India's combined FIBA ranking drops to 52 at the end of 2015

Happy new year readers! As per tradition here at Hoopistani, we will start the new year by quickly catching up with India's place in the basketball world.

Indian basketball had a roller-coaster of a year in 2015. There were some strong performances, like the Men's squad making it to the Quarter-Final of the FIBA Asia Championship for the first time in a dozen years. But there were also disappointments, like the Women's team getting relegated to Level 2 of the FIBA Asia Women's Championship. The up-and-down year resulted in India's combined FIBA rankings (Men, Women, Boys, Girls) dropping one spot - from 51 a year ago - to 52, with 66.6 points. India is the ranked 8th in Asia in the combined rankings.

FIBA – the world’s governing body of basketball – bases their world rankings on the major FIBA World Championships, the continental championships, and the Olympic Games. Rankings are made based on the performance of each country’s Men’s, Women’s, and Youth rankings where applicable. Youth rankings are based on the performances of the U19, U18, U17, or U16 teams in international competitions.

On the back of their impressive performances at Changsha's FIBA Asia Championship, India's Senior Men jumped eight places up to 53 from 61 last year. Despite domestic turmoil, the 2015 FIBA ABC turned out to be a fruitful tournament for Team India. India sent a tweaked 12-member squad to Changsha, featuring new head coach Sat Prakash Yadav and minus the presence of many veteran players, but they did well enough to finish the tournament with a 3-6 record at 8th place. Amjyot Singh proved to be India's breakout star of the year.

India's Women contingent - a young, rebuilding squad - returned home disappointed from the FIBA Asia Women's Championship in Wuhan, taking several steps back after their historic performance at this same tournament two years ago. Playing in the higher Level 1, India lost all five of their Preliminary Stage game 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 Women's ABC. The Women fell one place to 40th place.

At the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Men, India in Jakarta (Indonesia), India found themselves in a tough Group D, which featured two semi-finalists - Korea and China - as well as Iraq. The team was led by Head Coach Mahendar Singh Rathore and captained by rising young star Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi from Tamil Nadu. The team ended the tournament with a 2-3 record and dropped to 13th place. Their FIBA rank dropped one place to 52 from last year.

India's under-16 Women suffered a miserable outing at the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women in Medan, Indonesia, losing all five of their Level I in comprehensive fashion and losing the qualifying last game as well to fall to Level II in the tournament's 2017 iteration. Despite their performances, however, results elsewhere and participation points actually helped the Girls rise up one spot in the end-of-year FIBA rank.

Once again, USA reigned supreme in all the FIBA rankings, combined or otherwise, ranking atop the charts across the board.

India's FIBA Rankings at end of 2015

• Combined: 52 (66.6 points; Change -1)
  
• Men: 53 (9.0 points; Change +8)
  
• Women: 40 (15.9 points: Change -1)
  
• Boys: 52 (14.7 points; Change -1)
  
• Girls: 38 (27 points; Change +1)
  

India's combined FIBA World ranking remains static at 51 at end of 2014

You may recall that 2014 was a pretty good year for Indian Basketball, particularly the Senior Men's team, who won gold at the Lusofonia Games, won the South Asian Basketball Championship, defeated China at the FIBA Asia Cup, and got the silver medal at 3x3 basketball at the Asian Beach Games. And yet, at the start of the new calender year, little has changed for India's overall ranking among the world's top basketball teams.

Despite their successes, India's combined FIBA ranking (Men, Women, Boys, Girls) has remained static at 51 - the same as last year - after the last update by FIBA on December 7, 2014. This is due to the fact that none of India's successes this year came in the big FIBA or FIBA zone championships, like the FIBA Asia or FIBA World championships. Tournaments like the Lusofonia Games, the FIBA Asia Cup, the Asian Games, the Asian Beach Games, etc. don't contribute to the final FIBA rankings.

