Indian men’s Basketball team to play Asia Cup qualifiers

By Team ISN August 18, 2021

The Indian men’s Basket-ball team is in with a decent opportunity to meet all requirements for the following year’s FIBA Asia Cup as it takes on Saudi Arabia and Palestine in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday and Saturday.

Five teams that completed third in their separate groups first qualifying round — Chinese Taipei (Group B), Guam (Group C), India (Group D), Saudi Arabia (Group E), and Palestine (Group F) will feature in the Second Qualifying round in two bio-secure bubbles in Saudi Arabia and Guam. Indonesia, who finished third in Group A got an immediate billet as host of the occasion.

The five teams have been isolated into two groups Group H with India, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine and Group G will have Guam and Chinese Taipei. The best two from the three Group H will meet all requirements for the FIBA Asia Cup to be held in Indonesia one year from now, while one team from Guam and Chinese Taipei will fit the bill for the competition finals. Likewise Read – India to Host FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters Event.

India will play Saudi Arabia on August 20 and take on Palestine the following day. Both matches will be played at King Abdullah Sports City Hall, Jeddah. Thirteen teams have effectively qualified for the FIBA Asia Cup in Indonesia one year from now and the three groups from this round will finish the 16-team field.

India’s lead trainer Veselin Matic has picked a solid team including Arvind Kumar Muthu Krishnan, Amjyot Singh, Aravind Annadurai, Amritpal Singh, Prashant Singh Rawat, Pratyanshu Tomar, Pranav Prince, Muin Bek Hafeez, Joginder Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon, and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi.

The team looks solid on paper as it has encountered players like Bhriguvanshi, Amjyot and Amritpal, and Arvind Annadurai alongside young people like Pranav Prince and Pratyanshu Tomar. In Amjyot and Amritpal the group has players who have insight of playing in the NBA G-League and associations abroad like Japan and Australia. He is right now playing for Patriot BBC in Rwanda.

Amritpal Singh additionally has the experience of playing in Japan and Australia. The crew had an extended camp in a bio-bubble in Bengaluru, chipping away at different parts of the game under Matic.

Matic, a Serbian who has instructed Poland, Syria, Libya, and Iran among others, assumed responsibility for India in 2019 and had spent the whole lockdown because of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 knowing his players and working out a drawn out improvement plan for the group. It was under him that the group completed third in the first Qualifying occasion in February this year.