India national basketball team

India

FIBA ranking	53 8[1]
Joined FIBA	1936
FIBA zone	FIBA Asia
National federation	Basketball Federation of India
Coach	Sat Prakash Yadav
Nickname(s)	Young Cagers[2]
Olympic Games
Appearances	1 (1980)
Medals	None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	None
FIBA Asia Championship
Appearances	24
Medals	None
South Asian Games
Appearances	4
Medals	Gold: 1995, 1999, 2004 Silver: 2010
Uniforms
Light Dark

The India men's national basketball team represents India in international men's basketball. It is controlled by Basketball Federation of India.^[3]

A 1936 founding member of FIBA Asia,^[4] India has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions. Throughout its history, Team India qualified for the FIBA Asia Championship 24 times and is placed in the top-5 in appearances in this tournament. Further, India's basketball team won three gold medals and one silver medal at the South Asian Games.^[5] Team India celebrated its most recent title at the 2014 Lusofonia Games after they finished the tournament with a 4-0 record and beat Angola in the final.^[6]

Its most famous moment came at the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup with the win against home favorties China men's national basketball team by 7 points.^[3][7] This win has been labelled as the "biggest basketball win in the nation's history."^[8]

History

1965-1975

India appeared at the international stage for the first time ever at the 1965 Asian Basketball Championship where it started out as moderately competitive. Khushi Ram who captained the Indian team stood as second best scorer at the 1965 Asian Basketball Championship and even in 1967 and 1969 Asian Championship as well. In the following years, India became a regular at the event and had their most successful tournament in 1975 when the team even reached the final four.^[9]

1980-2010

1980 Olympics

Plagued by a lack of popularity and support for basketball at home, at times, India faded into oblivion and only had a handful of successful performances. Its most noteworthy tournament appearance was at the 1980 Summer Olympics when the team got its chance to represent Asia due to the cancellations of some teams who took part in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. A few of the world's top basketball powers at that time (such as the United States and Canada) withdrew from the tournament. India finished 12th out of 12 in the Olympics after getting knocked out in the Preliminary Round by losing all three of their matches and then losing all five of their matches in the Classification round.

While the results did not go India's way one game in particular caught the attention of basketball fans worldwide. India played against the Australian Team, one of the world's top basketball teams. India, which was made up solely of voluntary basketball players competed against the elite team of Australia for almost the whole game until it finally ceded to the Boomers 75-93 after leading at halftime 41-37.^[10]

Many Indian players also made headlines while in the Soviet Union as well. Ajmer Singh gained worldwide attention as he was amongst the top 10 shooters there and became the 10th best pivot player in the tournament there.

1990-2010

Kanteerava Indoor Stadium has served the national team for training sessions.^[11]

The late 90s saw the emergence of Sozhasingarayer Robinson, the first Indian basketball player who gained considerable international attention. Robinson led India to a surprising victory over South Korea, one of Asia's top teams.^[12] Later, he became the first Indian player ever to get a contract offer from another continent when he signed for Negar sang Sharekord in Iran.

In 2005, however, Robinson complained that the structure and support for basketball in India was still mediocre and government officials did not do enough to support the sport. As a protest, he retired from the national team.^[13]

2010-present

At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship India was coached by former Sacramento Kings head coach Kenny Natt.^[14] Further, for the first time ever, India had its own strength and conditioning coach. Even though the team lost most games, its performance against Lebanon, which had made it to the final four at the previous tournament, superseded expectations.

In 2012, former NBA D-League and U.S. college coach, Scott Flemming, took over the team. Under his supervision, the team won the South Asia Championship in 2014. India had two wins and finished 3 places higher (11th) in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship than in 2011.^[15] In 2014, the Young Cagers (as team India is often nicknamed) won the Lusofonia games with wins over Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Angola in the gold medal game. This was Team India's first title ever against non-Asian competition. In the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup India pulled off the biggest win in their 80-year history by defeated China on their home court 65-58. The establishment of a professional league will be a major step in continuing this recent success the Indian team has experienced. In 2011, plans for the establishment thereof were officially agreed upon.^[16]

Competitive record

Olympic Games Year Round Position Pld W L 1936–1976 Did not qualify 1980 Preliminary Round 12th 8 0 8 1984–2016 Did not qualify 2020 To be determined Total Preliminary Round 1/17 8 0 8

FIBA World Championship Year Round Position Pld W L 1950–2014 Did not qualify 2019 To be determined Total 0 Titles 0/16 0 0 0

