Senior Indian men’s basketball squad ready for 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge

The senior Indian men’s basketball team is all set to represent the country at the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge, which will be held between 9th to 18th September in Tehran, Iran. The squad for the same has been finalized.

The Indian team had qualified to the FIBA Asia Challenge after easily winning the South Asian Qualifying round that was held in Bengaluru earlier this July.

There are 12 participating teams divided into 4 preliminary groups of 3 teams each. India is in preliminary Group B with Philippines and Chinese Taipei. All 12 teams from the preliminary rounds progress to the second round, from where the top 8 teams will progress to the knockout stages.

It is to be recalled that in the previous edition of this tournament in 2014, India had famously upset China, and will be looking to repeat its strong showing against Asia’s best teams. Host Iran is the defending champion.

The Squad

The final 12 members of the squad who will represent India at the FIBA Asia Challenge were selected at the end of a nearly one-month long training camp held at NMAM Institute of Technology (NITTE) in Karkala, Udupi district of coastal Karnataka.

While the Indian side remains largely unchanged from last month’s 38th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament, there are a couple of key changes. Veteran swingman and defensive stopper Yadwinder Singh returns to the team and is expected to provide much-needed versatility on both ends of the floor in terms of matchups.

Also, teenager Hariram Ragupathy, one of the stars from India’s historic 8th place finish at the 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship, makes his debut into the senior team.

A small ceremony was held at the NITTE campus to bid farewell to the Indian squad, which was attended by Mr. Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary General of BFI.

“On behalf of BFI I convey my sincere thanks to NITTE University management, who for the last two years have been continuously providing us all the training facilities for the Indian team. This is one of the best campus facilities I have seen,” said Mr Sharma.

Addressing the departing contingent, he said, “Ultimately, it is the outcome of your efforts which will benefit basketball in India. You are the players who are icons for all other players in the country. So I wish you all the success and that you put up a performance that is even better than in all the previous championships that you have attended.”

Senior Men’s Squad for the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016

JerseyNo	Family Name(s) /Last Name	First Name(s) /Given Name	Place of Birth (City and State)		Date of Birth(dd/mm/yyyy)	Height(cm) (ft & inches)	Weight (Kg)	Position
4	Bhullar	Arshpreet Singh	Jalandhar	Punjab	02/10/1996	190 (6’ 3’’)	86	G/F
9	Bhriguvanshi	Vishesh	Varanasi	Uttar Pradesh	13/09/1991	195 (6’ 5’’)	95	G/F
10		Amritpal Singh	Ganna Pind	Punjab	05/01/1991	207 (6’ 9.5’’)	110	C
12	Philip	Basil	Sulthanbathery	Kerala	10/01/1991	184 (6’)	76	G/F
14	Yadwinder	Singh	Rasulpur Khurd	Punjab	30/12/1986	198 (6’ 6’’)	95	F
15	Pethani	Rikin	Sajiavadar Amreli	Gujarat	02/12/1990	203 (6’ 8”)	104	C
22	Bhardwaj	Ravi	Chandigarh	Chandigarh	31/10/1992	207 (6’ 9”)	100	F/C
25	Ragupathy	Hariram	Chennai	Tamil Nadu	24/04/1998	184 (6’)	72	SG
27		Amjyot Singh	Chandigarh	Punjab/ Haryana	27/01/1992	203 (6’ 8”)	104	F
46	Sivakumar	Prasanna Venkatesh	Gobichettipalayam	Tamil Nadu	25/09/1992	186 (6’ 1”)	85	G/F
66	Pari	Akilan	Chennai	Tamil Nadu	20/07/1989	180 (5’ 10’’)	70	PG
99		Talwinderjit Singh	Patiala	Punjab	20/10/1986	182 (5’ 11’’)	80	PG

*PG - Point Guard / Feeder, G - Guard, F - Forward, G/F - Wing, PF - Power Forward, C - Centre, PF/C - Post

13) Coach: Sat Prakash Yadav14) Coach: C. V. Sunny15) Physiotherapist: Nikhil N. P.16) Manager: Shaktikumar Mahipatsinh Gohil17) FIBA Commissioner: Norman Swaroop Issac18) Referee: Atanu Banerjee

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Format

The initial round of the tournament will be played in a round-robin format. The 12 participating teams have been divided into 4 groups of 3 teams each, and each team will play the 2 teams that are in the same group as them.

Preliminary Round GroupingGroup A: China, Jordan, KazakhstanGroup B: Philippines, India, Chinese TaipeiGroup C: Iran, Qatar, IraqGroup D: Japan, Korea, Thailand

All 12 preliminary round teams will advance to the second round, where they will be divided into 2 teams of 6 each. Each team will then play the 3 new teams in its group. The top 4 teams from each of the second round groups will then move on quarter-finals, followed by the semifinals and finals.

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India’s Tournament Schedule (all times IST)

Round 1

vs Philippines – 9th September, 09:45 PMvs Chinese Taipei – 10th September, 05:15 PM