China crowned 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Women's champs in Jordan; India finish 6th and stay in Level I

With a victory over rivals Japan in the final, the Chinese eves completed a three-peat of titles at the FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women in Amman (Jordan) on Friday, October 17th. This was China's 14th overall title in the 22nd edition of the tournament as they continued to be the driving force in junior Asian women's basketball.

India, who played in the tougher Level I of the tournament, lost all their preliminary group games but won the crucial Level I qualifier to remain in the higher fray of the competition for 2016.

China got off to a fast start against Japan in the Final, racing to a comfortable 17-point lead by halftime. The undefeated Chinese women had been the only squad to beat Japan earlier in the group stage, and once again were in cruise control in the tournament's finale. Japan played much-improved basketball after the halftime break, but it was too little too late as China held on to their lead for a 60-53 win.

A closer contest was played earlier on the final day in the fight for the bronze medal between South Korea and Chinese Taipei. Korea's Ji Su Park (20 points, 21 rebounds) and Taipei's Yi-Wen Yu (20 points) went head to head as the two teams stayed on each other's heels every step of the way. The game was finally decided in a low-scoring final period when South Korea inched away to a 57-54 win.

A day earlier, Japan were led by Nao Sogabe's 17 points as they got off to an early 16 point lead and pranced away to a 83-50 win over Korea in the semi-final. Ji Su Park had a game-high 19 for Korea in the losing effort. The second girls' semi-final between China and Chinese Taipei started off as a closer affair, as China led by just five at halftime. But an improved performance after halftime and an explosive final period saw China race away to an eventually comfortable 80-52 win. Si Jing Huang led the way for China with 23 points and nine rebounds while Shuai Liu added 19 and seven off the bench.

Team India - led by Coach PC Anthony - featured a roster of 12 young up-and-comers hungry to make a mark at the junior stage and prove that they had the talents to be selected at the senior level. Because they had finished among the top six in the continent, India were selected to play in the tougher Level I of the competition, along with China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

It was baptism by fire for the Indians, who were humbled by the mighty Chinese in their very first game. Relying on an explosive offense and equally stingy defense, China raced to a huge 34-7 lead after just the first quarter. India were outscored by double digits in the second quarter too and faced an insurmountable 38 point deficit at halftime. China eased their pace after halftime, allowing India to perform a little better, but the result was never in doubt. Led by Dilishati Dilana (19), Jin Bo Xing (17 points, 13 rebounds), and Si Jing Huang (17 points, 10 rebounds), China cruised to a 124-72 win. India's bright sparks were the performances by Shruti Menon (25) and Sangeeta Kaur (21) in the loss.

India got no respite the next day against Chinese Taipei. Once again, the Indians were down big - 34-15 - after just the first period. In a game that began to mirror the previous day's loss, Chinese Taipei dominated on all ends of the floor and blew India out en route to a 111-70 win. Taipei's top performers were Chia-Chieh Li (25) and You-Jing Zhang (17 points, 15 rebounds). For India, Poojamol Kochuparambu impressed with a 20 point outing.

India played their worst offensive game of the tournament in the game against eventual silver-medalists Japan. Mamiko Tanaka led the way with 25 points and seven rebounds for the Japanese who put the clamps on India, allowing just 27 percent shooting from the floor all game. India found themselves down 66-28 at halftime and seemed to have thrown in the towel in the game's final two quarters, eventually ending the night with a 107-47 loss.

India's first real opportunity for a victory came against Thailand, the only Level I squad that closely matched their standing among the Asian opponents in the group. India started off determined to pick up their first victory of the tournament, and in a neck-to-neck contest, held a two point lead at halftime. But it was a game-changing third quarter by Thailand that put them back in the driver's seat, and India failed to make a comeback in the fourth. By the final buzzer, Thailand had held on for a 68-62 victory led by Amphawa Thuamon (20 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists). Poojamol was once more India's bright spark, leading the team with 17.

India's final preliminary round game was against Korea, and this time, they seemed determined to put the past performances behind them. A hot start by both teams saw Korea leading 29-26 after the first quarter. India trailed but had managed to put in their best stretch of play in the tournament so far. But Korea began to find a better defensive rhythm in the second and third quarters, and extended their lead to a comfortable 69-50 after three periods. India attempted a strong comeback in the fourth, but the damage had already been done and Korea secured a 90-77 win. Korea's dominant Center Ji Su Park finished the night with 16 points and 18 rebounds. For India, the aggressive backcourt of Poojamol (25) and Barkha Sonkar (24) scored nearly two-thirds of the team's points together.