Asia Championship

Year	Position	Tournament	Host
1965	7	1965 ABC Championship	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1967	6	1967 ABC Championship	Seoul, South Korea
1969	5	1969 ABC Championship	Bangkok, Thailand
1971	6	1971 ABC Championship	Tokyo, Japan
1973	6	1973 ABC Championship	Manila, Philippines
1975	4	1975 ABC Championship	Bangkok, Thailand
1977	7	1977 ABC Championship	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1979	5	1979 ABC Championship	Nagoya, Japan
1981	5	1981 ABC Championship	Kolkata, India
1983	6	1983 ABC Championship	Hong Kong
1985	10	1985 ABC Championship	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1987	6	1987 ABC Championship	Bangkok, Thailand
1989	6	1989 ABC Championship	Beijing, China
1991	13	1991 ABC Championship	Kobe, Japan
1995	13	1995 ABC Championship	Seoul, South Korea
1997	11	1997 ABC Championship	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2001	8	2001 ABC Championship	Shanghai, China
2003	8	2003 ABC Championship	Harbin, China
2005	12	2005 FIBA Asia Championship	Doha, Qatar
2007	15	2007 FIBA Asia Championship	Tokushima, Japan
2009	13	2009 FIBA Asia Championship	Tianjin, China
2011	14	2011 FIBA Asia Championship	Wuhan, China
2013	11	2013 FIBA Asia Championship	Manila, Philippines
2015	8	2015 FIBA Asia Championship	Changsha, China
2017	To be determined	2017 FIBA Asia Championship	To be determined

Asian Games 1951 : 4th 1954-66 : Did not qualify 1970 : 6th 1974-78 : Did not qualify 1982 : 8th 1986-2002 : Did not qualify 2006 : 17th 2010 : 11th 2014 : 9th 2018 : To be determined

FIBA South Asia Championship 2002 : 2013 : Did not participate 2014 : 2015 :

South Asian Games 1995 : 1999 : 2004 : 2010 : 2018 : To be determined

Lusofonia Games 2006 : Did not participate 2009 : Did not participate 2014 : 2017 : To be determined

Commonwealth Games 2006 : 8th 2018 : To be determined

FIBA Asia Champions Cup best performance: 2007 : 7th worst performance: 2003 : 9th Since 2003, the majority of India’s national basketball players compete under the team name "Young Cagers" at the annual Asian Club Championships.[17]

Team

Current roster

2015 FIBA Asia Championship.^[18]

India men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – DOB Ht. Club F 3 Vinay Kaushik 24 – August 30, 1991 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) Income Tax G 4 Rajesh Prakash Uppar 24 – January 20, 1991 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) Vijaya Bank G 7 Siddhant Sanjay Shinde 24 – June 15, 1991 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Customs G 9 Bhriguvanshi, Vishesh 24 – September 13, 1991 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation C 10 Singh, Amritpal (C) 24 – January 5, 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Tokyo Excellence F 13 Vikas Kumar 26 – November 13, 1988 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Haryana Police PF 14 Singh, Yadwinder 28 – December 30, 1986 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation F 15 Arvind Arumugam 24 – January 28, 1991 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Vijaya Bank F 22 Singh, Amjyot 23 – January 27, 1992 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Tokyo Excellence G 66 Akilan Pari 26 – July 20, 1989 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Income Tax C 69 Akashdeep Hazra 19 – July 1, 1996 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Indian Railways F 96 Gurvinder Singh Gill 19 – January 21, 1996 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Punjab	Head coach Sat Prakash Yadav Assistant coach(es) Sebastian Padipurakkal Joseph Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on September 23, 2015

Depth Chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Bench	Inactive
C	Amritpal Singh	Akashdeep Hazra
PF	Amjyot Singh	Gurvinder Singh Gill		Sozhasingarayer Robinson
SF	Yadwinder Singh	Arumugam Aravind
SG	Akilan Pari	Vinay Kaushin	Narender Kumar
PG	Vishesh Bhriguvanshi	Rajesh Uppar	Siddhant Shinde

Notable players

Singh (left) with the Indian national team in 2013

Other current notable players from India:

India roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr. C Satnam Singh 20 – 10 December 1995 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in) Texas Legends F Sai Tummala 23 – 16 January 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball Legend Club – describes current club Age – describes age on 10 February 2016

Head Coach history

• Lauro Mumar
• Major N.K. Singh - 1997
• Keshav Kumar Chansoria - 2001
• Jay Prakash Singh - 2005
• Zoran Lukic - 2006
• Mahender Rathor - 2007
• Aleksandar Bucan - 2007-2010
• Bill Harris - 2010-2011
• Kenny Natt - 2011
• Keshav Kumar Chansoria - 2012
• Scott Flemming - 2012-2015
• Sat Prakash Yadav - 2015-

Past rosters

Scroll down to see more.

