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Thiruvalla 13th October 2016: The 61st Senior State Basketball Championship for Men and Women at GBHSS Flood Lit Stadium here Manjeri from 22ND TO 27TH November 2016 . The Championship being Organised by Malapauram District Basketball Association under the Auspices Kerala Basketball Association . The Championship being an prelude to the 67th Senior National Basketball Championship to be held at Puducherry on 7-14 Jan 2017, The Kerala State Basketball Team to participate in the Nationals will be selected from this Championship

43rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior Nationals 2016 –SILVER FOR KERALA GIRLS
Chhattisgarh BFI-MP boys champs
Hyderabad, 7th October 2016: Kerala Girls Satisfied with the second spot as they lost to defending Champion Chhattisgarh 48-57 here for the finals of the 43rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 concluded a short while ago at the SATS Indoor Stadium, Saroornagar in the city.

The winners of the last two sub-junior national championships, Kerala girls and defending champions Chhattisgarh squared off in the final today morning. The game lived up with both teams sticking close to each other till the final minutes. Chhattisgarh followed their game plan of ball movement and finding the open man against Kerala’s zone defence. Kerala’s go-to player, centre Ann Mary Zachariah, struggled in the early going being unable to knock down freethrows. She was frequently double-teamed which opened up the lane for her teammate, Aleena Antony, who kept making tough layups to keep her side within a couple of possessions of Chhattisgarh.Kerala ended the first half with 31-37  Kerala’s Ann Mary found her touch in the third quarter, creating second chance opportunities for her team reduced the deficit to 3 points.

In the final quarter, Chhattisgarh were the more accurate team from the field and found easy scoring opportunities in transition. Kirti (20 points) and Urvashi Baghel (16 points) led the way for their team as Chhattisgarh pulled away from Kerala in the final minutes. For Kerala Ann Mary top scored with 19 points.

BFI-MP* bt Rajasthan 69-66
Defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh* boys were gunning for a three-peat as they entered their final against Rajasthan WITH 69-66 victory  Both teams were unbeaten so far in the tournament.

Mr P Niranjan Reddy, Vice Chairman, Telangana Government Planning Commission distributed the winning boys’ medals and trophy. Mr Aadhav Arjuna, Managing Director of Arise Steel Industries, the title sponsors of this championship, was the special guest for the second day running. Also seen distributing the trophies and medals were Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary-General of Basketball Federation of India, Mr M Rajender Reddy, President, Telangana Basketball Association, Mr R Sridhar Reddy, President, Organising Committee (& also President of the Hyderabad District Basketball Association) and other dignitaries.

Finals
Girls

• Chhattisgarh-57  (Kirti 20, Urvashi Baghel 16) bt Kerala -48(Ann Mary Zachariah 19, Aleena Antony 8) 57-48 (18-16, 19-15, 8-11, 12-6)

Boys

• BFI-Madhya Pradesh-69 (Virat Dhakad 19, Aman Negi 13) bt Rajasthan-66 (Mahaveer Banjara 29, Kamal Singh 10)  (14-6, 17-37, 24-11, 14-12)

Bronze medal match
Girls

• Tamil Nadu-70 (Nitika A 19, Sathya K 19, Sree Varshini J 18) bt Maharashtra-50 (Siya Deodhar 18, Chaitaali Bafna 14)  (16-14, 14-7, 27-16, 13-13)

Boys

• Haryana-73 (Gourav 19, Depender 11, Sahil 11, Vikas 10) bt Andhra Pradesh-42 (Shaik Ahmed 12, Nayeem Pranav 8)  (17-6, 25-10, 12-19, 19-7)

Hyderabad, 6th October 2016: Kerala Girls defeated Tamil Nadu 66-62 to Make the Finals against Chhattisgarh who defeated Maharashtra 51-45 here for the 43rdArise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship for boys and girls 2016 entered its fifth day today at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.

Kerala girls won their Semi Final game of day 6 defeating Tamil Nadu after  bad start  trailing 18-24 in the first Quarter but second string lead by Gouri  in the Second quarter played a fast paced game to making  Kerala to a lead of 39-30  at the half way.

Kerala centre and captain Ann Mary Zachariah again put up a stellar performance with 21 points. And gouri V supported her Very Much w scoring 17 points
 
In the boys semifinals, defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh* and Rajasthan separated themselves in the second half against Haryana and Andhra Pradesh respectively, to set up their summit clash.
 
Tomorrow’s final day schedule is as follows:

LEVEL 1

Semi-finals
Girls:

• Chhattisgarh-51 (Khushboo Gupta 19, Urvashi 14) bt Maharashtra-45 (Siya Deodhar 12, Sanskruti Pawar 7) 51-45(20-6, 12-14, 9-14, 10-11)
• Kerala -66 (Ann Mary Zachariah 21, Gouri 17) bt Tamil Nadu-62  (Sathya K 29, Nitika 14) 66-62 (18-24, 20-6, 15-14, 13-18)

Boys:

• BFI-Madhya Pradesh*-66 (Sachindra Sharma 23, Brijesh Tiwari 12, Virat Dhakad 11) bt Haryana -54(Depender 17, Sahil 14, Gourav 13) 66-54 (9-18, 16-8, 20-9, 21-19)
• Rajasthan 94 (Seikh Saifali 32, Mahaveer Banjara 24, Digvijay Singh 12) bt Andhra Pradesh -65 (Shaik Ahmed Alisha 20, S Nayeem Basha 12) 94-65 (12-12, 26-18, 24-19, 32-16)

Hyderabad, 3rd October 2016: Kerala Girls taste their victory as they scrape past Uttar Pradesh 40-38 making live the chance for a Quarter final here at the  league stages of the 43rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship for boys and girls 2016 entered its third day today at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.

Kerala girls after losing their match to Maharashtra Yesterday today played much beter game against   Uttar Pradesh girls who put up solid team effort but could not close out their game against Kerala,with Gouri and Ann mary scoring double digit of10points each but boys disappoint against bigger sized  Odisha boys and went down 26-24

The Delhi girls team continued their good run with a comfortable 49-25 victory against Himachal Pradesh. Point guard Kritika Dhingra led from the front once again with 19 points. In the other level 2 girls’ games thus far today, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh held their opponents to single digits in victories against Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha respectively. Anjali led her Chandigarh team with 19 points in the 37-18 win against Uttarakhand.

Defending champions Madhya Pradesh boys routed Andhra Pradesh 61-32 with MP’s Brijesh Tiwari contributing 20 points., while Uttarakhand sprinted past Puducherry for a 51-20 win. The Maharashtra and Karnataka boys’ game, however, was a real contest with Maharashtra holding off the Karnataka team for a 67-59 victory.

Late yesterday evening, the Rajasthan girls pulled off a tight victory against Haryana 45-40. The Haryana boys dominated against Karnataka in their game that ended 35 to 9.

