Hoopdarshan Episode 90: India's rising basketball star Amaan Sandhu on quarantine life and beyond

After spending the last few years 'in the lab', improving his game at the NBA Academy India, 17-year-old 7-footer Amaan Sandhu made his senior national India debut in the winter. In Episode 90 of Hoopdarshan, Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok welcome Sandhu to talk about his rapid improvements, inheriting the hoops-gene from his high-flying father, his plans during the nationwide lockdown, and the world's greatest nickname: Big Baby Punjab.

Originally from Mohali, Sandhu is one of the brightest rising stars in Indian basketball. The 17-year-old product of the NBA Academy India has earned the opportunity to play in NBA Global Camps, NBA Academy Games, Basketball Without Borders Global and Asia events, and most-recently, made his debut in India's senior team in the 2019 South Asian Games and 2020 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.



Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.

Make sure to follow Hoopdarshan on Soundcloud or search for 'Hoopdarshan' on the iTunes Store! Auto-sync Hoopdarshan to your preferred podcast app NOW!

Hoopdarshan can be found on...

• - iTunes: Hoopdarshan 
• - Hoopdarshan on Soundcloud 
• - On Twitter: @Hoopdarshan 
• - Facebook.com/Hoopdarshan 

Hoopdarshan Episode 80: India Coach Veselin Matic, NBA Free Agency, and Ajinkya

Hoopdarshan's 80th episode is going to be a long, emotional journey, highlighted with an interview with India's new national team coach, Veselin Matic of Serbia. Matic discusses his plans for Team India going forward, the U16 SABA triumph, and how he hopes to bring a change to Indian basketball. Furthermore, co-hosts Kaushik Lakhsman and Karan Madhok talk about the frantic NBA Free Agency as well as Marathi basketball movie 'Ajinkya'.

Matic was named the head coach of India's men's national basketball programme a few months ago and arrived in India with a wealth of basketball experience. He has coached the national teams of Iran, Lebanon, and Syria, been an assistant coach for a very successful stretch of Yugoslavia's national team, and coached club basketball in Serbia, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Lebanon, and more.

Also on this episode's Hoopdarshan: India's U16 SABA victory reaction, Satnam Singh's draft rights traded, NBA Academy Games, the new season of 3BL, Kawhi Leonard, Clippers, Lakers, Nets, Durant, Celtics... and deep-diving into the film 'Ajinkya' as part of our favourite obsession: basketball in Indian cinema.



Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.

Make sure to follow Hoopdarshan on Soundcloud or search for 'Hoopdarshan' on the iTunes Store! Auto-sync Hoopdarshan to your preferred podcast app NOW!

Hoopdarshan can be found on...

• - iTunes: Hoopdarshan 
• - Hoopdarshan on Soundcloud 
• - On Twitter: @Hoopdarshan 
• - Facebook.com/Hoopdarshan 

NBA Global Academy wins 3rd NBA Academy Games in Atlanta; Team India finishes 1-5

For the past few years, the NBA has significantly shifted its focus on the future on basketball, on finding and developing elite-level youth talent from across the world with their network of international academies. Every year, these academies come together for a battle royale, pitting the best against the best. This year, the 3rd NBA Academy Games were held in Atlanta, for the first time in USA soil, and the result was a repeat of last year: the top team of the tournament was once again the NBA Global Academy - based in Canberra (Australia) - who took the title with a final win against World Select Blue on Sunday.

The 2019 NBA Academy Games were held at the Emory Sports Medical Complex in Atlanta, featuring eight Academy teams from around the world: World Select Red, NBA Global Academy, TSF, NBA Academy China, NBA Academy Africa, NBA Academy India, NBA Academy Latin America, and World Select Blue. The tournament held from July 9-14, with the final and third-place games held on Sunday, the 14th of July.

NBA Global Academy cruised to a victory in the final against World Select Blue, 97-73. NBA Global Academy took the first quarter 28-16. Despite World Select Blue taking the third quarter 25-19, NBA Global Academy easily won all other quarters to secure the win. Uruguay's Santiago Vannet was the leader for the Global Academy with 20 points and 5 assists in the win, while Australian Blake Jones added 18. NBA Global Academy also featured India's standout prospect Princepal Singh on their roster. For World Select Blue, Samuel Mennenga was the top scorer with a game-high 27 in the loss.

Featuring the likes of Amaan Sandhu, Harshwardhan Tomar, and Pranav Prince, the NBA Academy India finished the tournament with a 1-5 record, at 7th place out of the 8 participating teams. Former India's national team head coach and the current technical director of the Academy in Greater Noida, Scott Flemming was the head coach of this team. They lost their first five games to World Select Blue, NBA Academy Latin America, NBA Academy Africa, NBA Global Academy, and, in the knockout stage, a second time to NBA Academy Africa. But they picked up an important consolation victory over NBA Academy China in their last game.

NBA Academy India results from 3rd NBA Academy Games

• World Select Blue 87-43 NBA Academy India
• NBA Academy Latin America 84-49 NBA Academy India
• NBA Academy Africa 66-27 NBA Academy India
• NBA Global Academy 94-38 NBA Academy India
• NBA Academy Africa 59-35 NBA Academy India
• NBA Academy India 65-61 NBA Academy China

The top performer for Team India at this tournament was Amaan Sandhu - 'Big Baby Punjab' - who finished the tournament averaging 10.67 points and 7.7 rebounds per contest.

NBA Global Academy win NBA Academy Games in Australia; India's squad also participated

From July 14-21, some of the top youth basketball prospects from around the world - handpicked by the NBA - converged for an international basketball confluence to Australia for the 2nd NBA Academy Games and Basketball Australia Prospects Camp. Held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, this tournament/camp featured NBA Academy teams representing Latin America, Africa, China, India, and of course, local Australian prospects.

Participants came from Academies based in Australia, China, India, Mexico and Senegal, along with five teams comprised of 50 top prospects from Australia, including Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence team, for a total of 120 prospects from 18 countries. Participants engaged in a series of exhibition games, on-court drills, professional skill development and daily life skills sessions.

At the conclusion of the 'Academy Games' on Saturday, July 21, the NBA Global Academy squad defeated NBA Academy Latin America 79-74. Global Academy had a commanding 18-point lead late in the third quarter before Latin America stormed back to bring the game within one possession late in the fourth quarter. Global Academy’s strong resolve down the stretch helped the champions maintain their lead and secure the victory. Hyunjung Lee of Global Academy scored 21 points to lead all scorers.

The BA Prospects A defeated NBA Academy Africa 77-70 to finish third, led by Brandon Freire (23) and Kobe Williamson (18).

Through thick and thin ✊🏾

A post shared by NBA Academy (@nbaacademy) on Jul 19, 2018 at 6:16am PDT

This year was the NBA Academy India squad's first opportunity to take part in this competition. The squad featured up-and-coming Indian prospects like Amaan Sandhu, Brijesh Tiwari, Riyanshu Negi, Achintya Krishna, Pritish Jitesh Kokate, and more. The team was coached by Jacques Vandescure. Although the Indian team didn't make it too far in the single-elimination knockout stage, they picked up important experience as the youngest squad in the tournament against other international prospects.