1980 Olympic Games: finished 12th among 12 teams

Baldev Singh, Ajmer Singh, Parvez Diniar, Dilip Gurumurthy, Harbhajan Singh, Jorawar Singh, Amarnath Nagarajan, Pramdiph Singh, Paramjit Singh, Radhey Shyam, Hanuman Singh, Tarlok Singh Sandhu

1997 Asian Championship: finished 11th among 15 teams

Pankaj Malik, B.S. Gowtham, Gagnesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, N. Appla Raju, Parmindar Singh, Nishant Kumar, Virendar Joshi, Jaldeep Dhaliwal, D. Swaminathan, Srikant Reddy (Coach: Major N.K. Singh)

1999 Asian Championship: not qualified

2001 Asian Championship: finished 8th among 14 teams

Vinay Kumaryadan, J.Murli, B.J. Jadeja, Mohit Bhandari, S.Sridhar, Parmindar Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Austin Almeida, Sozhasingarayer Robinson, Suresh Ranot, M.S. Sabeer Ahamed, Des Raj (Coach: Keshav Kumar Chansoria)

2003 Asian Championship: finished 8th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Gagnesh Kumar, Mihir Pandey, S. Gopinath, S.Sridhar, Parmindar Singh, Muraleekrishna Ravindran, Trideep Rai, Sozhasingarayer Robinson, Riyaz Uddin, Snehpal Singh, Des Raj

2005 Asian Championship: finished 12th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Shiv Kumar, Mihir Pandey, Anoop Mukkanniyil, Yadwinder Singh, Rajanna Sanjay Raj, Muraleekrishna Ravindran, Trideep Rai, Sozhasingarayer Robinson, Riyaz Uddin, Talwinderjit Singh, Jagdeep Singh (Coach: Jay Prakash Singh)

2007 Asian Championship: finished 15th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Shiv Kumar, Ravikumar Krishnasamy, Anoop Mukkanniyil, Roshan Thankachan Padavetiyil, Rajanna Sanjay Raj, Muraleekrishna Ravindran, Trideep Rai, Dilawar Singh, Riyaz Uddin, Lokesh Yodav, Jagdeep Singh (Coach: Aleksandar Bucan)

2009 Asian Championship: finished 13th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Talwinderjit Singh, Hareesh Koroth, Harpalsinh Vaghela, Sunil Kumar Rathee, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Prakash Mishra, Vineeth Revi Mathew, Abhilek Paul, Jayram Jat, Dinesh Comibatore, Jagdeep Singh (Coach: Aleksandar Bucan)

2011 Asian Championship: finished 14th among 16 teams

2011 India National Basketball Team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – DOB Ht. Club C 4 Singh, Amjyot 20 – 27 January 1992 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Punjab Police (Amateur) C 5 Bhamara, Satnam Singh 16 – 12 October 1995 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) IMG Academy G 6 Koroth, Hareesh 27 – 12 November 1984 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Tamil Nadu (Amateur) G 7 Mishra, Prakash 29 – 5 August 1982 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Indian Railways (Amateur) C 8 Shah, Dishant Vipul 20 – 3 January 1992 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Gujarat (Amateur) G 9 Bhriguvanshi, Vishesh 20 – 13 September 1991 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Indian Railways (Amateur) F 10 Singh, Amitpal 28 – 28 January 1984 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Punjab Police (Amateur) F 11 Garewal, Narender Kumar 29 – 20 April 1983 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Services (Amateur) F 12 Rai, Trideep 29 – 4 July 1983 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Uttarakhand (Amateur) SG 13 Singh, Talwinderjit 25 – 26 October 1986 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Punjab Police (Amateur) C 14 Singh, Yadwinder 25 – 30 December 1986 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Indian Railways (Amateur) C 15 Singh, Jagdeep 19 – 10 January 1993 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Punjab Police (Amateur)	Head coach Kenny Natt Assistant coach(es) Rajinder Singh Pawan Kumer Zak Penwell Legend (C) Captain Club denotes current pro club

2013 Asian Championship: finished 11th among 15 teams

India National Basketball Team: 2013 FIBA Asia Championship roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – DOB Ht. Club PG 4 Kadam, Sambhaji 33 – March 15, 1980 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Services (amateur) G 5 Grewal, Narender Kumar 25 – June 25, 1988 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Services (amateur) F 6 Singh, Pratham 22 – January 10, 1991 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Tamil Nadu F 7 Kaushik, Vinay 21 – August 30, 1991 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) F 8 Singh, Arjun 21 – June 8, 1992 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) N.W. Railway F 9 Bhriguvanshi, Vishesh 21 – September 13, 1991 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) ONGC C 10 Singh, Amritpal 22 – January 5, 1991 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) Punjab Police (amateur) PG 11 Singh, Joginder 25 – May 27, 1988 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Services (amateur) C 12 Bhamara, Satnam Singh 17 – December 10, 1995 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) IMG Academy F 13 Singh, Amjyot 21 – January 27, 1992 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Punjab Police (amateur) F 14 Singh, Yadwinder 26 – December 30, 1986 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Indian Railways (amateur) C 15 Pethani, Rikin Shantilal 22 – December 2, 1990 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) Tamil Nadu	Head coach Scott William Flemming (US) Assistant coach(es) Jora SINGH (India)