Day 3 up to 2 pm

LEVEL 1:

Girls:
Group A:

• Karnataka- 47 (Harini MS 14, Janani N 11, Simran Agarwal 8) bt Haryana -33 (Sameeksha 10, Ritika 8) (18-8, 9-11, 14-7, 6-7)
• Rajasthan (Rashi Khotani 15, Akshita Tholia 9, Paridhi Gupta 8) bt Haryana (Sameeksha 16, Ritika 9) 45-40 (10-16, 8-6, 13-9, 14-9)

Group B:

• Kerala 40 (Gouri VS 10, Ann Mary Zachariah 10) bt Uttar Pradesh 38 (Kirti Nigam 4, Shreya Rani 4, Pratima Chauhan 4, Ananya Gupta 4, Chaitali Rajesh 4, Tanvi Suri 4) – (9-6, 12-14, 7-5, 12-1`113)

Boys:
Group A:

• Haryana -35 (Depender 9, Mohit 7) bt Karnataka -9 (Achintya Krishna 7) (17-4, 5-0, 7-4, 6-1)
• Madhya Pradesh-61 (Brijesh Tiwari 20, Virat Dhakad 11, Sachin Thapa 10) bt Andhra Pradesh -32 (Shaik Ahmed Alisha 8, KVV Ramana 6) (19-12, 12-11, 17-3, 3-6)
• Odisha  -64 (Brahmananda Behera 21, SK Fayazuddin 19, Rohit Bilung 14) bt Kerala-26  (Pranav Prince 8) (18-11, 11-9, 23-2, 12-4)

Group B:

• Maharashtra -67 (Imran Khan 18, Usman Khan 18) bt Karnataka-59  (A. Krishna 20, Shiva Kumar R. 16) (18-13, 15-11, 16-17, 18-18)

LEVEL 2:

Girls:
Group C:

• Delhi -49 (Kritika Dhingra 19, Trishala 11, Yakshita Jain 9) bt Himachal Pradesh -25 (Vanshika Nirala 10, Gagneet Kaur 7) (9-6, 16-4, 11-7, 13-8)

Group D:

• West Bengal 29- (Shreya Nath 12, Ankita Mohanta 6) bt Jammu and Kashmir 1 (Pranati Raj Tashu 1) (12-0, 1-0, 8-0, 8-1)

Group F:

• Andhra Pradesh 44 (V. Venkatalakshmi 17) bt Odisha (Akankshya Das 4) -8 (22-2, 15-0, 5-4, 2-2)
• Chandigarh 37 (Anjali 19, Payal 8) bt Uttarakhand -18 (Samya Ansare 8, M. Mansoor Wari 6) – (10-5, 2-0, 6-4, 9-0)

LEVEL 2:

Boys:
Group E:

• Uttarakhand (Vinayak Kumar 17, Ritik Kumar 10) bt Puducherry (Jagathesh S 7) 51-20 (16-3, 10-9, 10-6, 15-2)

Girls:
Group E:

• Jharkhand (Herlin Kaur 4, Ashison Kujur 4) bt Bihar (Shubhra Dutt 1) 18-1 (10-0, 4-0, 3-1, 1-0)

Group F:

• Andhra Pradesh (V. Venkatalakshmi 18, C. Archana 12, A. Jasmina 12) bt Uttarakhand (Chalsi Choudhary 7) 60-15 (9-7, 22-3, 21-1, 8-4)

Tiruvalla 28th Sept 2016 ;- Ann Mary Zacharia from Mount Carmel HSs Kottayam and Pranav Prince from St Josephs HSS Thiruvanthapurmam will lead Kerala at the 43rd Sub-Junior National Championship for boys and girls to be held at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium Complex   in Hyderabad  from 1-7 October 2016 . the girls team will be coached by Ajith A R from Thiruvanthapuram and boys by Prem  Kumar from Ernakulum , Rani Mol v and K O Oommen will be the managers respectively in girls and boys.

The team will be leaving by on 29th September (tomorrow)  by Sabari express after a 21day Coaching camp boys held at RSC Ernakulum and Girls at Vellayani Indoor Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.
 

TEAMS

Boys

• Pranav Prince © Jason rajan (Both Thiruvananthapuram)
• Sayan Mohammed K S, Sachin Koshy Cherian, Thomas Zacharia (All from Ernakulum)
• Paul Thomas, Akshay Kumar VA, Abhinav C K (All from Thrissur)
• Nithin Baby (Kozhikde)
• Joseph Roji (Kottayam)
• Sreehari Vijayan (Pathanmthitta)
• Govind Manoj (Kollam)
• Coach Prem Kumar  S and Manager K O Oommen

 
Girls

• Ann Mary Zacharia © Aksha Thankam Sajan, Swapna Marin Liju(All from kottayam)
• Jayasree R, Abhirami R, Gouri U S(All from Thiruvananthapuram)
• Aleena Antony, Anjanna Paul, Sanjana S(All from Thrissur)
• Saranki(Ernakulum)
• Avanthika Biju(Kozhikode)
• Janu Sunil (Alapuzha)
• Coach Ajith V G and Manager Ranimol  V 

Indian Basketball league Regional matches Group C Home Matches Concluded St Michaels, SH CMI i Topped the Group C

Regional Matches of group C at Kozhikode(Girls) and Ernakulum (Boys) of the Indian School Basketball League Group c were concluded at Manchira Maidan In Kozhikode and Sacred Heart CMI school in Thevara

In Kozhikode girls division St Michaels came undefeated winning all 3 in Group matches in the first round Similarly sacred Heart Public School Thevra also came undefeated winning their 3matches when the home matches in Group C concluded

In Ernakulam Boys division sacred Heart CMI public School defeated St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu 61-57 and St josephs finished 2nd with 2 wins and a loss

In Kozhikode St Michels in last league match beat Presentation 39-30 to top the group and Providence took the second spot with 2 wins and a loss

In an effort to uplift basketball from the grass-root level, Basketball Federation of India in collaboration with Kerala Basketball Association on Tuesday 20th t September started the league at Manachira maidan In Kozhikode and at Sacred Heart CMI Public School in Kochi apart from the centers at Koratty,Kottayam,Thiruvananthapuram will be in October.

The idea is to create a structured, self-sustaining, pan-India school league, which will serve as the platform to increase organised basketball participation at grassroots level and subsequently as the talent development/feeder system for the Indian national teams.

Apart from Kerala 15 other States are participating in the league which includes Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram

In Kerala Preliminary round of the tournament will be played at five centers Kochi, Koratty, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram,Kozhikode on a round-robin format, with the Sixteen (16) teams each in boys and girls are divided into four (4) groups of four (4) teams in five centers . Every team will take on its Three (3) opponents twice in its respective group. 2 teams from each group will advance to the final which will be played at Kottayam. The State finals will be played in a knockout format from the Quarter-Finals, Semifinals, Final and Third-Place Game

DETAILED SCORES

Girls

• Presentation GHS Kozhikode-43(Archana21,Akhila Mohan14) bt GVHSS Thallasseery-37(Anu Maria12,)
• St Michaels HSS Kozhikode-47( Justina 11, Anagha 15) bt Providence Kozhikode -44( Aswani Sreekumar11Adhika11)
• St Michaels HSS Kozhikode-35(Kasmeera Santhosh14) bt GVHSS Thalasserry-7
• Providence GHS Kozhikode-39(Anargja14) bt Presentation GHS Kozhikode-30(Akhila mohan14
• St Michaels HSS Kozhikode-39(Adhitya K10) bt Presentation GHS Kozhikode-30(Akhila mohan14)
• Providence GHS Kozhikode-48(Adhika17,Anargja10) bt GVHSS Thallasseery-23(Anu Maria11,)

 
Boys

• SH CMI Public school Thevara-68(Sharan Louis 23 , Shaun –Louis 13 ) bt Chinmaya Vaduthala-42(Sagar14)
• St Joseph HSS Pulikkunnu- 70(Amal 29,Feby8) bt Rajagiri KAlamsserry-43(Thushar21)
• SH CMI Public school Thevara-61(Sharan Louis 25 , Shaun –Louis 19 ) bt St Joseph HSS Pulikkunnu – 57(amal RAGHU22,Abhinandu11)
• Rajagiri KAlamsserry-49(Thushar15) bt Chinmaya Vaduthala-42(Sagar19)
• St Joseph HSS Pulikkunnu-44(Abhinandu15) bt Chinmaya vaduthala-18
• SH CMI Public school Thevara-45(Sharan Louis 17 , Shaun –Louis 10 ) bt Chinmaya Vaduthala-33

17th September 2016: India went down fighting against  Asian heavyweights Japan 66-77 in the first of its 5-8 classification games at the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016., Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, Iran.

