India are still likely to be favourites, but they will need to be careful and remain focused if they want to avoid an upset.

For now, let's celebrate the Karnataka High Court's decision. The qualifiers are back on, and if India win, we will punch in our ticket for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, set to be held in Hunan, China, from September 23 to October 3. Let's hope that the Sports Ministry can do the right thing and lift the ban on Indian basketball events nationwide soon.

The Great Deflate: Sports Ministry puts all official basketball events in India on hold after BFI fiasco

Sometimes, basketball in India can feel like a literal bouncing ball. Just when you think that you've gotten a good bounce up, the force of gravity - or the suppressing push of a dribble - can throw it back down to earth again.

That basketball has been rising and falling - well, mostly falling - at alarming pace for the last few months, and now, it has sunk to a new depth. After continued infighting between different factions of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) over the control of the federation's executive committee, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs in India (hereon referred to as the 'Sports Ministry') has put on hold the conduct of any official basketball event in India until the office bearers of the BFI are recognized by the government. The BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. This ban means that, until the government can come to a decision on the 'legal' ruling party of the BFI, there will be no camps, clinics, training sessions, national tournaments, or international participation of basketball for India.

In a letter by the Sports Ministry addressed to the elected presidents of both the bodies (dated June 12), AK Patro, under-secretary to the Government of India, has written, "The ministry is not in a position to give recognition to either faction at this stage. Both factions are advised not to hold any official event in India and not to use the logo of this ministry or Sports Authority of India (SAI) until office bearers of BFI are recognized by the government."

Do you hear that fizz? That's the sound of a deflated basketball which has now stopped bouncing back up.

The story so far? Over the last two months, a dramatic turn of events has plunged the BFI into an abyss of uncertainty. Political infighting led the association to be split in two: two factions called two separate meetings/elections (March 27 and March 28 respectively) in two different cities (Bengaluru and Pune respectively) and selected two separate executive committees (presided by K Govindraj and Poonam Mahajan respectively) to head the BFI. All of India’s three foreign coaches – Men’s National Team Head Coach Scott Flemming, Women’s National Team Head Coach Francisco Garcia, and Strength and Conditioning Head Coach Tommy Heffelfinger – ended their contracts with Indian basketball last month. Meanwhile, FIBA – the world’s governing body of basketball and organizers of all upcoming FIBA Asia basketball tournaments – declared the situation in India a ‘freeze’, and thus, disallowing India to play in FIBA-sanctioned international basketball tournaments. With the FIBA Asia Championships - India's biggest opportunity for top-level basketball - on the horizon, the nation was headed headless and coach-less into the eye of the storm.

There seemed to be some respite from the mess in recent weeks, a hopeful bounce back up. 'Team Govindraj' won a Delhi High Court order to take charge of the BFI's office in New Delhi and their official website. Then, FIBA finally passed their stamp of recognition to Team Govindraj, too, recognizing them as the official office-bearers of the Federation. Things seemed to be finally getting back on track when FIBA gave India the responsibility of hosting the 4th South Asian Basketball Championship (from July 3-5 in Bengaluru) and the BFI planned a month-long camp in Bengaluru in preparation.

Alas, with the latest development, the ray of hope has quickly been blanketed by a dark cloud of politics again. Already, the warring of the two factions led Team Mahajan to post-pone India's Youth National Basketball Championships originally scheduled to be held in Assam. With the Sports Ministry's ruling to hold all official basketball events in the country, the upcoming national camp and the South Asian Championship in Bengaluru both seem likely to be affected, too.

To elect the 26-member executive committee in the BFI, 41 out of 62 voting members were present for the elections in Pune, reported Amit Sampat on his article for The Times of India. Only 24 voters were present in Bengaluru and failed to fill all the 26 executive posts, so only a 19-member committee was formed.

The biggest victims of this new setback will be India's basketball players, who will continue to miss the opportunity to showcase their talents or improve their game until the administrators on top figure out their power struggle. India can have no more official basketball until Team Govindraj and Team Mahajan bring their differences to an amicable solution, after which the government will have to give their go-ahead, and only then will the ministry reverse its decision. Since this is India, all that process could take anything from a week to six months.

Divya Singh, India's former basketball captain and a talented young coach, took out her frustrations on Twitter yesterday. "It's so sad basketball is in its darkest time in India," she wrote, "Politics can do so much harm. Stop politics let players play."

The ball has been deflated right now, but anything that goes down must come up. We will remain cautiously optimistic and hope for a solution to this on-going drama as soon as possible. Hopefully, the the basketball can bounce back up again.

BFI announces Senior Men's basketball team probables and schedule for national coaching camp

With an eye forward at the 4th South Asian Basketball Championship and the 28th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has announced the list of 24 senior national men's team probables for the upcoming national coaching camp, scheduled to be held at the Sri Kantaveera Stadium in Bengaluru (Karnataka) from June 15 to July 11. This is the first national coaching camp of the year organized by the BFI. India will also host the upcoming South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Championship at the same venue in Bengaluru during the course of the national camp, from July 3-5.

Several Indian star players, such as Amjyot Singh, Amrit Pal Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Pratham Singh, and Satnam Singh Bhamara have been invited for this camp. Out of the 24 players invited, Amjyot, Amrit Pal, and Satnam Singh may not attend the camp because of their professional basketball engagements abroad: Amjyot and Amrit Pal have signed summer league contracts with a team in the BJ League in Japan while Satnam is pursuing the NBA Draft in the hope to become the first Indian citizen in the NBA.

Here is the full list of probables invited for the national coaching camp:

• Amjyot Singh (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Amrit Pal Singh (Uttarakhand)
  
• Akilan Pari (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Joginder Singh (Services)
  
• S. Prasanna Venkatesh (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Pratham Singh (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Rikin Pethani (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Uttarakhand)
  
• Yadwinder Singh (Uttarakhand)
  
• Narender Grewal (Service)
  
• Himanshu Sharma (Haryana)
  
• Vikash Sharma (Haryana)
  
• Akashdeep Hazra (Indian Railways)
  
• Arvind A. (Karnataka)
  
• Rajesh Prakash Uppar (Karnataka)
  
• Basil Phillip (Kerala)
  
• Siddhant Shinde (Maharashtra)
  
• Gurvinder Singh Gill (Punjab)
  
• A. Arvind (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Jeevanatham (Tamil Nadu)
  
• Murli Krishnan (Uttarakhand)
  
• Satnam Singh Bhamara (Punjab)
  
• Vinay Kaushik (Gujarat)
  
• Pravesh Rathee (Services)
  

It still hasn't been confirmed who will be the coach of India's Senior Men's Basketball team at the camp, since the former American coach Scott Flemming left the team last month.

The schedule of events at the National Coaching Camp at Sri Kantaveera Stadium in Bengaluru:

• June 15-20: – National Coaching Camp for 24 probables.
  
• June 19-20: Selection of Players for next Camp and 4th South Asian Basketball Championship.
  
• June 21 - July 2: National Coaching Camp for 16 probables.
  
• July 3-5: 4th South Asian Basketball Championship (Qualifying Round for 28th FIBA Asia Championship).
  
• July 6-11: National Coaching Camp for 16 probables.
  

Last year's SABA Championship/Qualifiers were held in Kathmandu (Nepal) and won by India. This year, the teams playing at the SABA championship will be: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka