India needs to make home support count for the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup 2017

This article was first published in my blog for The Times of India Sports on July 19, 2017. Click here to read the original piece.

One of the theories of how ‘Bengaluru’ gets its name dates over a millenia ago. An inscription found in Begur village, 14 kilometres from the city, states that the place – called ‘Bengaval-uru’ was part of the Ganga Kingdom till 1004. To face the battles fought at this spot, the inscription means ‘City of Guards’ in Halegannada (Old Kannada).

A few hundred years, many more kingdoms and governments, and a couple more name changes later, the city named Bangalore became Bengaluru again. And in 2017, some of the best guards on the continent- the basketball-playing kind- get set to invade India’s third-largest city.

Starting from Sunday, July 23, Bengaluru will host Asian basketball’s most-prestigious women’s trophy- the FIBA Asia Women’s Cup 2017-at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, situated in the heart of the city’s Central Administrative Area. This will mark the first time that India will host a major FIBA (the International Basketball Federation) tournament since the same tournament was held in Chennai back in 2009.

Basketball is still a niche sport in India, but a major tournament like this should shine a spotlight not only on the beauty of the game itself but also on India’s potential. With the help of home support, India’s national squad will be hoping to rise back to the elite division of teams in Asia.

India have never finished better than fifth-place in Asia, after the continent’s usual powerhouses: China, Japan, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei. This year, the addition of Oceania squads like Australia and New Zealand will add the two squads among the long-list of title contenders, too.

Following a miserable performance at the same tournament in 2015 in Wuhan, China, India fell to the lower level-Division B-of the championship, meaning that the home team will not have a chance to contend for the title with the Division A teams. But there is a silver-lining to this cloud: with most of the top teams in the continent in the tougher division, India will have a chance to put out winning performances against lower-ranked teams to delight the home fans.

The team’s hope will be to finish top in Division B and qualify for Division A for the 2019 iteration of the championship. India were drawn in Group A of Division B, along with southern neighbours Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and American Samoa, but the latter eventually pulled out of the competition. For India to be promoted to Division A, we will have to win Group A in our division, and then defeat the top ranked team from Group B, likely to be Lebanon or Kazakhstan.

To help see India through this task, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) appointed veteran Serbian Zoran Visic as Head Coach of the Women’s squad a month before the championship. Although Visic will face the challenge of getting the team prepared for this big challenge in such a short span of time, he will have a good mix of veteran and youth players on the roster to help lead the brigade. Team India will be captained by Tamil Nadu’s veteran star Anitha Paul Durai, and she will definitely be one of the stars to watch in the tournament. India’s best player is most likely Kerala-born Jeena Scaria, a multi-talented forward who was our leading scorer at the tournament in 2015. Others likely to play major minutes in this team will be Raspreet Sidhu, Kavita Akula, Rajapriyadharshini Rajaganapathi, and Shireen Limaye. Our tallest-ever women’s player-the 6’11” Poonam Chaturvedi-will hope to shrug off her injuries to play an important role, too.

Visic’s squad stammered in their first exposure against international challenge at the William Jones Cup in Chinese Taipei earlier this month, finishing without a win in five matches against all higher-ranked squads. But the experience should definitely pay dividends when the team returns home to face more beatable competition.

The last time India hosted a tournament of this stature, Arjuna Awardee Geethu Anna Rahul ended up finishing as the leading scorer in the entire tournament. There is no game-changer like Rahul in the squad anymore, but between Scaria, Paul Durai, Akula, and more, India has players who will hope to make their turn towards superstardom in Bengaluru.

But as important as India’s performances on-court will be the performance and participation of fans off of it. This tournament is going to offer a chance for Indian sports fans to watch some of Asia’s best basketball talent competing at the highest level. Reigning champions Japan will return to defend their title with stars like Asami Yoshida and Yuka Osaki. Australia will feature many players that starred in their team for the Rio Olympics like Mariana Tolo, Belinda Snell, and Abby Bishop. Other players to watch will include China’s Sun Mengran, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting and Huang Ping-Jen, and South Korean superstar Danbi Kim.

The priority for home fans, however, will obviously be the home team. For those who are based in or near Bengaluru, the tickets to watch high-level basketball action for a whole day are going to be just ?100. The games can be followed online via the tournament’s official website. And there is hope that a domestic TV network (most likely Neo Sports) might show some of the games live in India.

So, watch the games, cheer on the team, and support the other stars showing up in India for the championship, too. Tournaments like these don’t come often in Indian Basketball, and it is a responsibility for fans like us to make them count. A successful performance by our home team – whom I like to call ‘Desi Heights’ – will just be the cherry on the cake. Let’s make the ‘City of Guards’ showcase its skills on battles on the hardwood, too.

Serbian Zoran Visic appointed head coach of India's Women's Basketball Team

The biggest date on India's basketball calendar is approaching this year - the FIBA Asia Women's Cup - and this year's tournament is going to be extra special: India will have the privilege and pressure of hosting this prestigious championship on their home soil, in Bengaluru, and this will be the first time that the FIBA Asia Women's Cup will incorporate the top teams from the Oceania region, too. Two years ago, India fell to lower level of this championship after a forgettable performance in Wuhan, China: now, playing on home soil, they will be hoping for extra motivation to rise back up the ranks of Asian basketball.

To help complete that complicated task, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) officially announced the appointment of seasoned Serbian Coach Zoran Visic as the new Head Coach of the Indian women's national team. Visic took over Team India at the national camp from June 1 and will serve his contract until the end of July. The FIBA Asia Women's Cup is scheduled in Bengaluru from July 23-29, 2017. Before the big tournament, Visic and the squad will get a chance to play in preparatory games as they will also participate in the William Jones Cup in Taiwan from July 5-9. The BFI says that Visic's term may be extended after the end of July if mutually agreed by both parties.

Although he had already been working with the national team for two weeks, the BFI only made the announcement of Visic's appointment in a press conference at Bengaluru on Friday, June 16. BFI's President K Govindraj, Secretary-General Chander Mukhi Sharma, assistant coach Shiba Maggon, and senior-most player Anitha Paul Durai were present for Visic's official introduction.

"India has done a lot to improve in both the women’s and men’s sides [in the last few years]," Visic said at the press conference. "We are now in Division B. So for sure our target is to be once again in Division A. This is a new age for Indian basketball and I believe the girls have the confidence and pride necessary to deliver a good result."

India have been drawn in Division B's Group A at the tournament, along with Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan - the fourth team in their group, American Samoa, has backed out of the championship. India's aim will be to top the entire division make it back up to the hither Division A for the next iteration of this championship.

Visic will be the first foreign coach with the national team since the departure of Spaniard Francisco Garcia in 2015. Although incorporating his leadership skills and experience with Indian coaches like Paramdeep Singh and Shiba Maggon should definitely assist the national team, it is still a pity that the BFI waited so late - less than two months before the championship - to bring in a new coach. Every coach has a different philosophy and system, and to truly make a change in the basketball programme, needs to understand the structure of the sport, recruiting, facilities, and other options thoroughly. Visic, unfortunately, will not have the time to pick his own preferred team for his preferred system, and will instead have to make do with the probables available.

Which is, of course, not to say that the available probables aren't top notch. India will feature a great mix of youth and experience at the championship this year, including the aforementioned Paul Durai, star player Jeena Scaria, Shireen Limaye, Poojamol Kochuparambu, Poonam Chaturvedi, Kavita Akula, Barkha Sonkar, and more. Unlike 2015, India will also get a chance to prepare for the big tournament at the William Jones Cup this year, and hopefully, the team is able to find some chemistry in this short period of time before the FIBA Asia Women tips off.

Visic (61) has been the head coach of Yugoslavia's Women's national team, Serbian junior national team, and has coached professionally in Serbia, Russia, and most-recently, in Romania, over the past 22 years. If he does a good job in India, I hope for some continuity at the top and for him to spend a longer time in developing the national basketball programme here.

Summer Slam – India prepares for an important season of international basketball

This article was first published in my blog for The Times of India on May 25, 2017. Click here for the original piece.

For most of us who have lived across the sweltering saunas of northern and central Indian plains, summer is the worst possible season for basketball. Temperatures in various Indian cities across the map – from Chhattisgarh and Odisha up to Delhi and Rajasthan – begin to rise ruthlessly, 40, 45 degrees, and even higher, leaving thermometers crying mercury tears of mercy. For the next few months, the safest place in the country is indoors.