India shot poorly at the start and ended up 8 points behind Japan in the first quarter after that India did well in almost matching Japan in three-quarters and even able to take a 3 point  lead . Now India will have to look to end its FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 on a good note with a final 7-8 classification against Chinese  Taipei tomorrow at 3 pm. For India . Amritpal end with yet another double of 22 points and 14 rebounds, with Amjyot pitching in with 18. For every run that India made though, Japan proved equal to the task to secure the 11 point win. American Professional Iea Brown was the top scorer for Japan  with 20 points  Japan now faces China in the 5-6 classification match tomorrow.

In the   semi-final matches defending champions   Iran defeated  Jordan, to take on  Korea who win an evenly contested  match  beat   Iraq 78-72 , Iraq a team that had stunned China in the quarterfinals to make   the finals

Detailed Result
Japan (Ira Brown 20, Makoto Heijima 19, Ryusei Shinoyama 12) bt India (Amritpal Singh 22 pts & 14 reb, Amjyot Singh 18 pts) 77-66 (22-14, 18-19, 20-18, 17-15]

Kerala is all set for the Indian School Basketball League with a total prize money of Rs 1 lakh which will be awarded to the winners of the State final The leagues will be played over three months and the conclusion at the State level be at Kottayam in Nov 1st week. The league envisages competition between schools at city/state level with the winners moving up to play in the National final to be held later in December

In an effort to uplift basketball from the grass-root level, Basketball Federation of India in collaboration with Kerala Basketball Association on Tuesday 21st September will start at Manachira maidan In Kozhikode and at Sacred Heart CMI Public School in Kochi apart from the centers at Koratty,Kottayam,Thiruvananthapuram.

The idea is to create a structured, self-sustaining, pan-India school league, which will serve as the platform to increase organised basketball participation at grass root level and subsequently as the talent development/feeder system for the Indian national teams.

Apart from Kerala 15 other States are participating in the league which includes Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram

In Kerala Preliminary round of the tournament will be played at five centers Kochi, Koratty, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram,Kozhikode on a round-robin format, with the Sixteen (16) teams each in boys and girls are divided into four (4) groups of four (4) teams in five centers . Every team will take on its Three (3) opponents twice in its respective group. 2 teams from each group will advance to the final which will be played at Kottayam. The State finals will be played in a knockout format from the Quarter-Finals, Semifinals. Final and Third-Place Game.

THE GROUPINGS

Group A venue – Thiruvanthapuram
Boys – St Josephs HSS Thiruvanthapuram,St Thomas HSS Kozhencherrry,Navajeeevan Betahnay ,Trivandrum
G V Raja Sports School Thiruvanthapuram
Girls – St Gorettis Nalanchira,St Josephs GHS alapuzha,Carmel school Trivandrum,St Marys Pattom

Group B Venue – KE College Mannanam Kottayam
Boys – St Ephremes HSS Mannnanam,Girideepam Bethanny Kottayam,Lourde Public School Kottyam,St Anns HSS Kurianad
Girls – Girideepam Bethanny Kottayam,Mount carmel Kottayam,Vimala Hridaya Kottayam,Lourdes PubSchool kottayam

Group C venue – Sacred Heart CMO Public School Tevara Ernakulum
Boys – St Josephs HSS Pulicunnu,Sacred Heart CMI Pub school Thevara,Chinamaya Vaduthala,Rajagiri Kalamassrry

Group C venue – Manachira Maidan Kozhikode
Girls – Prsentation Kozhikode,providence Kozhikode,St Michaeels HSS Kozhikode,SAI(GVHSS) Thalasserry

Group D venue – Little Flower HSS Koratty Thrissur
Boys – Little Flower HSS Koratty, Shanathal Jyothi Muttam, Silver Hill Kozhikode, MAMHSS Koratty
Girls – Little Flower HSS Koratty, Shanthaljyothi Muttam, Christ Vidyanikethan Irinjalakuda, Choice Tripunithura

18th September 2016: Closing out on a spectacular note India beat last year silver medallist Chinese Taipei 80-68 and finished on the 7th position at the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016. Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, Iran. This was one of the best performances by India in 27years India also avenged the defeat they had from Chinese Taipei in the group match earlier in the preliminary group B by 24  points  66-90. Prior to that India had lost to Taipei by 6 points during the 38th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament back in July.

India which trailed in the first quarter  the  17-22 came back strongly in the second quarter and took 33-32 lead at the end of the first half and ended the third quarter with 52-50 The fourth quarter continued in India’s favour, starting with a three pointer by Vishesh (his second of the game), and another two by TJ. But Taipei was in no mood to back down. Quincy Davis had a dunk of his own to bring it within 5, before Yi-Hsiang Chou and Kai-Hsiang Hu combined to take Taipei back up by 1 point

For India Vishesh Brighuvanshi was the top performer with 22 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists followed by captain Amarjoth singh with 20 points and Having come off the bench in all previous 7 games so far, Rikin Pethani made the most of his first start, literally grabbing the opportunity with both hands  scoring 6 straight points to tie the game at 8-8 midway through the first quarter scored 17 pints  Amjoth has to be rested till the 3rd quarter but in the final quarter he came out and out India in the safe position

Best performance by an Indian men’s team in 27 years

India’s 7th place finish out of a 12 team strong competition, could well be its best performance in the last 28 years. The side has had better finishes in terms of final standings in previous editions of this competition (which was formerly known as “FIBA Asia Cup” and “FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup”). India had finished 5th out of 5 teams in 2008, 6th out of 8 teams in 2004, and 7th out of 9 teams in 2014. But considering the smaller field on these occasions, India’s current 7th place (with 4 wins & 4 losses) is its best ever performance in 27 years, after its 6th place finish in the 1989 Asian Basketball Championship.

This is also the only time when India has beaten 3 higher ranked sides (China, Philippines and Taipei) in the same event.

It is also pertinent to note that only last year, at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, India had finished 8th, its best ever since 2003. So the current 7th place is another big step forward.

Detailed Result
India(Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 22 pts, Amritpal Singh 20 pts 13 reb, Rikin Pethani 17 pts 9 reb, Talwinderjit Singh 13 pts) bt Taipei (Quincy Davis III 13 pts & 15 reb, Yu-An Chiang 16 pts, Yi-Hsiang Chou 15 pts) 80-68 (17-22, 16-10, 19-18, 28-18]

16th September 2016: India Lost to two-time defending champions Iran 47-77 in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, Iran. India now will play the first of its two 5 to 8 classification matches against Japan’. While in other quarter final matches Iraq upset China with the score 85-79 and will take on Korea who scrape past Chinese Taipei 70-69 in the Semi-Final while Irian will meet Jordan who defeated Japan 87-80.