2014 Asian Games: finished 12th among 16 teams

India men's national basketball team - 2014 Asian Games roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – DOB Ht. Club G 4 Singh, Joginder 26 – May 27, 1988 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Indian Air Force PF 5 Grewal, Narender Kumar 26 – June 25, 1988 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Indian Air Force PG 6 Pari, Akilan 25 – July 20, 1989 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Income Tax SG 7 Mishra, Prakash 32 – May 8, 1982 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Indian Railways PF 8 Singh, Pratham 23 – January 10, 1991 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) Indian Overseas Bank PF 9 Bhriguvanshi, Vishesh 23 – September 13, 1991 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation C 10 Singh, Amritpal (C) 23 – January 5, 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation PF 11 Sivakumar, Prasanna Venkatesh 21 – September 25, 1992 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Indian Overseas Bank C 12 Brar, Palpreet Singh 20 – January 3, 1994 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Punjab F 13 Singh, Amjyot 22 – January 27, 1992 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Indian Overseas Bank PF 14 Singh, Yadwinder 27 – December 30, 1986 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation C 15 Pethani, Rikin Shantilal 23 – December 2, 1990 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Indian Overseas Bank	Head coach Scott William Flemming Assistant coach(es) Rama Linga Prasad Guntupalli Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on September 19, 2014

Kit

Manufacturer

2015: Roox ^[18]

See also

• Basketball Federation of India
• Basketball in India
• India women's national basketball team
• India national under-19 basketball team
• India national under-17 basketball team
• India national 3x3 team

References

1. "FIBA Ranking for Men". Fiba.Com. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
2. BFI - About Us, Basketball Federation of India - Coaches Corner, accessed 4 April 2013
3. http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/FIBA/fibaStru/nfLeag/nfProf.asp?nationalFederationNumber=301 FIBA.com – National Federations & Leagues
4. Jai Prakash, "Indian basketball team to feature in Dubai tournament", Yahoo Cricket India, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
5. Pakistan basketball team named for 11th South Asian Games, gz2010.cn, accessed 25 March 2012.
6. http://ekalavyas.com/2014/01/27/live-india-vs-angola-men-gold-medal-match/
7. http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/4142/12/10/59/50lXLHtjAYWWo/
8. http://ekalavyas.com/2014/07/12/live-india-vs-china-5th-fiba-asia-cup-men/
9. http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/event/p/cid//sid/2447/_/1975_FIBA_Asia_Championship_for_Men/index.html FIBA: 1975 Asian Championship for men, fiba.com, accessed 17 October 201.
10. http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/game/p/gid/10/grid/X/rid/727/sid/2940/tid/301/_/1980_Olympic_Games_Tournament_for_Men/statistic.html FIBA: 1980 Olympic Games : Tournament for Men, archives.fiba.com, accessed 17 October 2011.
11. NBA All-Star Dwight Howard to Embark on Tour of India to Help Grow the Game of Basketball, NBA.com, 4 August 2011, accessed 4 April 2013
12. http://www.taiwanhoops.com/2004/11/stankovic-cup-day-4-robinsons-36-leads.html Taiwan Hoops - Stankovic Cup Day 4 – Robinson’s 36 leads India upset Korea, 81-76 , taiwanhoops.com, written 24 November 2004, accessed 13 October 2011.
13. http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/04/stories/2007120411292200.htm The Hindu - Sport / Basketball : Robinson not to play for India, TN, Hindu.com, written 4 Dec 2007, accessed 15 October 2011.
14. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-14/interviews/29656175_1_basketball-federation-nba-player-coaching-basketball
15. http://wuhan2011.fibaasia.net/ScheduleResults.aspx
16. http://hoopistani.blogspot.de/2010/06/india-to-have-professional-basketball.html Hoopistani: India to have professional basketball league, Hoopistani - Basketball, June 21, 2010, accessed Feb 3, 2016.
18. 2015 FIBA Asia Championship – India, FIBA.com, accessed 16 February 2016.

External links

• Official website
• FIBA profile
• India Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
• Asia-basket - India Men National Team
• Presentation on Facebook

Videos

• India v Japan - Group B - Game Highlights - 2015 FIBA Asia Championship Youtube.com video