India had finished the group stage with five losses in five games, and their only opportunity for redemption was to make sure that they secured their status as a Level I team. They were challenged by Level II winners Malaysia in their last game of the tournament for this status, and India started off the game in no mood for mistakes. A dominating first half had India sitting comfortably up 41-26 at halftime. Malaysia turned their fortunes around in the second half and made a valiant comeback, but time would not be on their side and India eventually survived for a 81-76 win. Poojamol was India's star again and scored 29 points in the win. For Malaysia, the top performer was Chia Qian Tai (25).

India ended the tournament with a 1-5 record at sixth place, but managed to retain their Level I status.

Overall, the performances by India's junior girls were highly disappointing. While fans had been hoping for India to catch up to best in the continent, it seemed that the gulf had been stretched even wider. India lost their games to the 'Big Four' of China-Chinese Taipei-Korea-Japan by an average of over 41 points each, with only their final performance against Korea showing a hint of fight. The biggest disappointment was the loss to Thailand, a team that India must start defeating on a regular basis to truly take the jump up to the next level.

A positive was the performance of rising young star Poojamol Kochuparambu from Kerala, who was India's leading scorer through the course of the tournament. Poojamol has been dominating at the domestic level for years and is primed to become a big star for India's senior national squad in the future. Poojamol's backcourt mate Barkha Sonkar - who is currently training at the IMG Academy in Florida - is a highly capable point guard and is also a sure shot to become a regular in the senior side in the future.

Final Rankings

• 1. China
  
• 2. Japan
  
• 3. South Korea
  
• 4. Chinese Taipei
  
• 5. Thailand

India set for 22nd U18 FIBA Asia Championship for Women in Jordan: Roster, Groups, Schedule, and Preview

Out with the old and in with the new: As some of the legends of the Asian game become veterans, and veterans fade away into the horizon, they make room for the next generation. And there is no better place to catch the upcoming new stars of women's basketball in the continent than over the next week in Amman (Jordan), the city which will host the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women from October 10-17, 2014. China is set to defend their title and go for a third consecutive victory in the tournament; India - who were undefeated in Level II two years ago - have won promotion into Level I and must contend against Asia's top teams over a difficult upcoming week.

After defeating rivals Japan in a comeback final win at the previous iteration of this tournament in 2012, China won an unprecedented 13 FIBA Asia U18 Women's titles. They will once again be the favourites this time around, although Japan, Korea, and Chinese Taipei are always serious threats for the championship as well.

India's 12-girl roster has arrived in Amman for the tournament, led by Head Coach PC Anthony. While many of India's best players from 2012 have now graduated to the senior team, a bunch of fresh talents will replace them and hope to keep India in Level I. Look out for Kerala's Poojamol Kochuparambu and Chhattisgarh's Sangeeta Kaur to develop into a leadership roles for this India squad. Bhandavya Hemmige, India's best player at last year's FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women , could also be a breakout star this year. The likes of Preeti Kumari, Ishwari Pingle and Barkha Sonkar (trained at IMG Academy) also have the talent to turn a game around for the Indian eves.

India Roster at 22nd U18 FIBA Asia Championship for Women

• Gagandeep Kaur
  
• Sangeeta Kaur
  
• Poojamol Kochuparambu
  
• Amrutha Eruvilamkattil
  
• Bhandavya Hemmige
  
• Sruthi Praveen Menon
  
• Preeti Kumari
  
• Iswari Kailas Pingle
  
• Hemalatha Palaniappan
  
• Vinaya Joseph
  
• Barkha Sonkar
  
• Srividhya Venkataraman
  
• Head Coach: PC Anthony
  

India have been placed Level I of the tournament, which has six of the top teams. 22nd U18 FIBA Asia Championship for Women - Groups

• Level I: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei.
  
• Level II: Hong Kong, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka.
  

India's Preliminary Round Schedule - All timings IST

• October 10 - 3:30 PM - India vs. China.
  
• October 11 - 5:30 PM - Chinese Taipei vs. India.
  
• October 12 - 9:30 PM - India vs. Japan.
  
• October 13 - 9:30 PM - Thailand vs. India.
  
• October 14 - 5:30 PM - India vs. South Korea.
  

India will tip off their tournament in the toughest way imaginable, against the defending champs and the championship's most successful team, China. Two years ago, in Level II, India went against the tournament's weaker teams and could thus come away with a perfect 5-0 record. Things aren't going to be smooth sailing this time around: the price for India's success in 2012 is that they are now the minnows in a group against Asia's Big Four: China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Korea. To break into the Semi-Final stage, India must pull off a miracle victory one of these four teams. Thailand are a beatable opponent of India's stature and their clash on October 13th will be India's best hope for a Level I win in the tournament.

The tournament's semi-finals are on October 16 and the Final is scheduled for October 17. If India finish at fifth or sixth place in their group, they will face the top or second placed team from Level II to determine their survival in Level I for the tournament's next iteration in 2016.