India after fighting hard in the first half ended the first quarter trailing 14-18 and ended the first half with trailing 31-38. Hosts Iran blew it wide open in the third quarter allowing India to score only 2 points against 26 Iran had an unanswered 21 point run stretching in this quarter and to win 77-47, to ease into the semis.
Irans Physical defence forced Amritpal Singh, power forward Amjyot Singh had a bad percentage of 15 % of Free game shooting in this match and the shooting guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi was the only player for India with a double figure score as he scored 14 points while Iran’s rock solid ex-NBA veteran Hamed Haddadi had yet another dominant performance in this tournament making 17 points and 23 rebounds

Detailed Scores
Iran (Hamed Haddadi 17 pts & 23 reb, Sahakian 16 pts, Yakhchali 15 pts) bt India (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 14 pts, Amjyot Singh 7 pts 7 reb) 77-47 [18-14, 20-17, 26-2, 13-14]

TEHRAN (FIBA Asia Challenge 2016) – India made the Quarter final as they beat Kazakhstan, 100-90 to register their 3rd Victory at the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 in Tehran, Iran, India now seeded as the fourth team from Group E, which means they will face host Iran the topper in the other group who are here fielding the same team that played in Rio Olympics, even though India will be tremendous underdogs, but if they play this well, anything can happen

Kazakhstan had a good start on India in the first quarter, leading 21-19, but India came back strongly in the 2nd quarter to take a 9-point advantage into the halftime The Man for India today was Talwinderjit Singh better known as TJ Sahi who led India to their first back-to-back wins in the competition was also  the top scorer for India with 32 points together with big man Amritpal Singh scoring 28 points

Kazakhstan rallied in the third period closing the gap to 77-75, but, again, India had the proper counterpunch in the final frame, Amritpal, Amjyot Singh and Yadwinder Singh combined for an 8-0 run to give India a 10-point lead that they would sustain till the final buzzer. Vishesh  and Amrithpal also contributed with  double figures scoring 13 and 12 points respectively for India’s victory  

Basketball Dramas in India Curtailing the Progress of the game

Back home in India, basketball has been embroiled with controversy and FIBA has approved Govindraj faction and the IOA and govt with the other, FIBA approved faction is sending the team without Govt Support nor the  money, FIBA – BFI faction are finding their own way to run the camps and teams are now sending with the  Money they are finding, how many years this can continue and go ,since IOA and SAI has not approved nor supporting.
  
Many players have suffered over the past year, first in a tug-of-war between the Basketball Federation of India’s (BFI) two opposing executive committees and later, further drama between the BFI and the UBA Basketball League. In the middle of this toxic atmosphere, the improved performances of the Men’s national team have provided much-needed respite

There are a number of big names who were not able to make a way in to the team , 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 probable’s 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.
 
It’s very important to get an International exposure for the team and the William Jones Cup which held a month earlier was a fantastic opportunity for all of our players,” Coach C V Sunny (Kerala) now become as asst coach this time in his  interview with hoopisthani  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.
 
Remember 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, the players that dominated now 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. India relied on the all-round brilliance of Amjyot Singh to notch several key victories and make the Quarter-Final stage. They finished at 8th place, their best seeding in the continent in a dozen years
 
The  performances earned them professional contracts in Japan, first in the BJ Summer League and then in Japan’s D-League which have helped these two Punjabi big men to dominate the competitions this year too along with Vishesh Briguvanshi and also  with the experienced T J Shahi who is back in to the team who also had the professional experience outside.
 
It will also unfair if I don’t mentioned the efforts of coaching staffs Satprakash Yadav the men who also was lucky coach to bring Indian Women   in to level 1 at Incheon Korea  in 2007   and C V Sunny (kerala) former point Guard in 80s and 90s who took along with P J Sebastian as Asst coach for SABA qualifying championship at Bangalore and later as coach at William Jones cup in at Taiwan 

TEHRAN (2016 FIBA Asia Challenge) – India beat Philippines 91-83 to registered their first Victory in the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge basketball on day 1 here at  the Twelve Thousand People Sport Hall, located in the north & south of the main street of the Azadi Sport Complex Tehran

India e which trailed 25-16, in the first quarter came back strongly in the second quarter scoring 31-21  to take India with the lead  47-46 in the first half , India further in the third quarter  increased it to 68-58,  but a last quarter effort from Philippines could not help them to win the match

India Used the trio Amjot, Amarjoth and Vishesh fulltime in this match as Amjyoth Sing  was the leading scorer  for India with 24 points and 18 rebounds followed by Vishesh Brighuvanshi scoring 20 and captain Amarjoth Singh making 16 and T J Shahi  and Sivakumar contributed  15 and 10 points respectively for India’s victory  

India which finished 7th in the last edition 2014 had also defeated Philippines 70-66 repeated the feat again over here  now without much rest have to face Chinese Thai Pai on day 2

All Three (3) teams from each group advance to the second phase. For the Second Round, the twelve (12) teams will be divided into two (2) groups of six (6). Each team will play against the three (3) new teams in its group then 4 teams from each group will now advance to the quarter final which will play on a Knockout format

The Game Playing with the New System Introduced by FIBA
The FIBA Asia Challenge, previously known as FIBA Asia Cup, is the first step in the process of identifying the qualifiers for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, The first-ever Continental Cup played jointly by teams from Asia and Oceania. The Top five finishers will earn their respective sub-zones additional berths for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup.

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)

Koratty – 16th Aug 2016 – Kottayam Boys and Alappuzha Girls took the boys and girls title respectively here at the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls at the Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty on Tuesday

In Boys final last year runner up Kottayam defeated Idukki, Playing the final in the youth division for the first time in the history of Kerala Basketball with the score of 72-47 and Alappuzha took the girls title defeating last year runner up Kozhikode 72-53

Special Awards
Best Player
Boys – Chacko C Simon Kottayam
Girls – Jayalakshmi VJ Alappuzha

Promising Player
Boys – Tom Jose Idukki
Girls – Justina Sajith Kozhikode

Trophies and Mementoes were distributed by Cine actor and MP Innocent
Detailed Scores

Final Girls
Alappuzha -72 (Neethu S24, Anasooya Sunil 15, Jayalakshmi V J12) bt Kozhikode-53 (Justina Selma Sajith 21.Anargha 19)

Final Boys
Kottayam-72 (Sharon John15, Chacko CSimon13, Muhammed Saih12) bt Idukki-47 (Tom Jose20, Dominic V D16)

Koratty – 16th Aug 2016 – Thrissur Girls and Ernakulam boys grabbed the bronze here for the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls here at the Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty on Tuesday

In Girl’s 3rd Place match, Thrissur defeated Kottayam 54-30 white in Boys Ernakulam got better of Alappuzha 69-63 final matches in Girls division Alappuzha girls who put up a combined effort with all the five players coming up with a double digit display defeated host Thrissur 95-56 to meet Kozhikode who defeated Kottayam 71-45

In boys semi-final matches Idukki showing its fine display in the championship dethroned Alapuzha 88-47 with short speedy Tom Jose again showing his class scoring 52 points for his team to make the final to meet Kottayam who had an easy victory over Ernakulam with the score 54-19

