FIBA U18 Asia- India lose first classification game against Taipei; face Philippines tomorrow to decide 7-8 positions

New Delhi/Bengaluru, 30^th July 2016: After its historic run to the quarterfinals of the 24^th 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.

Chinese Taipei is a familiar foe, having beaten India earlier in the league stages of Group A. This classification game was no different. The fatigue of playing 7 matches in 9 days finally got to India’s starters, especially captain P Baladhaneshwar, who was unable to muster up the all-round impact that we are used to seeing from this playmaking guard.

In his absence, shooting guard Hariram Ragupathy and power forward Muhammad Noushad scored in double digits. India plays its final 7^th-8^th 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 Noushad 12 pts) 97-66 [27-12, 27-17, 24-16, 19-21]

Indian Squad for the 24^th FIBA Asia U18 Men’s Championship 2016

Jersey No	Family Name(s) /Last Name	First Name(s) /Given Name	Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy)	Place of Birth		Height (cm) (ft and inches)	Weight (Kg)	Position
5		Hansraj	04/03/1999	New Delhi	178 (5’ 10”)		64		PG
9	Sayyed	Saqlain Jamir	15/02/1998	Kada, Maharashtra	190 (6’ 2”)		78		SG
11		Rachit	16/09/1998	Delhi	186 (6’ 1”)		75		SG
13	Gupta	Vishal Kumar	04/01/1998	Village Chapar, Uttar Pradesh	199 (6’ 6”)		78		C
14		Mohammed Ali	06/04/1998	Samo Ki Dhani, Rajasthan	194 (6’ 4”)		70		PF
15		Deepak	13/04/1998	Israna, Haryana	185 (6’ 1”)		78		F
24	Poiyamozhi	Baladhaneshwar	07/12/1999	Ullikkottai Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu	180 (5’ 10.8”)		71		SG
25	Ragupathy	Hariram	24/04/1998	Chennai, Tamil Nadu	184 (6’)		72		SG
30	Arthur Wilson	Daniel Richards	25/10/1998	Chennai, Tamil Nadu	180 (5’ 10.8”)		74		SG
32	Benny	Gineeb	09/03/1998	Potta, Kerala	194 (6’ 4”)		78		C
52	Noushad	Muhammed Shiras	04/07/1999	Alappuzha, Kerala	190 (6’ 3”)		83		PF
55		Sahil	02/02/1999	Kalkha, Haryana	184 (6’)		69		SG

*PG - Point Guard / Feeder, G - Guard, F - Forward, G/F - Wing, PF - Power Forward, C - Centre, PF/C - Pivot

13) Team Manager: Mr. Ashok Sahu

14) Physio: Dr. Kannan Ratinasamy Bose

15) Head Coach: Mr. Dilip Gurumurthy

16) Assistant Coach: Mr. Paramdeep Singh

17) Referee: Mr. Imran Ali Baig

18) Referee: Mr. Ramesh Koppanathi

About the 24^th FIBA Asia U18 Men’s Championship 2016

Venue: Azadi Sports Complex, Tehran, Iran

There are 12 participating teams that have been divided into two preliminary groups:

Group A – China (WR-12), Chinese Taipei (WR-27), India (WR-52), Iraq (WR-62), Philippines (WR-28) and Thailand (WR-67).

Group B – Indonesia (WR-70), Iran (WR-24), Japan (WR-26), Kazakhstan (WR-37), Korea (WR-18) and Lebanon (WR-54).

Each team shall play all the other teams within its own group and the top 4 teams from each group qualify for the quarter-final round, followed by the semi-finals and finals. Additionally, placement matches will also be held for positions 3-8.

The significance of this Championship is that the top three teams progress to the FIBA Under-19 World Championship that will be held in Cairo, Egypt from 1 to 9 July 2017.

India’s Upcoming Schedule [Timings in IST]

Classification match for 7^th-8^th positions: vs Philippines on 31^st July 2016 from 1:00 pm onwards

For more details see: www.fiba.com/asia/u18/2016/fullschedule

 

Championship History

The Asia U-18 Men’s Championship was first held in 1970 in Seoul and has since been held every 2 years (or 3 years in certain cases). China is the most storied team at the Asian level, having won gold 11 times, followed by Philippines (6) and South Korea (3).

Coming into this edition, China is the defending champion, followed by Iran (silver) and South Korea (bronze).

For info on all time medallists, see: www.fiba.com/asia/u18/2016/all-time-medalists

India’s Record

Prior to the upcoming edition, India has participated in the Asian Championship 18 times, with its best finish coming at the 1972 Championship held in Manila, Philippines, where the side finished 4^th.

As hosts, India had conducted the 1998 and 2004 iterations in Kolkata and Bengaluru respectively. From 2006-2010 and in the last 2014 edition, India finished in 13^th place, while in 2012, India managed a higher 10^th place finish.