India hope to defend home court at 2018 FIBA U18 Women's Asia Championship: Roster, Schedule, and Preview

Over the past year or so, Bengaluru has been a sort of lucky charm for India's Women's basketball. Last year, both India's Senior and U16 Women's squads played in their respective FIBA Asia tournaments hosted in the city. And each time - the seniors in July and the Youth players in October - India started in the lower Division B and won all of their matchups to earn promotion to Division A.

Now, the U18 squad find themselves in a similar predicament. Bengaluru. Division B. A FIBA Asia Championship. Even the head coach - Zoran Visic - is the same. And India will be hoping that the culmination of these factors will yield another positive result, another promotion, and finally produce some good news after a cold, barren period in Indian basketball.

192 of Asia and Oceania's finest junior women cagers, across 16 teams, are set to take centre stage in the 2018 FIBA U18 Women's Asia Championship in Bengaluru from October 28 to November 3. The teams are divided into the higher Division A and the lower Division B. The former teams - plus India - will play their games in the showcase Sree Kanteerava Stadium in the city, while the rest of Division B will be at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium.

All eyes will be on China at the top, who have won four straight U18 FIBA Asia Women's titles and are aiming for a five-peat. This team around, however, they will have stiff challenge from Oceania's entrants Australia and New Zealand. Australia will definitely be favourites as they feature a similar squad to the won that won the U17 FIBA World Championship. Other teams to watch will include Japan and Korea, too.

Participating Teams

Division A

• Group A: Australia, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia.
• Group B: China, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia.

Division B

• Group A: India, Singapore, Guam, Iran.
• Group B: Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Syria, Samoa.

Led by Zoran Visic, India have reason for caution even as hosts in their lower division. The team is missing two of its best players to injury, Vaishnavi Yadav and Sanjana Ramesh. Additionally, the captain of the current team, Pushpa Senthil Kumar, is also recovering from injury and will likely be a game-time decision for India's opening match. India will be hoping that a healthy Pushpa, along with other young players will international experience like Sreekala Rani, Sushantika Chakravortty, and Ann Mary Zachariah will be able to lift the team to promotion.

India's Roster

• Arya Achuta Sreeramaneni
• Sakshi Sharma
• Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu
• Harshitha Kelttira Bopaiah
• Pushpa Senthil Kumar - captain
• Srishti Suren
• Ishwarya Janardhanan
• Sreekala Rani
• Gulabsha Ali
• Ann Mary Zachariah
• Anumaria Chenganamattathil
• Sushantika Chakravortty
• Head Coach: Zoran Visic
• Assistant Coach: Thankachan Mulackal Chacko
• Assistant Coach: Priyanka Bhandari

Even with all the injuries, home court and recent experience of a similar U16 team should make India favourites in the division. India were in Division A at the 2016 version of this championship and ended winless to be relegated. Visic will hope that his influence can help a bounce back. However, India will have difficulty preparing for their opponents, featuring a little-seen Iran squad, newcomers Guam, and Singapore in their group.

India's Preliminary Round Schedule - all timings IST

• October 28 - India vs. Iran - 8 PM
• October 29 - Guam vs. India - 8 PM
• October 30 - India vs. Singapore - 8 PM

If India are able to get through this group (and ideally, it should be easy for them to do so), their biggest threat to winning the division will probably come through from a strong Kazakhstan squad in Group B. On Friday, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) announced a cash prize of ₹10 lakh for the team if it finishes atop Division B.

The top four teams from Division A will grab the spots for the 2019 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup. All Division A games and India games will be live streamed on FIBA’s social media channels. The BFI has announced free entry to the Sree Kanteerava and the Koramangala stadiums for the group stage!

India trumps South Asian opponents to qualify for 23rd U18 FIBA Asia Championship

For several years, there have been two unspoken guarantees for India's international basketball scenario. The first is that India is the undisputed 'big brother' in the South Asian region, and can pretty much dominate its neighbours without breaking much of a sweat. The second is that, as the South Asian representative against the rest of Asia's big boys, the tables are turned when India takes part in big Asian tournaments. India become the minnows, and they suffer the same type of blowout losses that they have been delivering to their neighbours from South Asia.

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas

To take the next step up towards making improvements in basketball, India has hopes to overturn the second 'unspoken guanrantee' mentioned above and start defeating top Asian teams. But, for a brief moment on Monday evening, it seemed that they might not even be able to ensure the first one. Sri Lanka pushed India to the brink for two and half quarters in the deciding game at the SABA Qualifiers last night, but a level-headed response from India to close out an emotional game saw them qualify for the U18 FIBA Asia Championship and gave the young players the test they needed to come together as a team.

By defeating Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on consecutive nights at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, India's U18 men's squad won the gold at the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Qualifiers for the 23rd U18 FIBA Asia Championship. They will now represent South Asia at the U18 FIBA Asia tournament, set to be held in Doha (Qatar) from August 19-29 this year.

Only three teams - hosts India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh - took part in the SABA Qualifiers, which were held in Bengaluru from July 5-7 and organized by the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA). India's 12-member squad was led by coach Jora Singh Ghulia and featured up-and-coming names such as Mahipal Singh, Akhilesh Kumar, Gurvinder Singh Gill, K. Sunil, and Narender Rathee.