India drawn in Level I of 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women

After going undefeated at the FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women two years ago, India's Juniors have won promotion into Level 1 of the tournament and joined the fray with Asia's top squads for the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women, set to be held in Amman (Jordan) from October 10-17, 2014. At total of 12 teams from across Asia were drawn in Levels I and II of the tournament by FIBA Asia recently.

Draw for the 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women in Amman

• Level I: China, India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei
  
• Level II: Hong Kong, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka.
  

Two years ago, at the previous iteration of this tournament in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, India started in Level II where they beat Singapore, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia to qualify for Level I. The probables for Team India will soon be heading to the SAI Center in Aurangabad to train for the tournament. India last played in Level 1 back in 2008.

Foolad Mahan (Iran) win 2013 FIBA Asia Champions Cup; India's ONGC end 8th

It was an all Middle Eastern finale between a club from Iran and a club from Qatar, hosted by the city of Amman in Jordan. And in the end, the 24th FIBA Asia Champions Cup title was lifted by Iran's Foolad Mahan, who made a strong fourth-quarter run to break a close tie and defeat Qatar's Al Rayyan 84-74. The FIBA Asia Champions Cup pitted together nine of the leading club sides from nine different Asian countries. Uttarakhand'd ONGC - who represented India - had a tournament to forget, losing all six of their games to end at 8th place.

On the final on Saturday in Amman, Foolad Mahan was led by the trustworthy duo of Mahdi Kamrani (21 points) and Hamed Haddadi (20 points, 14 rebounds), who was coming off an MVP performance at the FIBA Asia Championship. Haddadi kept up his dominant play and the dominance of Iran in Asian tournaments as Foolad Mahan came back from trailing by five points at the end of the third period to posting a 10 point victory. Slovenian Sani Becirovic added 19 for the winning side.

Al Rayyan, who seemed to be in charge of things after a strong third period, couldn't match Mahan's intensity in the decisive final period. Naturalized American Boney Watson had 27 points in a losing effort while Yasseen Musa added 18.

On the same day as the finals, local Jordanian side ASU blew past Al Hala of Bahrain en route to a 107-76 victory to secure the bronze medal. The high-scoring effort by ASU was led by Ahmad Alhamarsheh (29), Wesam Al Sous (20), and Ayman Idais (19). Import player Rasheim Wright had 26 points to lead Al Hala.

On Friday, eventual winners Foolad Mahan had their way against Al Hala, dominating them with a 121-73 victory. Joshua Asselin had 21 points to lead Foolad while Kamrani added 20, who sped past in the second half of the game after a close first. In the second semi-final, hosts ASU fell to Al Rayyan in a close contest, 71-67. Boney Watson was unstoppable for Rayyan, leading all scorers with 27 points.

The 24th installment of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup featured teams mostly from the Middle Eastern region, and the only outsiders were ONGC - representing South Asia - and Kazakhstan's BC Capchagay, from the Central Asian region. ONGC and Capchagay were grouped together in Group B, along with Al Rayyan and Iraq's Duhok. The group was were missing a side from Philippines, and with only four members in the group, all teams were guaranteed a spot in the Quarter-Final and a top eight finish.

ONGC sent a 12-member squad - led by coach Durgesh Bhatia - and featuring Indian internationals Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Amrit Pal Singh, and Yadwinder Singh, along with savvy veterans like Mohit Bhandari, Trideep Rai, Sridhar Shanmugum, and Murali Krishna.

ONGC's first game at the contest was against Capchagay. After a close first quarter, Capchagay pulled away with a strong performance in the second period and ONGC were left to play catch-up soon after. Despite balanced scoring performances by Amrit Pal (20), Bhriguvanshi (19), and Rai (18), ONGC's comeback attempt failed as they lost the contest 79-72. Vsevolod Fadeikin of Capchagay led all scorers with 22.

ONGC started strong once again in their second game against Duhok, but once more, couldn't maintain the momentum. They only trailed by six at halftime, but dominating performances by Duhok's imports Ronald Traylor Jr. (28) and Ricardo Marsh (19) led the Iraqi side to an eventually comfortable 99-70 win. Bhriguvanshi led ONGC with a valiant 26 point performance.

ONGC didn't stand a chance in their final group game versus eventual semi-finalists Al Rayyan. Al Rayyan played strong defense and were led by Alvin Mofunanya's 16 points in the offensive end to defeat ONGC 85-58, a performance that included holding down the Indian side to just seven points in the opening quarter. Amrit Pal had finished with 16 points for the losing side.

