Indian Basketball Legend & Arjuna award winner Khushi Ram passes away

The man who was once called The Magician of Basketball in India, the legendary Khushi Ram, passed away at age 77 on December 29, 2013. Ram will go down in history as one of the India's greatest ever basketball players and - at his time - one of the top talents in all of Asia. A former captain of India's national Men's team, Kumar was handed with the Arjuna Award in 1967.

While we live in a time when basketball players in India rarely get the respect and admiration that the sport deserves, Ram was one of the leaders of an era when Indian basketball was on the rise. Ram was an integral part of India's national team from 1964-72, and captained India in 1965 at their first ever appearance at the Asian Basketball Confederation Championship (now known as the FIBA Asia Championship) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. India finished 7th at the tournament. He was the highest scorer at the championship (the only Indian at the Senior Men's level to be the tournament's highest scorer). In the next two Asian Championships in Seoul (Korea) and Bangkok (Thailand), he was the tournament's second and third highest scorer respectively.

Ram was also the father of another Indian basketball legend, the Dhyan Chand Award Winner Ram Kumar, and of the late Asok Kumar.

Ram was born in Jhamri village in Rohtak district in Haryana on August 7, 1936. His interest for basketball began at age 14 when he joined the Delhi-based Army unit Rajputana Rifles as a Boy Recruit in 1950. He made his debut as a youth player at the National Basketball Championship in 1952 representing the Armed Forces team. From a young age, he was known for his shooting ability - which helped him become an unstoppable scorer for the course of his career - and for his high IQ and sense of the game.

From 1958-68, Ram was associated with the Army. The Armed Force team won India's National Basketball title 10 consecutive years, with Ram leading the helm several times as the tournament's best player. In 1969, he moved to Kota (Rajasthan) to join Shri Ram Rayons. He represented the state of Rajasthan for the next five years in National Basketball Championships.

Ram's fame was at its height in 1970, when he dominated at the 10th Anniversary Celebrations Championship in Manila and scoring 43 points (highest by an Indian in an international) against the hosts Philippines.

After announcing his retirement he took over as the coach of Shri Ram Rayons Basketball team in 1976 and also coached Rajasthan's Basketball team for many years. Under his helm, Shri Ram Rayons became one of the best teams in India and won many All India tournaments.

Even until his final years, Ram was coaching basketball to students at the Modern School in Kota.

We wave goodbye to a pioneer of Indian Basketball, one of the greats to have paved the way for the path that all of today's players now follow. Ram received a lot of tributes for his achievements in his lifetime, but the most lasting tribute to his memory would be a concentrated effort by the basketball fraternity in the country to help India reach it's old glories again, and perhaps even shoot for a higher level than ever before.

"We had different players step up in every game," India's Coach Scott Flemming looks back at the FIBA Asia Championship

Nearly a month ago, India's Men's national basketball squad headed to Manila in the Philippines to take part in the 27th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship. Scott Flemming, who had formerly been a coach with the NBDL side Texas Legends, was named India's coach a year ago, and the FIBA ABC was his biggest international challenge yet.

After India finished a disappointing 14th at the FIBA ABC in Wuhan, Flemming was able to lead them to some improved performances in Manila. India lost their first game in an overtime heart-breaker to Bahrain even after holding a comfortable lead in the game's last minute. They bounced back with an impressive win over Bahrain, before losing to Kazakhstan in their final Preliminary Round Game. India were able to qualify for the second round where they played some of the best team's in the tournament, losing in all three games to Iran, China, or Korea. They weren't able to qualify for the Quarter-Finals, so next India played Japan in the 9-12th place game and lost despite holding a big first half lead. India were able to earn some revenge to Bahrain in the tournament's final game by defeating them in the 11-12the place matchup.

You can read my full India-centric review of the tournament here, where Iran won by defeating hosts Philippines in the Final, while India finished 11th with a 2-6 record.

To look back at the team's performances, I was able to get to get in touch with Coach Scott Flemming for a short interview. Coach Flemming spoke about India's evolving performances against tougher Asian competition, the individual performances of several Indian players, and on the improvements the team needs to make looking ahead to the future.

Hoopistani: What goals did you set out for the Indian squad before the tournament? Did you feel that the team was able to achieve those goals?

Flemming: Because of our past performances and the fact I had never participated in the ABC’s before it was a challenge to set specific goals on what place we were aiming for. We broke our goals into stages. Our first goal was win in the first round and move to the second round. The next goal, seeing the strength of the teams in the second round was play at our highest level to give us a chance at an upset. Our main goal was to reach our full potential. Of course we always play to win every game even when the odds are against us.

Hoopistani: What aspects in particular did you see improvements in the squad through the course of the tournament?

Flemming: I felt like the flow of our half court offense improved in the later games of the tournament. We also did a better job on the defensive boards. The third area we improved in was attacking the basket and not settling for jump shots.

Hoopistani: We had a great opportunity to win two games (versus Bahrain in the Preliminary Round and against Japan) which we gave away in the game's last minutes. In many cases, the team's shooting suffered as the opposition made comebacks and turnovers increased. What do you feel were the reasons for the team's nervy finishes?

Flemming: In the first Bahrain game everything that could go wrong did in that last minute of play. Some things we controlled and some things we didn't. We made several mental mistakes and missed some free throws. They also made a couple of tough shots and there were a few calls that could have gone our way. We were in a similar position in the second game [against Thailand] and sealed the victory easily. As painful as that first loss was we did learn some lessons. In the Japan game we outplayed a superior team for most of the game. It really was a shame we couldn’t finish them off. Foul trouble really hurt us at the end and I will give them credit for making some big shots when they needed to. We have to continue to learn to be better finishers.