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas

Sri Lanka - who haven't qualified for the FIBA Asia U18 Championship - made their ambitions clear from the start, as they demolished Bangladesh by 90 points in the first game of the qualifiers. A multi-pronged attack led by Anthony P (35 points) saw Sri Lanka cruise to a 126-36 win. Umair Md Naleer (19), Nadeeja Liyanage Nichula (19), Dimitri Sean Grebe (17), and Anushka Chathuranga (17) aided Sri Lanka's high-scoring efforts, while Bangladesh were led with 16 points by Hasan Mohd.

Team India got their start against Bangladesh on July 6th, in a game where the hosts took a big early lead (37-2 in the explosive first quarter) and then cruised the rest of the way to the easy victory. The duo of captain Gurvinder Singh Gill (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Mahipal Singh (16) were the high scorers for India.

The final showdown eventually came down to the winners of the past two games - India and Sri Lanka - to decide who would be the SABA representative in Doha next month. Sri Lanka, shorter in size but quicker in speed and firing on all cylinders from the perimeter, came out all guns blazing, taking the game to India with an 11-1 early lead. India recovered from the neighbours' early aggressiveness and came back to tie the game at the end of the first quarter. India stretched it out to a 10 point lead at halftime, but Sri Lanka plotted a comeback once more.

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas

A scuffle broke out between several players on both sides midway in the third quarter - India's star Gill was ejected and Sri Lanka lost Kashi Juliyan. Luckily for India, Mahipal Singh took charge and helped the team close out their opponents over the next quarter. The final score read 85-60 in India's favour. Mahipal led the way with 32 points and 10 rebounds while K. Sunil added 19. The leading scorer for Sri Lanka was Mohd. Naleer Umair (16).

India could be blamed for a little overconfidence before the qualifiers began, but the Sri Lanka game was just the wake-up call that they needed. Opponents in Qatar are going to get a lot tougher, and India will have to sharpen several of their errors to mount a serious challenge. From July 12 - August 6, the team is scheduled to be in a national coaching camp at the SAI Center in Aurangabad, following which there are plans for a short exposure trip where the team can take part in friendly/practice games.

Hopefully, the camp and the friendlies over the next month can prepare India's U18s for the bigger challenge ahead. These young players are going to be the future stars of the country, and it will be up to them to ensure that India can move up from being just the minnows in big Asian competitions and start surprising a big team or two.

Check out Ekalavyas.com for more in-depth match reports from the qualifiers and relive the play-by-play live commentary as well.

India to host SABA Qualifiers for 22nd U18 FIBA Asia Championship in Bengaluru from today

The journey to face the best in the continent must begin by mastering their own region first. India's U18 basketball men's squad - with ambitions to play in the U18 FIBA Asia Championship later this year - will have to first defeat South Asian rivals Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Qualifiers for 23rd U18 FIBA Asia Championship. The three-day qualifying tournament, hosted by India, tips off today at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru. It is being organized by the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA).

India are defending champions at the U18 SABA level, and will once again come in as clear favourites to defeat their opponents and qualify for the 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Championship, set to be held in Doha (Qatar) from August 19-29 this year.

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) yesterday released the 12-man roster for India U18 Men yesterday:

• Akhilesh Kumar (Rajasthan)
  
• Mahipal Singh (Rajasthan)
  
• Gurvinder Singh Gill (Punjab)
  
• Dildar Singh Brar (Punjab)
  
• Anmol Singh (Punjab)
  
• Gaurav Ohlan (Delhi)
  
• Sunil (Delhi)
  
• Narender (Delhi)
  
• Sagar Joshi (West Bengal)
  
• P Rajesh (Chhattisgarh)
  
• Pradeep (Haryana)
  
• Ambati Reddy (Andhra Pradesh)
  
• Coach: Jora Singh Ghulia
  
• Coach: Paramdeep Singh
  

Many of the names above will be familiar for close followers of Indian basketball. Akhilesh Kumar, Mahipal Singh, and Sunil were part of India's squad that played in U16 FIBA Asia Championship in Tehran a year ago. Rajasthan's Mahipal Singh, who has been an up-and-coming star for several years, was chosen to participate in the NBA/FIBA Basketball Without Borders camp in Taipei last month. Narender and Gurvinder Singh Gill were part of India's squad that won silver at the U18 FIBA Asia 3x3 championship in Thailand last year.

Speaking about India’s chances to Deccan Herald, Coach Jora Singh sounded supremely confident (if a little too confident) "We definitely expect to win," he said, "I do not see much competition from the other two teams." No pressure, then. Here are the schedule of games at the qualifiers:

• July 5 - 6:00 PM: Sri Lanka vs. Bangladesh.
  
• July 6 - 6:00 PM: India vs L/O Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh.
  
• July 7 - 6:00 PM: India vs W/O Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh.
  

At the previous FIBA Asia U18 championship in 2012, India finished 10th, but featured one of the breakout stars of the tournament in Palpreet Singh Brar. The new crop of juniors will be hoping to one-up the squad's results this time around. But first, they must make true of Coach Jora Singh's confidence and take care of business against the South Asian opponents at home. If you happen to be in Bengaluru or nearby, be sure to show up and support the squad, and also catch some of the brightest future Indian basketball talents in action.