FIBA – the world’s governing body of basketball – bases their world rankings on the major FIBA World Championships, the continental championships, and the Olympic Games. Rankings are made based on the performance of each country’s Men’s, Women’s, and Youth rankings where applicable. Youth rankings are based on the performances of the U19, U18, U17, or U16 teams in international competitions.

India's Men remain ranked 61st in FIBA worldwide.

India's U18 boys and girls teams took part in the big FIBA Asia U18 championships but none of the squads improved on India's previous performances. After winning gold at the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Qualifiers, India headed to Qatar for the U18 FIBA Asia Championship. The boys' disappointed, finishing 13th (last), losing two of their three Preliminary Round games and failing to qualify for the next stage of the tournament. Their performance dropped them three spots to 51st in the world.

India's U18 girls once again played in the tougher Level I of the FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women in Amman (Jordan). Thy lost all their preliminary group games but won the crucial Level I qualifier against Malaysia to finish sixth and remain in the higher fray of the competition for 2016. Despite this, India's FIBA ranking in this division dropped two spots to 39th.

India's Senior Women had a quiet and relatively underwhelming year, taking part in only the Lusofonia Games (bronze medal), the Asian Games (sixth place out of 11), and the Asian Beach Games (0-3, seventh place). Despite the inactivity, perhaps the falling performances of other world teams saw Indian Women rise one spot to 39th.

Once again, world champions in all the formats of the sport internationally, USA is dominating the FIBA World rankings, holding the number one spot in the Men, Women, Boys, Girls, and Combined sections.

What USA is to the rest of the world is what China is to Asia. The Chinese are ranked number one in all the various sections across the continent. India has risen one spot to eighth-place in the FIBA Asia Combined rankings.

2015 will bring back the big FIBA Asia Championships for Men and Women - both designated to be held in China - between August to October. The FIBA Asia U16 Championships will also be held, in July for boys and September for girls. India will be hoping to participate in all four competitions and have a chance to improve their world/Asia rankings. The world U19 FIBA Championships - for both Men and Women - will also be held in 2015.

India's FIBA Rankings at end of 2014

• Combined: 51 (58.5 points; Change 0)
  
• Men: 61 (6.9 points; Change 0)
  
• Women: 39 (15.6 points: Change +1)
  
• Boys: 51 (12.9 points; Change -3)
  
• Girls: 39 (23.1 points; Change -2)
  

India up 1 spot to 46th in 2012 Combined FIBA World Rankings

At the end of the 2012 Calendar year, India’s combined FIBA ranking (Men, Women, Boys, Girls) has improved one spot to 46th place. The big difference-making competitions for India in 2012 were the U18 FIBA Asia Championships for Boys and Girls, held in Mongolia and Malaysia respectively.

Click here for full feature on all of India's rankings.

FIBA launches new ranking system

Following the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men which concluded last Sunday in Istanbul, Turkey, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) have launched a completely new ranking system. For the first time ever, the U19 and U17 FIBA World Championships for Boys and Girls as well as all U16 and U18 continental championships weigh in to determine the new FIBA categories for Boys and Girls.

Therefore the new FIBA ranking now includes five categories: Men, Women, Boys, Girls and a Combined Ranking that takes into account results from all genders and all age categories. The new system makes for a more accurate pecking order of the world's basketball nations.


India’s FIBA World rankings are:
Men: 50
Women: 43
Boys: 45
Girls: 34
Combined: 49

India’s FIBA Asia rankings are:
Men: 10
Women: 7
Boys: 11
Girls: 7
Combined: 8

"I am very happy to see these new and complete world rankings including the youth categories," said FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Patrick Baumann.

"This is a great initiative and one that has been a long time coming. We have to make sure we reward the countries that perform well in youth competitions because the young players coming through the junior ranks are the best investment in the future of basketball."


The United States of America (USA), whose Senior Men’s team won the World Championship recently, currently rank supreme in all categories, including the new youth rankings for Boys and Girls which have been added in the new system.

See full rankings here.