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Basil Philip from Customs and Central Excise Kochi will represent India at the FIBA Asia Challenge Basketball Tournament in Iran from 9–18 September 2016. This tournament will serve as the first step in determining the process of the qualifiers for the top five teams that will earn their respective sub-confederations an extra berth for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup which is formerly named as the FIBA Asia Championship. India will be sending their best-available line-up – a healthy mix of youth and experience – to Tehran. Head Coach Sat Prakash Yadav along with malayallee CV Sunny will marshal the troops from the bench.

India will play in Group B against Philippines and Chinese Taipei. All three teams from their respective groups will qualify to the second round group stages where India will face Group A teams Jordan, Kazakhstan and a team they beat in 2014, China.

Seven out of India’s twelve players selected for the FIBA Asia Challenge featured in that historic game. Amritpal Singh, Yadwinder Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Rikin Pethani, Prasanna Sivakumar, Akilan Pari and Amjoyt Singh, the latter led the team in scoring that day with 13 points.

“The quality of the competition is extremely good as most teams will field their best players because they are currently no major events.

There are a number of big names who were not able to make the cut, due to a variety of reasons. At the top of the list is India’s first NBA draftee Satnam Singh, who was named in the list of probables in mid-August but won’t be making the final cut due to his commitments in the NBA’s D-League in Texas. Also following his footsteps in the USA is Palpreet Singh, the winner of the ACG-NBA Jump programme this year, who is currently preparing for the D-League tryouts.

According to Episode 35 of the Hoopdarshan podcast. Interview Coach Sunny reported that two of his important players – Arvind Arumugam and Aravind Annadurai – didn’t make the training camp due to injury. And BFI’s ban on UBA league participants meant that a couple of important members of the squad that defeated China in the FIBA Asia Cup two years ago – Narender Grewal and Joginder Singh – weren’t allowed to play for the national team, either. This has opened for several young prodigious talents. Recent senior team debutants Arshpreet Bhullar (Ludhiyan Basketball Acadamy ) and Ravi Bhardwaj (Chandigargh) will continue their dream run with the senior squad. Following his stellar performances at the FIBA U18 Asia Championship – also in Tehran – young shooting guard Hariram Ragupathy from Loyola college Chennai will return to Iran now with the senior squad and hope to show his potential at the bigger stage.

Whatever the name may be, India will always have fond memories of this competition. Two years ago, when this tournament was last held in Wuhan (China), India achieved a miracle. Led by American head coach Scott Flemming and the ‘big three’ of Amjyot Singh, Amrit Pal Singh, and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, they defeated Asia’s top-ranked basketball team and hosts China 65-58 in the Preliminary Round, while giving major headaches top three sides Iran and Philippines later in the tournament. The ‘Wonder of Wuhan’ was India’s biggest-ever basketball victory. Flemming left the national squad a year later, but the spark was ignited for India to dream of greater successes in the future.In the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship (which will be the FIBA Asia Cup from 2017)