Finishing bottom of their group, ONGC were drawn in the Quarter-Final against the top finishers of Group A, Foolad Mahan. The tournament-winners had no troubled blowing past ONGC to a 104-56 win. Kamrani (20), Asselin (20), and Becirovic (16) helped Foolad's multi-pronged attack as the Iranians dominated each quarter on both ends of the floor. Bhriguvanshi (20) and Amrit Pal (17) were again ONGC's leading scorers.

The Indian side were now relegated to contest for the 5-8th place playoffs. They fought in a rematch against Duhok first, but once again, the Iraqi side's imports were too much for ONGC to handle. Marsh (29) and Taylor (26) were unstoppable, but ONGC stayed close throughout the contest, and took the lead at halftime. ONGC stretched their advantage to five at the end of the third quarter, but a strong defensive finish by Duhok held ONGC to just 12 points in the final period. Duhok won 85-82, overcoming impressive outings by Amrit Pal (26) and Rai (22) in the process.

ONGC's final game was another rematch, this time against Kazakh side BC Capchagay. Capchagay started strong to take an eight point advantage in the first period and then never looked back. Bhriguvanshi had a tournament-best 32 points of all Indian players, but it wasn't enough as ONGC fell to a 101-74 defeat. Amrit Pal added 17 for ONGC. Capchagay were led by MR Adamu (21), Daniil Seleznyov (16), Vsevolod Fadeikin (16).

Going 0-6 in the championship, ONGC finished the tournament at 8th place. It was certainly not pretty and a lot more weaknesses were exposed of the Indian players against stronger mostly Middle-Eastern teams. Additionally, ONGC were amongst the only sides in the tournament without foreign imports or naturalized players, and couldn't keep up with their higher quality opponents.

Still, the experience could prove valuable, especially for young Center Amrit Pal Singh, who continued his improvement and continued to take strides in becoming India's best big man. Amrit Pal scored 17.7 points per game, good enough for second best in his team, and was one of the tournament's top rebounders, grabbing 10.2 boards per contest. Bhriguvanshi led ONGC in the scoring department with 19.3 ppg.

India's ONGC to take part in 2013 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Jordan

Pitting together the top clubs from various Asian countries, FIBA Asia's official international club tournament - the 24th FIBA Asia Champions Cup - is set to be held in Amman, Jordan from September 13-21, 2013. The tournament will feature nine top club men's basketball teams from nine different Asian countries. India's Men's champions from the 2013 Federation Cup in Bangalore - Uttarakhand's ONGC - will be the sole representative from South Asia at Amman.

The annual Champions Cup returns in interesting circumstances, as last year's final in Lebanon - between local side Al Riyadi Beirut and Mahram of Iran - was put off due to security concerns in the region.

India's ONGC are currently riding a wave of great success domestically, particularly after they signed Indian international stalwarts Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh into their star-studded veteran mix. They qualified as India's top side after the blowing past Chennai's IOB at the BFI's Federation Cup Championship in February this year.

ONGC have been placed in Group B of the Champions Cup's Preliminary Round, along with Al Rayyan, Duhok, and BC Capchagay. A team from Philippines to represent South East Asia - the San Miguel Beerman - pulled out from the tournament due to unavailability of players. Since there are only four teams in the group, they are guaranteed to qualify for the knockout stage, but they will shoot for as high as finish as possible to get a favourable draw in the Quarter-Finals.

24th FIBA Asia Champions Cup Groupings

Group A: Al Hala (Bahrain), ASU (Jordan), Foolad Mahan (Iran), Khas Bronchos (Mongolia), Al Jaish (Syria).
Group B: Al Rayyan (Qatar), Duhok (Iraq), ONGC (India), BC Capchagay (Kazakhstan).

ONGC's roster for FIBA Asia Champions Cup

• Dinesh Kumar
  
• Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
  
• Amrit Pal Singh
  
• Sridhar Shanmugum
  
• Anoop Mukkanniyil
  
• Des Raj
  
• Yadwinder Singh
  
• Mohit Bhandari
  
• Trideep Rai
  
• Riyazuddin
  
• Murali Krishna Ravindran
  
• Sabeer Ahmed
  
• Head Coach: Durgesh Bhatia
  

Aside from Vishesh and Yadwinder, ONGC feature up-and-coming India international big man Amrit Pal Singh as well as savvy veterans like Bhandari, Trideep, Sridhar, and Murali Krishna.

Preliminary Round Schedule for ONGC - All Times IST

• September 14 - 6:30 PM: BC Capchagay vs. ONGC.
  
• September 15 - 8:30 PM: ONGC vs. Duhok.
  
• September 16 - 8:30 PM: Al Rayyan vs. ONGC.
  

The Quarter Finals will begin after the Preliminary Round, and the Final is scheduled for September 21st.