Detailed Scores

Bronze Medal Girls
Thrissur-54 (Fest P Jose17, Sneha PM11, Sandra k10, Aparna Sadasivan8) bt Kottayam-30 (Sumara Stanly8)

Bronze Medal Boys
Ernakulum-69 (Alen Gladin35, Shaun Luiz15) bt Alapuzha-63 (AmalRaghu35)

Semi Finals Girls
Alapuzha-85 (Jayalakshmi VJ19, Neethu S16, Anagha Shaji15, Ansooya Sanal13, Aiswarya nath 10) bt Thrissur-56 (Festy P Jose21, Aparna Sadasivan11)
Kozhikode-71 (Jestina Selma sajith16, Aditya K16, Angha T Jagadeesh11) bt Kottayam-45 (Ann Mary Zacharia16, KAvya JAyakumar11)

Semi Finals Boys
Idukki-88 (Tom Jose52, Dominic D 19) bt Alapuzha-47 (AmalRaghu16, Anand10)
Kottayam-54 (Chacko C Simon15, Akshay SunilKumar13, Muhammed Salih11, Sharon John11)

Quarter finals Boys
Alapuzha-73 (Amalrgahu39) bt Thrissur -58(Christo Sabu 21,Antony Varghese 17)
Ernakulum-64 (Shaun Louiz 27) bt Thiruvanthapuram-40
Kottayam-60 (Shanzil Muhammed 15, Muhammed Salid12, Chacko C Sion9) bt Malapuram-25
Idukki-92 (Tom Jose 46, Dominic 10) bt Pathanamthitta-69 (George C Mathew16, Sejn Mathew12)

Quarter finals Girls
Kozhikode -63 (Aswathi CP 15, Adhiti10) bt Ernakulum-36(Reeshma19)
Alapuzha-69 (Jayalakshmi 15, Neethu S 15, Aiswaryanath13) btThiruvanthapuram-66(Sreekala R30)
Kottayam-30 (Ann Mary Zacharia 8) bt Kannur-20
Thrissur-73 (Lakshmi K alalu 18, Sandra KA17, Festy PJose11, Aparna s Sadasivan8) bt Idukki-48 (Olivia T Shaibu34)

Koratty – 16th Aug 2016- Kottayam Boys and Alappuzha Girls took the boys and girls title respectively here at the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls at the Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty on Tuesday

In Boy’s final last year runner up Kottayam defeated Idukki who is Playing the final in the youth division for the first time in the history of Kerala Basketball with the score 72-47 and Alappuzha taking the girl’s title defeating last year runner up Kozhikode 72-53

Bronze for Thrissur and Ernakulam

In Girl’s 3rd Place match, Thrissur defeated Kottayam 54-30 while in Boys Ernakulum got better of Alappuzha with the score 71-63

Earlier In semi-final matches in boys Idukki showing its fine display in the championship dethroned Alapuzha 88-47 with short speedy Tom Jose again showing his class scoring 52 points for his team to make the final to meet Kottayam who had an easy victory over Ernakulam with the score 54-19

In Girls division Alappuzha girls who put up a combined effort with all the five players coming up with a double digit display defeated host Thrissur 95-56 to meet Kozhikode who defeated Kottayam 71-45

Special Awards
Best Player
Boys – Chacko C Simon Kottayam
Girls- Jayalakshmi VJ Alappuzha
Promising Player
Boys –Tom Jose Idukki
Girls- Justina Sajith Kozhikode

Trophies and Mementoes were Distributed by Cine actor and MP Innocent
Detailed Scores

Final Girls
Alappuzha -72 (Neethu S24, Anasooya Sunil 15, Jayalakshmi V J12) bt Kozhikode-53 (Justina Selma Sajith 21.Anargha 19)

Final Boys
Kottayam-72 (Sharon John15, Chacko CSimon13, Muhammed Saih12) bt Idukki-47 (Tom Jose20,Dominic V D16)

Bronze Medal Girls
Thrissur-54 (fest P Jose17, Sneha PM11, Sandra k10, Aparna Sadasivan8) bt Kottayam-30 (Sumatra Stanly8)

Bronze Medal Boys
Ernakulum-71 (Alen Gladin35, Shaun Luiz15) bt Alapuzha-63 (AmalRaghu35)

Semi Finals Girls
Alapuzha-85 (Jayalakshmi VJ19, Neethu S16, Anagha Shaji15, Ansooya Sanal13, Aiswarya nath 10) bt Thrissur-56 (Festy P Jose21, Aparna Sadasivan11)
Kozhikode-71 (Jestina Selma sajith16, Aditya K16, Angha T Jagadeesh11) bt Kottayam-45 (Ann Mary Zacharia16, KAvya JAyakumar11)

Semi Finals Boys
Idukki-88 (Tom Jose52, Dominic D 19) bt Alapuzha-47 (AmalRaghu16, Anand10)
Kottayam-54 (Chacko C Simon15, Akshay SunilKumar13, Muhammed Salih11, Sharon John11)

Koratty – 13th Aug 2016 In Boys Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur from Pool A, Kottayam and Alappuzha from B and Pathanamthitta and Malappuram from C and D pools a have quailed to quarter-finals while Girls Thrissur and Kannur from Kozhikode, and Thiruvananthapuram from B Kottayam and Idukki from C and Alappuzha and Ernakulam completes the Girls Quarter line up of the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls here at the Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty on Saturday

In league matches today Pathanamthitta drubbed Wayanad to 37-7 to top Group C while in Group B favourites Kottayam a had an easy victory over Thiruvananthapuram 36-13 to register their second victory in the group, while Idukki and Alappuzha boys continued their winning streak as they beat Kannur 62-35 and Kozhikode 35-21 respectively.

In Girl, kottayam beat Idukki 48-31 while Alappuzha beat Malappuram 40-8 and Ernakulam beat Palakkad 20-2 to registered their second straight Victory from Group D

Elite Basketball Referees Clinic also conducted at the venue lead by Fr Philips Wadakkaekalam former International referee and Chairman Technical commission Kerala Basketball assoiciation

Detailed Scores

Boys
Pathanamthitta-37 (George15) bt Wayanad-7
Alapuzha-59 (Amalrgahu37, Anandhu12) bt Thiruvanthapuram-42 (Milan17)
Ernakulum-66 (Allan22,Shaun19) bt Thrissur-61 (Antony Varghese24,Joel14) Malapuram-36 (sravan Sunil12) bt Palakkad-32 (Sibin14)
Thrissur-49 (Christo18, Antony15) bt Kannur-17
Kottayam-36 (shanzil Muhammed12, Chacko c Simon12) bt Thirunathpuram-13
Alapuzha-35 (Amal raghu22) bt Kozhikode-21 (Abhisek12)
Idukki-62 (tony20,dominic18) bt kannur-35 (Charly11)
Wayanad-58 (Gokul Krishna 15) bt Kasargod-28
Malapuram-28 bt Palakkad-12

Girls
Kottayam-45 (Donna Elsa16,Sumra Staanly10) bt Idukki-31 (Olivia T Shibu20)
Ernakulum-20 bt Palakkad-2
Thiruvanthapuram-31 (Anupama10) bt PAthanamthitta-2
Alapuzha-28 bt palakkad-4
Kannur- 36 bt Wayanad-10 (Aleena10)
Alapuzha-40 (Neethu S10) bt Malapuram-8

Semi finals Today

Koratty – 14th Aug 2016 Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam, Ernakulam in Girls while in boys Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam entered the Semifinals of the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls here at the Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty on Sunday