This doesn’t bode well for the basketball community. Most of the basketball facilities across India are outdoors, in courts that get so hot under the direct heat of the summer sun that cracks flare up on the cement surfaces and the metal poles on either side turn into heat radiators. Basketballs get deflated quicker, water turns into sweat in a matter of seconds, and worst of all, there is the danger of strokes for the energy-drained players huffing back and forth in the heat. Most players radically change their practice schedules for outdoor courts in the summertime, showing up to play either in the earliest hours of the morning or well-after the sun has begun its descent at night.

This year, however, India will be gearing up for a big summer of basketball. With our national men and women’s teams both involved in the most-prestigious Asian basketball events, the hottest action this season will be performed by star players on court.

First up on the calendar is going to be the 2017 FIBA Asia Women’s Cup, the top women’s basketball championship for teams from the Asia and Oceania region and an initial qualifying tournament for the 2018 FIBA Asia Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain. This tournament will be of added importance for India: scheduled from July 23-29, it will be held at Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava stadium (indoor and safe from the boiling temperatures outside!). It will be the first time since 2009 that India will host a major senior Asian basketball championship.

This is a biennial championship which was last held in Wuhan, China, in 2015. Japan’s Women’s squad have been on a hot streak in recent years, winning the last two iterations of this tournament. India have had a rollercoaster experience in the same span of time: in 2013, India gave their best-ever performance to finish at 5th place in Asia for the first time in history. In 2015, however, India lost all of their game and were relegated down to the lower division.

This is the first year that teams like Australia and New Zealand from Oceania will join Asian powerhouses like Japan, China, Korea, and Chinese Taipei to contend for the trophy. At the official draw for the event in Bengaluru last week, India were placed in the lower Division B, Group A, along with Sri Lanka, American Samoa, and their possible-toughest opponent in the Preliminary Round, Uzbekistan. India should be able to top their group, and if they can go on to win their division, they will qualify for the higher Division A in the next iteration of the championship.

Led by coach Paramdeep Singh, India will be hoping to qualify for the top tier with good performances in their homeland. The preparatory camp for the tournament began early this year and an exciting mix of veteran and youth talent – including Jeena Scaria, Anitha Pauldurai, Bhandavya Mahesha, Poojamol Subhashmon, Kavita Akula, Barkha Sonkar, Shireen Limaye, and Poonam Chaturvedi – will hope to have the team firing on all cylinders by July.

Meanwhile, India’s national men’s team will play in their corresponding event – the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup – from August 8 to 20 in Lebanon. This tournament, also including Oceania teams from the first time, will serve as an initial qualifier for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.

Like the Women’s tournament, the Men’s FIBA Asia Cup is also a biennial event. China, the host nation at the previous FIBA Asia Championship, are the reigning champions and have won gold for 16 of the 28 iterations of the event. Iran are the next best team in Asia and will enter this year’s tournament among the other favourites. Other top teams to watch will be Australia, Philippines, and Jordan.

With a fifth-consecutive victory at the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) basketball championship in Male, Maldives earlier this week, India’s Men’s team secured their place at the FIBA Asia Cup. India have made steady improvements at the international stage and played in the tournament’s Quarter-Finals in 2015, where they finished at their highest position (8th) in twelve years.

Expectations are high for India this time around. Last year, the ‘Young Cagers’ made a splash at the FIBA Asia Challenge (a secondary international event) by defeating China, Philippines, and Chinese Taipei to post their best international performance in 27 years and finish at 7th place. Led by Coach Sappaniambalam Baskar, India could boast of a deep roster of talent, featuring Amritpal Singh, Amjyot Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Yadwinder Singh, Palpreet Singh Brar, Akilan Pari, and potentially, India’s first NBA draftee Satnam Singh. Anything less than another quarter-final appearance would be considered a disappointment.

There is more international basketball for India’s youth squads later in the year as seasons change. Both India’s U16 Men and Women’s teams will be taking part in FIBA Asia U16 Championships. Bengaluru will again play host to the U16 Women’s tournament in October.

For now, the summer beckons, and no matter how difficult the season gets, there will be cool cocoons of basketball around the country, in early mornings, at late nights, and for some, in indoor courts. As India locks in for the massive international events, it could surely become a season to remember.