Hoopistani: Which players surprised you most with their performance in the Philippines?

Flemming: I think we had different players step up in all of the games. Obviously there were up and down performances of most of our players but I believe all of them made a positive impact at different points of the tournament.

Hoopistani: In which game do you think the squad played it's best game - or was there a stretch when you felt that all your work with the team perfectly came together?

Flemming: Overall I think we played our best game against a very good Japan team. Again, it is a shame we were not able to finish strong. We led for 37 minutes. Unfortunately it is 40 minute game. We need to continue to have a goal of sustaining our play for 40 minutes or longer.

Hoopistani: How would you rate Vishesh Bhriguvanshi's performance as one of the team's most experienced players and captain of India?

Flemming: Vishesh is a very good player and a strong leader. He had some real bright spots in the tournament. Unfortunately, we had to play him out of position at times at the point guard spot. He is more comfortable as a wing. He is always a key player for our success.

Hoopistani: Narender Grewal started of the tournament on a hot shooting streak but slowed down as the championship progressed. Do you think he can continue to a reliable scoring threat for the team in the future?

Flemming: Narender had several outstanding games earlier in the tournament. We had some other players step up later in the tournament that took away some of his minutes. He has a scorers mentality and he will continue to fill that role for our team.

Hoopistani: How did you feel about the performance of the big players - particularly Amjyot Singh who dominated the boards?

Flemming: Amjyot continues to improve. He has such a high upside. I don’t think he knows how good he can be. He was the best player on the floor at times during the tournament. I thought Rikin [Pethani] was one of most consistent players during the ABC’s. He played very well going head to head against some outstanding big men. Amrit Pal [Singh] has some good flashes but he struggled with being in foul trouble. I have no doubt that he will learn from this a come back strong.

Hoopistani: Satnam Singh Bhamara didn't seem to have enough time to find his comfort zone in Manila. Were his limited minutes based on the improved performances of other bigs or were you intentionally looking to regulate his role with the team?

Flemming: Satnam joined us late in our training but I believe he had some real positive minutes throughout the tournament. He is still a young player that is developing. I think his future is very bright.

Hoopistani: We improved from 14th place in 2011 to 11th place this year. How happy were you about the squad's overall performances in Manila?

Flemming: I would say that all of us our encouraged by our improvement but we are not satisfied with our finish. That is a good thing. We need to continue to work hard to take that next step.

Hoopistani: Looking ahead: what gaps do we need to fill to continue improving for the future?

Flemming: In looking at our competition there are a couple of gaps that we need to fill. We are really playing without a true point guard. Joginder [Singh] and Vishesh are very good players but they are both more suited to be shooting guards. Sambhaji [Kadam] is really the only true point guard we have and as you know he got injured in the second game. We also need to improve our perimeter shooting. Many of the teams had 4 or 5 players that were consistent 3 point shooting threats. Although we will continue to drill our senior players these are areas that we need to focus on in developing our younger players. We need to increase our overall team quickness on both ends as well.

Hoopistani: You have spent a lot of time around India already in camps with young Indian talent. Are there any players who you feel could soon be ready to make the breakthrough to the senior squad?

Flemming: There are a few younger players that could make that jump but I need to see how they develop over the next year.

Hoopistani: After almost a year here, how are you feeling about the future of Indian basketball?

Flemming: There are some things we can control and other things that are out of our hands. At the ABC’s I was educated to how most of the Asian countries supplement there teams to reach a high level of competitiveness. All but two of the teams have a “naturalized” player that is usually a big man or point guard from the U.S. In addition to that, some of the teams have players from the U.S. that are of the same decent of their respective country they are playing for even though they are not citizens. In most cases these are their best players. At the present time, our regulations do not allow us to take advantage of either of these opportunities. The things we can control is to continue to develop our players from our U14’s (and even younger) to our seniors. This includes more time for player development training and strength and conditioning. We also need to train consistently at high quality facilities and we need to play more exhibition games against strong teams prior to the FIBA events. While I am here I will do my very best to raise the standard of our play. I appreciate all the hard work the players and the other coaches have put in. It will take a team effort to keep moving in the right direction.

Hadaddi leads Iran to 2013 FIBA Asia Basketball Gold; India finish 11th

From improbable comebacks to shocking upsets, the basketball-manic home crowd at Manila, Philippines, played host to the most unpredictable FIBA Asia Basketball tournament in recent memory. Backed by the fervent home support, the Philippines even marched its way to the Final of the tournament on Sunday, August 12. But Asia’s premier basketball competition finally ended with the most deserving and finest squad – Iran – walking home with their third gold medal.

Iran were undefeated through the course of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, running through all their opponents in the first two rounds before an easy sweep of Jordan and Chinese Taipei in the knockout stages to set up the finale against the Philippines. The motivated hosts – playing in their first gold medal game in 27 years – gave Iran their toughest fight yet. Iran held on to just a one point lead at halftime, but began to steadily pull away in the second period. A dominant second half by Hamed Hadaddi helped Iran clinch an 85-71 victory and make it three gold medals in the past four iterations of the championship.