In Girls Quarterfinal matches Alappuzha Girls scrape past Thiruvananthapuram 69-66, to meet Thrissur who defeated Idukki 73-58 and Kottayam made an easy work against Kannur defeated them with the score 30-20 to meet Kozhikode who defeated Ernakulam with the Score 64-40

In Boys, Quarterfinal matches Alappuzha boys defeated host Thrissur 73-58 to make the Semifinal against the winners of Idukki and Pathanamthitta while Ernakulam boys had an easy victory over Thiruvananthapuram 64-40 to meet Kottayam who defeated Malapuram60-25

Detailed Scores

Boys
Alapuzha-73 (Amalrgahu39) bt Thrissur -58 (christoSabu 21,Antony Varghese 17)
Ernakulum-64 (Shaun Louiz 27) bt Thiruvanthapuram-40
Kottayam-60 (Shanzil Muhammed15, Muhammed Salid12, Chacko C Sion9) bt Malapuram-25

Girls
Kozhikode -63 (Aswathi CP 15,Adhiti10) bt Ernakulum-36 (Reeshma19)
Alapuzha-69 (Jayalakshmi15,Neethu S 15,Aiswaryanath13) bt Thiruvanthapuram-66 (Sreekala R30)
Kottayam-30 (Ann Mary Zacharia8) bt Kannur-20
Thrissur-73 (Lakshmi Klalu18,Sandra17,Festy P Jose11) bt Idukki-48 (Olivia T Shaibu34)

Semi Girls
Thrissur Vs Alapuzha
Kottayam Vs Kozhikode

Semi Boys
Kottayam Vs Ernakulum
Alapuzha Vs Winners of Pathanamthitta and Idukki

Koratty – 12th Aug 2016- Thrissur registered a 49-17 victory over Kannur on the opening day of the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls here at the Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty

The Championship will be organised by Koratty Basketballers with the support of Thrissur District Basketball Association under the auspicious of Kerala Basketball Association from 12th to 16th August 2016. The Championship will feature 14 Districts in boys and 13 District in Girls division which will be played on a League cum Knock out Basis.

In other matches in Girls, Division Idukki beat Kollam 31-10 and Ernakulum defeated Malapuram28-12 then Kozhikode drubbed Pathanamthitta 34-2 and in boys, Pathanamthitta had an easy victory over Kasargod with the score 61-16 and Palakkad defeated Kollam 26-19

Shri BD Devassy Chalakudy MLA Inaugurated

Detailed Scores

Boys
Pathanamthitta-61 (Muhammed Althaf12, Joel Tom8, George C Mathew8) bt Kasrgod-16
Palakkad-26 (Arshit7) bt Kollam-19
Thrissur-49 (Christo18,Antony15) bt Kannur-17

Girls
Idukki-31 (Olivia T Shibu21) bt Kollam-10
Ernakulum-28 (Reshma V B12) bt Malapuram-12
Kozhkode-34 (Justina Seema Sajith10) bt PAthanamthitta-2

Koratty – 10th Aug 2016- Twin floodlit Indoor Basketball Courts of Little flower HSS Koratty along with the MAMHSS Basketball Courts in Koratty is all set for the 33rd edition of the Kerala Youth State Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls at Angamaly on 12th August 2016.

The Championship will be organised by Koratty Basketballers with the support of Thrissur District Basketball Association under the auspicious of Kerala Basketball Association from 12th to 16th August 2016. The Championship will features 14 Districts in boys and 13 District in Girls division which will be played on a League cum Knock out Basis. Efforts are also mad e to bring the Electronic Score Boards and Shot clocks from Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Thrissur are the defending Champions.

Little Flower is the Place is the cradle of Basketball which have in recent time produced Internationals Stephy Nixon, Simi Kavalakkat, Gineeb Benny, Vimmy Varkey and an array of Indian Campers which includes Gokul, India Nelson, Nimmy George, Aswathy S Thampy, Aleena Seby, Aparna sadasivan etc and also senior International Eudric Perera also hails from Koratty.

This year Winny Bestine the Physical Education teacher and Coach of Little flower HSS Koratty chosen as the Best Physical education Teacher by the NBA from the 220 Schools that took part in the Jr NBA Programme last year Inspire Youth to Play Basketball of 2015 in Kerala went to Australia and participated in the NBA s 15th Edition of Basketball Without Borders take place from the 23rd to the 26th June 2016

Elite-Group Referees Clinic at Koratty
Koratty also will witness an Elite group referees training on 13th &14th August 2016. Fr Philip Vadakekalam former International Referee and chairman of Referees Commission will take classes for the referees.

Boys
Group A – Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Kannur
Group B – Kottayam, Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode
Group C – Pathanamthitta, Wayanad, Kasargod
Group D – Malapuram, Kollam, Palakkad
Girls
Group A – Thrissur, Wayanad, Kannur
Group B – Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Pathanamthitta
Group C – Kottayam, Idukki, Kollam
Group D – Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Malapuram, Palakkad .

30th July 2016: After its historic run to the quarterfinals of the 24th FIBA Asia U18 Men’s Championship came to an end yesterday, India faced off against Chinese Taipei in the first of its two classification games for 5 to 8 positions. The fatigue of playing 7 matches in 9 days finally got to India’s starters, especially captain P Baladhaneshwar

This helped the power forward from Kerala Muhammad Shiraz who played only for 14 minutes utilised his opportunity to scored in double digits score of 12 points and 2 rebounds for India . then the other Keralite Gineeb Benny who came as the Top scorer for India in yesterday’s match against Lebanon with 19 points today again shown his class was the top rebounder of India with 8 rebounds and also scored 8 points as he plays 35 minutes for the team

India plays its final 7th-8th classification position game tomorrow, against another Group A side, Philippines. The match tips off at 1pm IST.

Chinese Taipei (Ting-Jhao Jian 16 pts, Chia-Kang Li 13 pts) bt India (Hariram Ragupathy 13 pts, Muhammad Shiras 12 pts) 97-66 [27-12, 27-17, 24-16, 19-21]

India All Set to qualify for the Quarter-Final Match after a Gap of 12 years

India in an exciting thriller in an overtime match marches defeated Iraq 93-83 to register their second straight Victory in Group A making now 2-2 here for 24th FIBA U18 Men’s Championship 2016 that is underway in Iran and has come with a strong chance qualifying to the knockout stages after a Gap of 12 years.

India which leads 61-51 at the end of 3rd Quarter but Iraq came back strongly in the last quarter f to make the score 77-77 at the end of regulation time before winning it at 93-86 Gineeb Benny also for the first time came up with a double-figure scoring 13 points for this great victory, Baladhaneshwar was Indias leading scorer with 31 points . It was in Bangalore in 2004 that India came on to the quarter-final stage where they finished 7th as Kazakhstan decided to concede it position matches and remained on 8th Place.

Detailed Result

India (P Baladhaneshwar 31 pts, Vishal Kumar Gupta 13 pts & 14 rebs, Sahil 15 pts, Hariram Ragupathy 13 pts 10 reb, Gineeb Benny 13 pts) bt Iraq (Ihab Al-Zuhairi 23 pts, Rekan Abdalla 21 pts, Muostafa Albomghee 14 pts, ) 93-83 [21-16, 19-16, 21-19, 16-26, 16-6 (OT1)]

The Indian Senior Men’s National Team coached by Malayalees P J Sebastian & C V Sunny, is all set to represent the country at the 38th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament 2016, to be held in New Taipei City, Taiwan (Republic of China) from the 23rd to 31st July.