FIBA Asia Women's Cup 2017: India drawn in Division B, Group A

The last time India's Women's squad played in a major FIBA Asia tournament, they returned in failure. India lost all of their preliminary group games in Level 1 and then lost their playoff game, too, to fall down to the lower Level 2 of the tournament. It was a difficult time for our national team, and the last two years have been spent with the mission to return to the higher rung of competition.

In a few months, India will have some extra motivation for success: home court. For the first time since 2009, we will be hosting not one, but two major FIBA Asia events - the FIBA Asia Women's Cup and the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women - over the next few months. The former of these will be held in Bengaluru from July 23-29.

As the competition dates loom nearer, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and FIBA took the next major step in preparation: On Wednesday morning in Bengaluru, the official draw for the FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2017 was held at the city's Krishna Hall. This year's list of squads, for the first time, include teams from the Oceania region in the Asian competition, too. The expanded fray of participants also presented a changed format in the tournament, with two groups in each "Division" (instead of Level). India were drawn into the lower Division B, Group A, along with Sri Lanka, American Samoa, and Uzbekistan.

Results: FIBA Asia Women's Cup 2017 Draw

• Division A, Group A: New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, North Korea, China.
• Division A, Group B: South Korea, Philippines, Japan, Australia.
• Division B, Group A: Sri Lanka, India, American Samoa, Uzbekistan.
• Division B, Group B: Lebanon, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Fiji.

Japan, the champions from 2015, will be among the favourites again, but will have to contend with a couple of strong sides in Australia and South Korea in their group. China and Chinese Taipei will be the strongest squads in Division A's Group A.

In terms of FIBA's World Rankings, India is still the fifth-highest ranked team in Asia, and should be able to top their group easily. India's main threat is likely to be Uzbekistan. If India can top Division B, they will be promoted to Division A for the next iteration of the championship.

The draw ceremony in Bengaluru on Wednesday was attended by BFI President K Govindaraj, BFI Secretary-General Chander Mukhi Sharma, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his Sports Minister Pramod Madhvaraj and Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning KJ George.

China win double gold at Asian Youth Games 3x3 Basketball Tournament

China, hosts of 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, dominated the competition's 3x3 Basketball tournament, winning gold medals in both the boys' and girls' divisions, defeating Chinese Taipei in the final each time. It was China Boys' second consecutive gold in the competition while the Girls improved from their silver medal finish back in 2009.

A total of 18 boys teams and nine girls teams took part in the six-day tournament that tipped off on August 17th. Both the finals were held on August 22nd.

China's boys defeated Chinese Taipei 21-14 in the Final. Korea finished third in the tournament by defeating last year's boys' winners Iran 20-18 in the bronze medal game.

The girl's final was also between China and Chinese Taipei, won by the Chinese youngsters 16-10. Thailand clinched the bronze medal with an earlier victory over Uzbekistan, 16-4.

Athletes from a total of 44 Asian nations took part in the second iteration of Asian Youth Games. India, who finished 18th out of 20 teams in the boys' 3x3 basketball competition at the 1st Asian Youth Games in Singapore back in 2009, were banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because of government interference in the election process of India's Olympic Committee. In other sports, Indian athletes took part in the competition under the flag of 'Independent Olympic Athletes', but courted more controversy when 17 of them were thrown out of the field for being over-age.

China win U18 Women’s ABC again; Undefeated India win promotion to Level I

In a rematch of the final from two years ago, China and Japan faced each other – in the foreground of hostile political relations – in the Final of the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on October 6th. Like last time, China once again proved to be the slightly stronger side and held the edge for a 66-60 victory. This was China’s second consecutive win at the championship and an unprecedented 13th overall!

Relegated to Level II of the tournament since 2008, India played a masterful tournament to all of their games, go 5-0 in the course of the tournament, and win their spot back up to Level I for the next chapter of this championship in 2014.

Click here to read my in-depth review of the tournament.

India's team & schedule for 21st U18 Women’s FIBA Asia Championship in Malaysia

India’s under-18 women’s squad have qualified for the 21st U18 Women’s FIBA Asia Championship, set to be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, from September 29 – October 6, 2012. 12 teams will be taking part in the competition. India have been placed in ‘Level II’ in the tournament, along with Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan.

Click here to read full article