India’s U16 Boys’ team grew in leaps and bounds and left a positive impression on opponents and fans alike at the 2nd U16 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship which was held in Nha Trang City, Vietnam, from October 18-28th. Although India couldn’t improve their previous ranking of 10th place (out of 16) at this tournament, their considerable improvement in play brought positive encourage to the players, coaches, and fans of basketball in India.
For India, the highlights of the tournament included defeating Chinese Taipei in the group stage and stretching Asian powerhouses Korea and Iraq until the final quarter. India also had posted blowout victories over Malaysia and Vietnam.
The championship was eventually won for the second successive year by China, who defeated Korea 92-52 in the final behind 43 points by Zhou Qi. Korea’s Hae Hoon had 19 points for the silver medalists. China completed the tournament with a 9-0 record.
The finalists China and Korea have both qualified for the 2nd U17 FIBA World Championship which will be held in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 2012.
Led by coach Jai Prakash Singh, India were grouped with China, Malaysia, and Chinese Taipei. India played their first game against eventual champions China which resulted in a 64-27 bawling of the Indian side. But the tournament only improved for India after the first game: India showed considerable clout to dispose of Malaysia 93-40 behind strong performances by Karthickeyen Saminathan (18 points), Ajay Pratap Singh (17), Loveneet Singh (16), and Satnam Singh Bhamara (16). In the final group game, India pulled off one of the major upsets of the tournament, clocking a memorable 73-52 victory against Chinese Taipei in which the three-point prowess of Ajay Pratap Singh (25) and Karthickeyen Saminathan (18) saw the Indian youngsters prevail.
India thus qualified for the second round of the tournament, where they went head to head against Lebanon, Korea, and Iraq, losing all three of the games. A big third quarter pushed Lebanon past India despite a 16-point performance by Loveneet Singh. India’s other high-point of the championship came against eventual runners-up Korea, where India’s 7 foot 1 star Satnam Singh Bhamara put up 41 points, the second-highest individual score of the tournament. Satnam’s efforts kept India in the game till the fourth quarter, after which Korea finally took control of the game to put up an eight point victory. India’s game against Iraq saw a similar result, as Satnam was once again unstoppable with 32 points, but another late game collapse saw India lose a close game, 72-64.
Knocked out from reaching the Quarter-Finals stage, India defeated Vietnam by a massive 67 points and then lost in a rematch with Chinese Taipei in the last seconds 61-60 to finish the tournament at 10th place with a 3-5 record.
India were led individually in scoring by Satnam Singh Bhamara, who averaged 19.3 points per game in the course of the championship. Ajay Pratap Singh also scored on an average of 13.1 points per game in the eight games played. Loveneet Singh, Rakesh Sangwan, and Karthickeyen Saminathan also pitched in valuable contributions for the Indian side.
For more information, please contact:
Karan Madhok
Media Relations – Basketball Federation of India (BFI)
(0) 9721452007
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