India, will participate in the event with a combination of the young players and experienced. The final roster will have one Malayalee Basil Philip of Central Excise Kochi

The team will be lead by centre Amritpal Singh, and forward Amjoth Singh duo returning from winning the National Basketball Developmental League (NBDL) Championship with Toyko Excellence in Japan Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, (ONGC) Talwinderjit Singh & Arshpreet Bhullar (Punjab), Akilan Pari, Rikin Pethani (both Income Tax, Chennai) Aravind Annadurai & Prasanna Venkatesh (Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai). Basil Philip (Central Customs & Excise, Kochi) and Arvind Arumugam (Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru) Ravi Bhardwaj (Chandigarh)

It was a chance for the Indian team to gain valuable exposure ahead of the FIBA Asia Challenge to be held from September 9 to 18 in Tehran Iran. The tournament which will also serve as the first step in determining the process of the qualifiers for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup which will feature teams from both FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania for the first time.

About Jones cup & India’s Tournament Schedule [Timings in IST]

The William Jones Cup is an invitational nine-team tournament, featuring a mix of national sides from China, Japan, Iran, Egypt & Korea, club sides from Philippines, and a University team from the U.S.A India has been invited back to the tournament after a gap of 11 years.”

The matches will be played in a round-robin league format, with each team playing 8 matches. The team with the best record will be crowned champions.
India vs USA – 23rd July, 12:30 PM
India vs Japan – 24th July, 12:30 PM
India vs ROC A – 25th July, 4:30 PM
India vs Korea – 26th July, 12:30 PM
India vs Egypt – 27th July, 10:30 AM
India vs the Philippines – 28th July, 10:30 AM
India vs ROC B – 29th July, 10:30 AM
India vs Iran – 31st July, 10:30 AM

Mohammed Shiraz from St Ephrem’s HSS Mananam, Gineeb Benny from Little Flower HSS Koratty will play for India at the U18 Men Basketball team for the 24th FIBA Asia U 18 Championship for Jr Men to be held in Tehran, Iran from 22-31 July 2016 Shiraz is representing India for the second time earlier he represented India in the U16 division at Jakarta.

The twelve (12) participating teams will be divided into two (2) groups, India is placed in Group A along with China, Chinese Taipei, Philippines, India, Iraq, Thailand. Four teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-final. India will play their first match against Thailand on 22nd July 2016.

The 24th FIBA Asia U18 Championship is the qualifying event for the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championship were the top three teams will represent Asia.

China is the three-time defending champions, having beaten Iran in the final of the 23rd edition of the event in Doha (Qatar) two years ago.

INDIAN SQUAD FOR ASIAN U18 Championship 2016
P Baladhaneshwar ©, Hariram Ragupathy and Arthur WilsonDaniel Richards (all from Tamil Nadu ) Mohammed Ali Rajasthan) Rachit, Hansraj & Vishal Kumar Gupta (all from Delhi) Muhammed Shiras N & Gineeb Benny (Kerala) Saqlain Jamir Sayyed (Maharastra ) Sahil (Punjab) and Deepak from Harayana Team Coach G.Dileep (Karnataka) PAramdeep Singh (Punjab) Asok Sahu from Orisssa Manager

Bengaluru, 9th July, 2016: The Indian senior men’s basketball team Coached by P J Sebastian along with C V sunny crowned as  champions of the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Zone here  at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium Bangalore .and qualified FOR  the FIBA Asia Challenge scheduled from 9th to 18th September 2016 in Tehran, Iran.
 
India easily beat Bangladesh 95-35 in the final round robin league game to finish the qualifying round with a perfect 3-0 record. This is India’s third consecutive win at the South Asian regional qualification level, Earlier for the crown India had beaten Maldives 96-40  Nepal 81-53 and stayed unbeaten in the four-team league.

The trophies and medals were distributed by Sri Ramalinga Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Government of Karnataka. The other chief guests included Sri Pramod Madhwaraj, Hon’ble Minister for Fisheries & Youth Services, Sri Priyank Kharge, Hon’ble Minister of Karnataka for IT & BT Tourism (both government of Karnataka), Sri K Govindaraj, MLC (Karnataka) & President of Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and Sri Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary General, BFI.

The team will be lead by centre Amritpal Singh, returning from winning the National Basketball Developmental League (NBDL) Championship with Toyko Excellence in Japan T Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Yadwinder Singh, Arjun Singh (all from ONGC) Talwinderjit Singh & Arshpreet Bhullar (Punjab), Akilan Pari,  Rikin Pethani (both Income Tax, Chennai), Basil Philip (Central Customs & Excise, Kochi), Arvind Arumugam (Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru) and Aravind Annadurai (Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai). Ravi Bhardwaj (Chandigarh).

Detailed Scores

India-95 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 16, Aravind Annadurai 15, Amritpal Singh 14) bt Bangladesh-35   (Mithun Kumar 8)  [36-13, 24-8, 19-8, 16-6]

India-96 (Talwinderjit Sahi 15, Rikin Pethani 13, Ravi Bhardwaj 12) bt Maldives-40 (Ibrahim Shareef 8) [23-5, 28-9, 23-19, 22-7]

India-81 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 11, Amritpal Singh 10, Arshpreet Bhullar 10) bt Nepal-53 (Sadish Pradhan 13, Sonam Lama 12, Ashim Shrestha 12) [23-4, 17-21, 21-8, 20-20]

Ernakulum (REBOUND2016) – The first event, “REBOUND 2016- Five decades of Basketballs in an effort among the entire former players community to unite and innovate the way forward in nostalgic legendary event” as it took place in Rajeev Gandhi Indoor Stadium Kochi on 2nd and 3rd July 2016, was a great success.

More than 200 Veteran Kerala Basketballers from all over the country including several former Internationals and National stars joined hands to participate , Its the Love of Basketball that kept moving amongst a large fraternity ,Many felt it best to create an opportunity to interact ,play the game like yester years and to think ahead for the betterment of the game .

The inauguration was a unique one as all the participants assembled at centre circle tossing the basketball up in air, followed with the games were participants were divided into eight teams.

In the opening game Yeskey Cobras beat Swayam Jaguars 27-23, then Eastern Bulldogs defeated Choice Huskies 33-18 and SFS Tigers beat LG Wild Cats 34-19.

In afternoon semifinal matches Bulldog defeated Cobras 30-14 while SFS Tigers beat Choice Hawk 38-21 to make the final

Adding colour was the presence of Internationals Unwin J Antony, Mohammed Iqbal, C V sunny, Sunny Thomas, V.V Harilal,T K Sheshadri Leelamma Thomas ,Jeena Zacharia, Giji Biju Ancy Mathew, Molly Mathew , Sheebama, Renny Harilal, Emily Mathew,Indulekha and also coaches Bevin Chacko Prem Kumar, P C Antony and Dimal C Mathew

Arguably the most popular person in attendance on day 1 was hon. Justice of High Court AM Shafeeque a basketballer by himself.

Wrapping up the evening with dinner clubbed with entertainment from participants , Jayasekhar- KSEB Thiruvananthapuram and Dr Prince an ortho who came all the way from Gulf to participate in this nostalgic event was joined by senior veterans AVJ Ayyapan & P J sunny proved their talents with songs and dances.