Hadaddi – who last played for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA – scored 18 of his game-high 29 points to go with 16 rebounds to lead Iran and also secure his own third MVP award at the FIBA Asia Championship. The 7-2 Center led the tournament in points (18.8 ppg) and rebounds (10 rpg). Samad Nikkah Bahrami added 19 points for Iran. The Philippines were led in the final by point guard Jayson William, who had 18 points in the loss.

With the Finals’ appearance, both Iran and Philippines automatically qualified for the FIBA Basketball World Cup to be held in Spain next year.

Earlier on Sunday, the competition’s unlikely Cinderella team, Chinese Taipei, faced off against Korea in the bronze medal game. The game was crucial to determine the third team from Asia to play in the 2014 World Cup. Korea started the game in dominant fashion, taking a 29-13 first quarter lead, en route to an easy 75-67 victory. Min Goo Kim had 21 points for Korea off the bench.

On Saturday, the Philippines defeated Korea in a highly-entertaining semi-final clash 86-79 behind 17 points by Jayson William and 16 by Jean Marc Pingris. Korea’s Min Goo Kim was again on fire, scoring 27 points in the loss. After surprisingly trailing by nine in the first quarter, Iran came back strong to win their semi-final clash 79-60 against Chinese Taipei behind big performances by Mahdi Kamrany (19) and Hadaddi (17 points, 14 rebounds). Naturalized American player Quincy Davis had 16 points for Chinese Taipei.

Taipei’s run to fourth place was highlighted by a memorable win over ‘big brother’ China, their first ever victory over the Asian powerhouses. China – winners of 15 gold medals at the FIBA ABCs and holding champions – surprisingly struggled throughout the tournament in Manila, finishing third in their group and showing signs of weaknesses despite boasting of former NBA player Yi Jianlian. In the Quarter-Final clash between China and Chinese Taipei, the former held an 17-point first half lead, only to see it stolen away as Taipei came back to win by 18!

The tournament was also a breathtaking roller-coaster for India, who arrived as one of the minnows after a 14th place finish back in 2011. Led by new head coach Scott Flemming, India were placed in a relatively easier group with Kazakhstan, Bahrain, and Thailand. Flemming aimed to make it to the Second Round and then home for miracles ahead, and needing only one win in the Preliminary Stage, this aim seemed achievable.

India faced Bahrain in the first game, and were looking completely in-charge of matters as they came back from an early deficit to hold a seven point lead in the game’s final minute. That is when Bahrain rallied back to shock the Indians and tie the game at 70-70 with the aid of some squandered chances by India and big shots on the other end. The game went into overtime, and Bahrain took full opportunity of this second life to inch to a 82-80 victory. Mohamed Kawaid had 25 points for the winning side. Narender Grewal scored 25 and Amjyot Singh had 16 points to go with 14 rebounds for India.

Luckily, there was no hangover the very next day for the Indians as they started strong against Thailand and blew them out early for an impressive 89-65 win. Grewal continued his hot streak to lead all scorers with 24. India's captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi added 20 points to go with eight rebounds. This game was significant because it became the first ever Indian basketball game - domestic or international - to be shown live on cable TV in India. Neo Prime continued to show other games from the tournament via FIBA TV broadcast live in India from here forth.

Kazakhstan - the group leaders - were up next for India, and Flemming's young side were unfazed for one half against the bigger Kazakhi side. But the efforts of Mikhail Yevstigneyev (21) and Jerri Jonson (16) led Kazakshtan to completely dominate the third quarter. A fourth quarter comeback seemed out of reach and India lost the game 80-67. Bhriguvanshi scored 19 points.

India were thus in the Second Round, carrying on their standings from the first and readying to face some Asian powerhouses. First up were eventual winners Iran, who showed no mercy in handing India their worst loss of the competition, 102-58. Hamed Afagh scored 16 to lead Iran's balanced attack.

Next up to demolish the Indian side were China. Playing extremely stingy defense, China held India to their worst offensive performance as they won the game 79-45. India were just 1-11 from three-point distance. Young Chinese prodigy Wang Zhelin had 18 points and nine rebounds while Ailin Guo added 16 off the bench. India's only double-digit scorer was young big man Amjyot Singh, with 16.

Another slaughter followed the very next day, as Korea used a balanced, efficient attack to defeat India 95-54. Pratham Singh had 18 points off the bench for India.

Out of the knockout stages, India had to settle for the 9-12 place matches. They seemed to be revitalized and primed for an upset over Japan, leading 25-16 after the first quarter and 41-29 at halftime. But Japan turned the tables around in the second half, and - just like in their loss to Bahrain - India once again managed to let a victory slip away between their fingers. Japan took their first lead with three minutes left and then never looked back. Reckless turnovers by India and Japan's dominance on the boards led to a 73-64 Japan win.

India's last game of the tournament - to determine 11th place - was against the team they had played and lost to in their very first game: Bahrain. It was India's opportunity for vengeance and to end the tournament on a positive note. They didn't disappoint: after leading by just two points at the end of three quarters, India finally found the confidence to close out a game and win 75-65. Bhriguvanshi led India with 19 points and seven rebounds while Pratham Singh scored 16.

India thus finished the tournament with a 2-6 record and at 11th place, an improvement on the 14th place finish from the 2011 championship in Wuhan (China).

Still, despite the improved performances, most Indian fans will believe that the team could've - and should've - done much better. Despite being the better team on the floor for most of the duration, India lost two games - against Bahrain in the Preliminary Round and against Japan in the 9-12 place game - through pure carelessness and a lack of nerves. Coach Flemming has indeed been a calm and collected presence on the bench for India and helped them improve both their ball-movement and defensive effort, but the squad still has a long way to go. We could attribute some of India's deficiencies to inexperience: apart from Bhriguvanshi, most of the major minutes were played by younger and newer talent to the team, like streaky shooter Grewal, guard Joginder Singh, and the big man combo of Amjyot Singh and Amrit Pal Singh. Most of India's bigs are still in their early 20s (or younger) and this experience will aid them as they improve both mentally and physically in coming years. Flemming has helped the team take a baby step forward at least, and we hope that he is around providing some continuity (as he promised) to oversee more improvements in the future.

Bhriguvanshi, who had a nightmare tournament two years ago, somewhat redeemed himself in Philippines as India's best player, leading the squad in scoring (13.1 ppg) and also adding 5.9 rebounds per game. Narender Grewal cooled down after a hot start to average 11 points per game while a major breakthrough was made by Amjyot Singh, who led the team in rebounds (6.9 rpg) while also scoring 9.6 points per contest. Surprisingly, India's teenage 7-2 phenom Satnam Singh Bhamara didn't get many opportunities to showcase his developing skills. Bhamara was mostly a bench-warmer at the tournament and was only given a chance to play in blowout situations. Still, the youngster has already played in two senior FIBA Asia championships before touching 18, and we hope that the experience goes a long way to prepare him as a potential future star for the squad.

On another note, the tournament marked an important breakthrough, as it was the first time that women referees were chosen to officiate in FIBA Asia Men's games. The two referees chosen were India's very own Snehal Bendke and China's Li Peng. 

Final Standings

1. Iran
2. Philippines
3. Korea
4. Chinese Taipei
5. China

All Tournament Team

Jayson William - Philippines
Min Goo Kim - Korea
Lin Chih-chieh - Chinese Taipei
Oshin Sahakian - Iran
Hamed Hadaddi - Iran - MVP

One small step for Indian Basketball on cable TV...

On August 2, 2013, India's Men's basketball squad played against Thailand at the Preliminary Round of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship in Manila (Philippines). It was the second game for both teams at the championship, and both were coming off losses. The game tipped off late, at 10:30 PM local time, and at the primetime hour of 8 PM for fans back in India who were checking in on an otherwise fairly regular Thursday night. India, under coach Scott Flemming, came out motivated and blew Thailand out the gates, running away to a 89-65 victory.

For those who have closely followed the course of Indian Basketball in the past years, or even the past decades, there was nothing unusual about this night. India have played in 22 FIBA Asia Championships around the continent in the past, and dozens more if you count the Women's, Junior, and Youth divisions. The national teams have played in hundreds of more games around the world in various other tournaments and competitions. Domestically, Indian basketball players take part in scores of national-level, state-level, district level, or club invitational tournaments annually.

But there was something truly special about that Thursday evening game on the 2nd of August.

When India's Men's Senior National Basketball squad took on Thailand in Manila on that day, it became the first ever Indian basketball game - domestic or international - to be broadcast on cable TV in India. The Neo Prime channel, part of the Nimbus Communications Limited family, bought the rights to broadcast a live feed from FIBA TV of the games from the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. FIBA has been feeding games live in various tournaments for years, but never before has a cable channel in India taken the risk to show Indian hoops. Since the advent of cable television in the country, channels like ESPN, Star Sports, Ten Sports, and SONY PIX/SIX over the years have shown NBA basketball, NCAA tournaments, or basketball from the European leagues. Indian basketball, including domestic tournaments or rare international matches, were limited only to state-owned Doordarshan and shown on DD Sports. The coverage on DD Sports (as many watchers will attest) is amateurish, the production value cheap, and commentary unreliable, and the chance of a live fourth quarter humdinger getting randomly replaced by last night's Ranji Trophy highlights highly probable.

Since the first game against Thailand, Neo Prime has been showing more of India's games at the tournaments and a few of the other games as well. It is obviously not the most watched sports channel in India, but it is at least another option. It's a small step for Indian hoops, but it may pave the way forward for further mainstream alignment of the sport to the Indian audiences in the future.



Whenever I've posted information about Indian basketball events - domestic or international - the most common question has been by fans has been "Where will it be broadcast?" Fans in the country here about India's best players often - the Vishesh Bhriguvanshis, the Geethu Anna Joses, the Satnam Singh Bhamaras, and the Anitha Pauldurais often - but they rarely get a chance to watch them in action. The result is that Indian basketball fans base most of their knowledge of the game on the NBA, which has been easily available on TV for years and now, on the internet too. News of Indian basketball is only limited to box scores and text recaps and the live performances of our stars has to be left only to our imaginations.

This hurts both long-time hardcore fans and potential new fans of the game. Hardcore fans who truly want to dedicate a career either playing basketball or being connected with the game in another way rarely get to see the workings of the system and the ability of Indian players in action, and thus, find it difficult to find something to aim for in India. They are left with forlorn fantasies of the NBA instead of even taking a look at the level of the game in their own backyards. Most of the people who watch basketball games in India are the participating players themselves, players who attend a tournament become the audience to the other games at the same tournament. To the rest of the world, the tournament passes by unseen. Legendary comebacks, game-winning baskets, heroic individual performances, and emotional victory celebrations have all taken place numerous times year and year on basketball courts around India, or by Indian players in basketball courts around the world, and virtually none of us have been able to watch them.