The final day was one filled with 3point contest and free throw competitions and real intensity of final matches where SFS Tigers anchored by former international Unwin J Antony took the Men title defeating Eastern Bulldogs in an exciting final score of 31-29 and in women section in three-team round robin matches Dynamos anchored by Internationals Jeena Zacharia and Leelamma Santhosh defeated Choice Mermaids 25-11 to take the women title while choice mermaids took the second spot

In 3 point contest Binu Cherian from Ernakulum and Geo Blessen from Central railway Mumbai stood 1st and second while in Men Amarnath Services former Player from Bangalore and Biju Kumar the Commandant with Kerala Police had the definition of being 1st & second and in above 55 category K J Thomas from Kottayam took first and former State Player and Central Excise player Hali Itty Iype took the second spot

In the free throw competitions, Thomas C Joseph from Bangalore took the first spot and Joshi V former services player came second then in above 55 category former services star Sasi Kumar came victorious. In women, category Maya PR & Nadeera both from Ernakulum took 1stand 2nd

The Rebound also congratulated C V Sunny for becoming the Coach of Senior Indian team along with P J Sebastian for the SABA Championship at Bangalore

This REBOUND platform has also decided to deliberate an action plan to promote Basketball and decided its second one on 24th & 25th of June 2017, also to initiate a celebration momentum on 21st December 2016, the 125th birthday of Basketball.

Bengaluru, 3rd July, 2016: Rosters were confirmed as Three Malayalees find their Place in the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Zone Qualifying Round of the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 to held from 6th to 8th July 2016 at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in India’s IT city of Bengaluru.

Basil Philip from Customs and central Excise Kochi is the lone Malayalee in the team while Sebastian P J from Kerala State Sports Council finds his place as Head Coach along with International Player C V sunny from Indian Bank Kollam. The three-day competition will conclude on the 8th and is being played on a round-robin league format. Four South Asian teams — defending champions & hosts India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the island nation of Maldives are in the fray.

The team will be lead by centre Amritpal Singh, returning from winning the National Basketball Developmental League (NBDL) Championship with Toyko Excellence in Japan Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Yadwinder Singh, Arjun Singh (all from ONGC) Talwinderjit Singh & Arshpreet Bhullar (Punjab) , Akilan Pari, Rikin Pethani (both Income Tax, Chennai), Basil Philip (Central Customs & Excise, Kochi), Arvind Arumugam (Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru) and Aravind Annadurai (Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai). Ravi Bhardwaj (Chandigarh)

Qualification for 2017 FIBA Asia Cup

The 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge is the second step in the qualification process for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, which will be the first continental cup that will see participants from both Asia and Oceania. The FIBA Asia Cup (starting in 2017) was previously known as the FIBA Asia Championship and the FIBA Asia Challenge (starting in 2016) was previously known as the FIBA Stankovic / Asia Cup. These changes were decided on at the second meeting of the 2014-19 FIBA Asia Central Board which took place in New Delhi on 30th-31st January 2016.

Tentative Fixtures

JULY 06

India vs Nepal – 05.00 PM
Bangladesh vs Maldives – 06.30 PM

JULY 07

Nepal vs Bangladesh – 05.00 PM
Maldives vs India – 06.30 PM

JULY 08

Maldives vs Nepal – 04.30 PM
India vs Bangladesh – 06.00 PM

Winny Physical education teacher from Kerala got his chance

The NBA has kicked off its 15th edition of Basketball Without Borders Asia in Dandenong today. In conjunction with the NBL and FIBA, Australia’s brightest basketball stars, along with legends of the game from around the world, came together to host the top young players from Asia .which include three from India Tamil Nadu shooting guard Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi who led the Indian U-18 side in the recently held Fiba Asia qualifying championship in Bangladesh, Aashay Verma is a 7-foot-2 center from Hyderabad and Sahil represents Punjab. All the three were selected from various BWB camps conducted by the NBA-India across the country.

Winny Bestine is the representation from Kerala at the camp the Physical Education teacher of Little flower HSS Koratty chosen as the Best Physical education Teacher by the NBA from the 220Schools that took part in the Jr NBA Programme last year Inspire Youth to Play Basketball of 2015 in Kerala . Winny who have produced Internationals, Vimmy Varkey ,Gineeb Benny along with the selected other 10 Indian coaches, which includes one more Malayalee from Chandankampara Antony representation from Bangalore ‘aprt from 9 others from Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, & Hyderabad.

At this programme, the coaches will get the opportunity to learn and enhance their basketball training skills with the best coaches/trainers from around the world. Their selection was made on the basis of a number of students they engaged, the number of basketball led classes they conducted and their overall involvement with the program.

BWB Asia is bringing together leading young male players born in 1999 from around the Asia-Pacific region, to learn directly from NBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches The camp is not solely focused on improving skills on the court. Learning skills off the court are just as important. Improving young lives through basketball is key to the Basketball Without Borders experience. The camp, which will run all weekend and conclude in Geelong with the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, is sure to provide a great few days for the campers, players and coaches.

Australians Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Olympian Aron Baynes, Dante Exum, Andrew Gaze and Lauren Jackson are attending the four-day event, along with a host of NBL players. NBA legend David Robinson, super swingman Bruce Bowen ,and current Milwaukee Buck Khris Middleton are also here to pass on their knowledge of the game and inspire the next generation.

It is not just great players who are in attendance, but some of the best coaches from around the world are also helping out. Melbourne United head coach Dean Demopoulos, Boston Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga, and former NBA player and current Toronto Raptors assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse are all down under to help develop some of the young talents in Asia.

The following ten coaches/trainers are in Australia for this unique developmental programme:

• Gajanan Gajaalwar from Tirandaz BMC School, Mumbai
• Vikas Sharma from Queens Valley School, Delhi
• Ajay Agnihotri from Sacred Heart, Punjab
• Winny from Little Flower High School, Kerala
• Safiyullam Abdulkareem from Chettinad Vidyashram, Chennai
• Subhasish Pal from Delhi Public School Megacity, Kolkata
• Antony Wallomkottu Ulamannan from New Horizon Public School, Bangalore
• Parveen Rizvi from Motilal Nehru Girls Inter College, Lucknow
• PraveenKumar Bavana from Oasis School of Excellence, Hyderabad
• Mohammed Shakeel Mohammed Yunus Shaikh from St. Ann’s School, Ahmedabad

Mohammed Shiras from St Ephremes HSS Mananam , Gineeb Benny from Little Flower HSS Koratty and Prem Prakash from Mar Ivanios College Thiruvananthapuram finds their Place for the Short Listed 15 members for the Indian U18 Men Basketball Coaching camp for the 24th FIBA Asia U 18 Championship for Jr Men to be held in Tehran ,Iran from 22-31 july2016. The final National coaching camp will start at Sathyabhama University in Chennai from June 27th to 20th July 2016.

Basil Philip & Eudrick Perera from Customs and Central excise Kochi and Jishnu G Nair from Mar Baselios College Thiruvananthapuram along with P J Sebastian as Coach have been Invited to attend the Senior Men National Coaching Camp to be Held at Sree Kanteerava Stadium Bangalore in Karnataka from 22nd June to 4th July 2016 in preparation for the SABA Zone qualifying matches to beg held at Sree Kanteerava Stadium Bangalore itself from 5th to 9th July 2016.