Secondly, every day, young people turn on the sports channels on TV to find something to watch. They find cricket (a lot of cricket), they find tennis, they find football (mostly from Europe, but fortunately, now from India too), they find hockey, and they find increasing coverage of NBA basketball, too. A slew of other sports which don't earn advertising rupees on cable TV find their way in the darker halls of DD Sports. These include domestic Indian basketball tournaments, for which, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) actually has to pay the channel to cover them. Outside of those who are actively seeking to find these games, very few other TV watchers in India come across the action on DD. A whole generation of potential new fans are lost year after year. They start supporting the Lakers, Heat, Celtics and the Bulls. They rarely ever get the chance to cheer for India. Many of them aren't even aware that India has a team.

The FIBA Asia Championships are the most important basketball tournaments for India's Men and Women teams, so it is a no-brainer to prioritize them for broadcast. The FIBA feed has been decent, with good commentary and better production value than anything you'll find on Doordarshan. But there is other potentially exciting news ahead: for years, the launch of India's first-ever professional basketball league has been on the horizon. When the league eventually comes into existence, it will not survive without a growing supportive audience, and such as audience will not exist without regular, exciting, and well-programmed cable TV broadcasts. In the past, TV channels have been rightfully hesitant to invest on domestic basketball for the national audience, but if early experiments like the current championship on Neo Prime can be mildly successful, it may help pave the way for more channels to be interested in promoting the game further and supporting any future broadcast plans of the pro league.

Neo Prime's coverage has the potential to slowly (very slowly) start making a difference. From the moment it was announced by BFI that the games from the FIBA Asia Championship will be shown on Neo, a number of fans have been checking in daily to support those in the Philippines proudly sporting 'India' jerseys in action. Our players might not be the world's best or most exciting basketball stars, but they still represent our country several times a year. They need our support and we want to support them.

It's a win-win situation, just as long as the economics of broadcasting these shows can keep the TV channel happy. This is no charity case, and every programming decision is eventually about the bottom line: profits. So hopefully, the more fans tune in to watch the games, the more advertisers will support the broadcast, and in turn, the channels will be more likely to keep showing more games. Basketball audience in India is still quite young, so the process above is going to be a lot tougher than it sounds, but we must keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best ahead.

Preview: India, Rebooted, head to Manila for the 27th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship

The team is set. The players are ready, practiced, and confident. And the coach has given them all his preperatory wisdom over the last few months as possible. For India's National Basketball Team, the 'Road to Manila' for the 2013 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in the Philippines has concluded. And now, the continent's most prestigious basketball challenge awaits them ahead.

But before we look ahead, we should look back a little. There was a lot of optimism around Indian Basketball in 2011. The team was heading to Wuhan, China, for the 26th FIBA Asia Championship with a former NBA Coach Kenny Natt at the helm. They were packed with the perfect balance of youth and experience and loaded with some good young bigs. They had practiced hard and raised expectations. After finishing in the bottom half of the table year after year, there was some hope that this team could break into the top eight. They dominated the qualifiers and looked ready to make an upset or two.

Instead, the Wuhan 2011 campaign was an unfortunate failure. India returned from the tournament without a single win on the court, and earned a ‘victory’ only in the record books after Qatar was forced to forfeit their classification round game. India’s 1-4 record landed them at 14th place (out of 16 in Asia), and the Natt experiment saw their standing fall below even their previous finishes.

The rise of Indian Basketball took an abrupt pause soon after. The federation's head honcho Harish Sharma tragically passed away in early 2012 and Kenny Natt's sojourn with India ended earlier than expected, fizzling out a period of great promise and potential.

Two years after Wuhan, India's Basketball squad will get another shot at Asia's finest tournament, and this time around, the expectations have been curbed to allow a new rebooted generation of players and coaches to take some baby steps back into the path of improvement.

Formerly a head coach with NBDL side Texas Legends, Scott Flemming was appointment the Head Coaching position with India's Senior Men's squad late last year and has brought back some cautious optimism with a remodeled and younger Indian team. Flemming, who has promised to focus on bringing consistency and continuity to Indian Basketball, will face his biggest challenge starting on August 1, in India's first game against Bahrain. And expect the challenges to keep getting bigger from there on forth.

This will be India's 22nd appearance in the FIBA ABC, but their finest days - two fourth-place finishes back in the mid-60s and mid 70s - are decades behind them. India qualified for the tournament this year easily by winning the SABA (South Asian Basketball Association) Zone Qualifiers in New Delhi in early June against Afghanistan and Nepal. India's preperation for the FIBA ABC also took them to Turkey for the past 10 days, where they played against four clubs from the nearby region and won each game by impressive blowouts. Owing to the weak stature of their opponents so far, the team has looked dominant and been undefeated in the Flemming era.

Expect that to change against the big boys in Asia in the Philippines.

India have been drawn in the relatively easy Group D at Manila 2013, against Bahrain, Thailand, and Kazakhstan. Going strictly by the FIBA rankings, the only team 'better' than India in the group are Kazakhstan, by just one spot. If focused, India should not have any trouble against Bahrain and Thailand, and if truly ambitious, can dream of defeating the athletic Kazakhs, too.

The top three teams from the Group will move on to the Second Round Group F, where they will join the top three teams from the powerhouse Group C, which are most likely to be China, Korea, and Iran (Group C has Malaysia, too). If India make it to Group F, they will play their next three games against these three teams, and their accumulated points from the previous two rounds (or six games) will determine their standings for the Quarter-Finals of the event.

India hasn't made it to the top eight of the FIBA ABC since 2003, and have finished 12th, 15th, 13th, and 14th in subsequent years since in the biennial competition. If they can finish amongst top four of the six teams in Group F - a tough task since it will be near impossible to upstage powerhouses like China, Korea, and Iran - they will get entry into the top eight and the quarter-finals. From then on forth, the knockout round will begin on August 9th. If India is knocked out earlier, they will play in classification round games to determine their final spot.

The tournament's finale is scheduled for August 11th.

Flemming has made several changes to the squad that was representing India in Wuhan, leaving out big name players like TJ Sahi, Trideep Rai, Jagdeep Singh Bains, and Prakash Mishra and encouraged a generation of younger players to merge into the senior squad. Representing India will be their excellent captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, talented youthful big men Amrit Pal Singh and Amjyot Singh, energy-boost Yadwinder Singh, experienced point guard Sambhaji Kadam, and a supporting cast that includes Joginder Singh, Narender Kumar Grewal, Vinay Kaushik, Arjun Singh, Pratham Singh and Rikin Pethani. The man in the middle - or should we say the boy in the middle - will be India's 17-year-old, 7-foot-2 phenom who will garner the most attention and interest at the tournament, Satnam Singh Bhamara. By now, Satnam's story of rapid improvement at the IMG Academy in Florida are well know. The youngster, who played a bit role in Wuhan two years ago, will be hoping to breakout against Asia's best over the next two crucial weeks. Long-plagued for not having the size to compete against stronger frontlines in the past, the likes of Satnam, Amjyot, Amrit Pal, and Pethani will now make India one of the tallest sides in the competitions.

If I had to guess, India's starting lineup would be with Joginder at the point, Vishesh and Narender on the wings, and Yadwinder and Satnam in the post. Kadam will provide maturity on the point off the bench and Amjyot and Amrit Pal will come boost the front line whenever required. Coach Flemming seems to be flexible with his tactics and will probably adjust according to the competition.

Only 15 teams will be participating in Manila after Lebanon were suspended by FIBA in August: hosts Philippines, holders China, reigning silver medalists Jordan, reigning bronze medalists Korea, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, Qatar, Iran, Malaysia, Bahrain, India, Kazakhstan, and Thailand. Despite going through a downward spiral recently, China - record 15-time winners of the tournament - are still the team to beat in Asia and have been bolstered with the good news that Yi Jianlian will be participating in the tournament, too. Iran, Jordan, Korea, and Japan also feature some great players and will be amongst the teams to watch at the tournament. Boosted by a fervent, basketball-crazy home support, the Philippines could spring some surprises, too.

Our eyes though will be firmly on Team India and their hopes of a respectable finish at the tournament. Check out India's full schedule and roster here to be prepared for the road ahead. And follow the rebooted squad as they hope to bury the ghosts of Wuhan and turn some heads over in Manila.

Team India concludes practice run in Istanbul with four easy wins

In preparation for the biggest Asian basketball tournament – the 27th FIBA Asia Championship for Men to be held in Manila from August 1 – India’s National Basketball squad spent the last nine days in Istanbul (Turkey) with their Head Coach Scott Flemming, taking part in intense training and scrimmages from various squads from across the region. India won all four of their practice games by blowout margins.

India’s final 12-man roster chosen to represent the country at the FIBA ABC in Manila was revealed last earlier this month, and Flemming – formerly coach of the NBDL side Texas Legends – took the same squad of players to Turkey for friendly matches.

Here are the results, via the Basketball Federation of India:

July 22: India bt. Pasa Yildirim Club 91-49
July 25: India bt. Professional Club from Cameroon 108-65
July 26: India bt. Combined Turkish Club 82-51
July 27: India bt. Tildirim Bosna Club 88-50

The Indian squad has now left for Manila, and their next game will be in their tournament opener against Bahrain on Wednesday, August 1. India are in Group D of the FIBA Asia Championship, along with Bahrain, Thailand, and Kazakhstan.

India's Snehal Bendke becomes one of two first women referees to officiate at Men's FIBA Asia Championship

Snehal Bendke has always been ahead of her contemporaries and ahead of her time. While most young basketball lovers focus on playing the sport in their early 20s, Bendke took a different angle and chose to focus on refereeing instead. She became one of India's first women referees to be qualified with a FIBA licence. She has officiated since officiated at women's basketball competition across the globe, including the FIBA World Championship and FIBA Asia Championship, just to name a few.

Now, she's set to make history again. Bendke and Chinese referee Ling Peng will become the first women to officiate games at the highest level of basketball competition for Men, as they have been called up amongst the list of 24 other referees at the 27th FIBA Asia Championship for Men in Manila next week.

“Well. This will be the first time that women referees will officiate in a FIBA Asia Championship." said FIBA Asia Secretary General Hagop Khajirian, "I call this the next step in the evolution of FIBA Asia technical officials. The term FIBA Referee is beyond gender. It does not different differentiate between male and female referees. If a referee is good enough to be called a FIBA Referee, then he or she is capable to officiate any game be it for men or women."

Congrats to Snehal: you can find out more about her through this excellent interview with Gopalakrishnan R. a few months ago on SportsKeeda.

India’s Men’s Basketball roster revealed for 2013 FIBA Asia Championship

The final 12-man roster of players who are set to represent Team India at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship Basketball in Manila (Philippines) from August 1-11 has been revealed by the team’s Head Coach, Scott Flemming. The FIBA Asia Championship (known popularly as the FIBA ABC) is the most prestigious basketball tournament in Asia.

Team India for 2013 FIBA Asia Championship

Joginder Singh - PG - 5-11
Sambhaji Kadam - PG - 5-10
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi - G - 6-2
Narender Kumar Grewal - SF - 6-3
Vinay Kaushik - G - 6-2
Arjun Singh - G - 6-4
Pratham Singh - G - 6-2
Yadwinder Singh - F - 6-6
Amjyot Singh Gill - F - 6-9
Rikin Pethani - F/C - 6-9
Amrit Pal Singh - C - 6-11
Satnam Singh Bhamara - C - 7-2

Head Coach: Scott Flemming
Coach: Jora Singh
Coach: Prasad Rama Linga
Physiotherapist: Naved Hameed

Coach Flemming has made three changes to the squad from the one that helped India qualify for the FIBA ABC in early June after winning the SABA Zone Qualifiers against Nepal and Afghanistan. The most important addition has been of 17-year-old 7-foot-2 phenom Satnam Singh Bhamara. Bhamara, who currently studies and practices his craft at the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida, came back to India after missing out on the qualifiers and won his place back in the team. The youngster played a backup role in Kenny Natt's team at the 2011 FIBA ABC, but his rapid improvement and of course, incredible size might thrust him into the starting lineup this time around.

In addition, 6-4 expert point guard Arjun Singh ('Golu') and Pratham Singh have been added to the team to replace Basil Phillip and talented youngster Loveneet Singh.

In an effort to get younger, there are also some big-name omissions from the team that played in the 2011 ABC, including Hareesh Koroth, TJ Sahi, Jagdeep Singh Bains, Trideep Rai, and Prakash Mishra.

The Indian squad left for Istanbul (Turkey) on July 19th, where they will take part in a training camp and practice matches before their trip to the Philippines at the end of the month.

Groups and Preliminary Round Schedule

India have been placed in Group D with Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Bahrain.

Group A: Jordan, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Philippines
Group B: Japan, Qatar, Hong Kong*
Group C: China, Korea, Iran, Malaysia
Group D: Kazakhstan, Thailand, India, Bahrain

*Lebanon, who were initially in Group B of the tournament, were suspended by FIBA on August 11. Since they couldn't find a replacement in time, the fray of the competition has been reduced to just 15 teams.

August 1, 2013: India vs. Bahrain
August 2, 2013: Thailand vs. India
August 3, 2013: India vs. Kazakhstan

Photo courtesy: Gopalakrishnan R.

India has to finish in the top three to qualify for 'Group F' in the Second Round of the tournament, carrying on their points from the preliminary stage and playing against the top three teams from Group C. If they finish amongst the top four (of six) in Group F, they will be in the Quarter-Finals for the beginning of a traditional knock-out round. The Final of the tournament will be held on August 11th.

China are the reigning champions, who won an incredible 15th FIBA ABC title at home in Wuhan in 2011. India finished at a dismal 14th place two years ago, but this year's squad will be hoping to make some noise in Manila to secure a higher finish at the tournament.

India qualify for 2013 FIBA Asia Championship by winning SABA Zone Qualifiers

India started off as favourites to emerge as victors from the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Zone Qualifiers against Nepal and Afghanistan this week, and anything less than victory would've been crushing dissapointment. Still, basketball games are not won on expectations alone, and the 'Young Cagers' - under the tutelage of new Head Coach Scott Flemming - still had to go out and get the job done. They did that all right, winning both their games in comfortable fashion at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi from June 2-4. Thus, they sealed their qualification for the 2013 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship for Men and will be headed to Manila (Phillipines) for Asia's biggest basketball tournament in August.

Flemming, who was cautiously optimistic of India's chances, must be glad to see that he has had a successful start to his coaching campaign. After several months at camp, Flemming chose a 12-man roster that featured a healthy mix of experience and youth, and a whole lotta size, going into these qualifiers. Size hasn't always exactly been India's strength in international basketball fixtures, but with a flux of talented young bigs coming into the system, it seems that the future is a little brighter (and bigger).

India kicked off the three-team qualifying tournament against Nepal on June 2nd, in what turned out to be a stroll in the park. Without the size to match India's big men and the skill to keep up with their offense, Nepal fell behind after a close start and were never in the game again. At 13-8, it seemed Nepal may stick around in the contest, but India ended any chance of an upset as they scored 24 consecutive points. They held on to a mammoth 61-13 lead at halftime before pulling the breaks on their offense a little in the second period. Still, it was no mercy for the northern neighbours as India were able to give meaningful minutes to all 12 players and finish the evening with a 109-26 victory. Six Indians scored in double digits to showcase a balanced offense, with Punjabi big man Amrit Pal Singh leading the way with 17.

Nepal couldn't catch a break against Afghanistan the very next day, either. The Afghanis used their immense height and athleticism advantage to again break out a big lead and cruise to a 78-20 win.

This set up the expected do-or-die matchup between India and Afghanistan on June 4th, with the winner earning the right to represent the SABA Zone in the 27th FIBA Asia Championship from August 1-11, 2013. Although India were favoured, a victory was by no means guaranteed. Three years ago, Afghanistan famously defeated India in the South Asia Games basketball final, and India avenged the loss with a close but ugly victory later in that year at the Asian Games. Flemming had spoken earlier about the threat that Afghanistan possessed, and didn't want India to take them lightly.

Photo Credit: Gopalakrishnan R.

They didn't: India took an 18-9 lead in the first quarter and maintained a double digit advantage throughout. Although they couldn't score too easily against Afghanistan's bigs, they were still able to dominate the run of play. Flemming had been working hard in improving India's team defense, and the results of the hard work were on full display as they did a good job in disrupting Afghanistan's offensive flow. India had a comfortable 16 point lead at halftime and ended up winning the game 64-46. Going to their young bigs - Amrit Pal Singh and Amjyot Singh - proved fruitful to India. Point guard Joginder Singh also had a nice game and team captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi had his usual all round performance despite a struggle shooting on the floor.

14 of total 16 teams have now punched in their tickets for Philippines and now await the tournament draw. The tournament was initially slated to be held in Lebanon, but the venue was changed due to security concerns from the Syrian civil war and the Middle East in general. India finished a disappointing 14th place in the 2011 FIBA ABC in Wuhan (China). With a better-looking talent pool and more concentrated efforts to improve, the Men have to aim for much greater heights. China will be defending their title, while Jordan, Korea, Iran, and hosts Philippines will hope to upset Asia's strongest side.

For now, let's celebrate India's qualification. The road ahead is only going to get tougher for Flemming and his team: we hope that they can build upon this start to give Asia's finest squads a shock or too in Manila.

A special shoutout to Gopalakrishnan R., a basketball writer with admirable passion for Indian hoops, who was on scene throughout the tournament and provided a comprehensive breakdown of all the games. Gopal did excellent live play-by-play commentary of the games and is also to be credited for the photograph above!

Al Riyadi (Lebanon) win 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup

For the first time in the club’s history, Al Riyadi of Beirut (Lebanon) lifted the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the premier club basketball championship for men in Asia, after defeating two-time reigning champions Mahram Tehran (Iran) 91-82 on Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Manila (Philippines). Al Riyadi finished the 22nd edition of this championship that was held from May 28th – June 5th with a perfect 7-0 record and the gold medal.

Co-organised by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (Basketball Federation of the Philippines) and FIBA Asia, the tournament pitted 10 of the best Asian club basketball teams against each other. Mahram Tehran, who were bidding for a three-peat after winning the 2009 and 2010 editions of the tournament, had to settle for silver in the final after losing to Al Riyadi.

The star of the show in the final was El Cheikh Fadi El Khatib, who scored a tournament-high 41 points to lead his team to victory. Jean Abd El Nour pitched in 32 for Al Riyadi in the Final. Mahram Tehran were led by M. Sadam Nikkhah Bahrami (28) and Christopher Williams (21). The team from Iran actually led by a point at the end of the third quarter, but Al Riyadi held their nerves to dominate the final quarter, make some crunch plays, and steal the win.

Al Rayyan (Qatar) beat home team Smart Gilas (Philippines) 74-61 in the third-place game to win the bronze medal.

FIBA Asia releases 2011 Events Calendar

Press Release: The complete FIBA Asia calendar of events for 2011 has been announced.

The calendar will tip off with the 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup, FIBA Asia’s premier event for club teams, to be hosted by Philippines at Manila from May 28 – June 5, 2011.

Philippines will host a FIBA Asia event after a gap of six years. The last FIBA Asia event hosted by Philippines was incidentally also the Champions Cup – the 16th edition of the event – in 2005.

Wuhan in China and Omura-Nagasaki in Japan have already been chosen to host the two marquee events of the calendar – the 26th FIBA Asia Championship (Sept 15-25, 2011) and the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women (Aug 21-28, 2011).

Ho Chi Minh City, the capital of South East Asian nation Vietnam will host the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship at a date to be decided. The event will mark the first time Vietnam will host a FIBA Asia event.

Urumqi in China has been chosen as the host for the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women, at a date to be decided. Among other important events, Urumqi had hosted the 2006 FIBA Asia U18 Championship.

The two FIBA Asia U16 events are qualifying events for the corresponding FIBA World U17 events to be held in 2012.

Lauding the host of each events, FIBA Asia president Sheikh Saud Ali Al-Thani said: “Hosting an event is charming, but the challenges that come up can be understood only by the hosts. I congratulate each of the host and the National Federations for coming forward to host the events.”

“From FIBA Asia side I assure all support. I hereby call upon all the prospective participants for each event to provide all the necessary support so that each event runs smoothly,” Sheikh Saud added.

“I also welcome Vietnam who are joining our list of hosts,” Sheikh Saud said.

“Last year we had Yemen joining the list of hosts. This year it is Vietnam,” said FIBA Asia Secretary General Dato’ Yeoh Choo Hock.

“The quality of FIBA Asia events has seen a tremendous improvement in the last couple of years. I am confident we can not only continue but also improve our standards this year,” Dato Yeoh added.

“Organizing an event in new cities is always exciting. It provides a wonderful opportunity to widen the support base for our sport,” said FIBA Asia Deputy Secretary General Hagop Khajirian, also the Chairman of the FIBA Asia Committee for Marketing and Media.

“The fact that new cities are coming forward to host events is very encouraging. It means our sport is gaining in support from more people. I congratulate and look forward to working with all the host cities and National Federations,” Khajirian added.

The complete FIBA Asia 2011 calendar:

May 28 - June 5: 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup (Manila, Phillipines).
Aug 21 - 28: 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women (Omura-Nagasaki, Japan).
Sep 15 - 25: 26th FIBA Asia Championship (Wuhan, China).
Dates TBC: 2nd FIBA Asia Championship (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).
Dates TBC: 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women (Urumqi, China).