India men's national basketball team

History

India appeared at the international stage for the first time ever at the Asian Games in the 1951 edition and the Asian Championships at the 1965 Asian Basketball Championship where it started out as moderately competitive. India became a regular at the event and had their most successful tournament in 1975 when the team even reached the final four.

Plagued by a lack of popularity and support for basketball at home, at times, India faded into oblivion and only had a handful of successful performances. Its most noteworthy tournament appearance was at the 1980 Summer Olympics when the team got its chance to represent Asia due to the cancellations of some teams who took part in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. A few of the world's top basketball powers at that time (such as the United States and Canada) withdrew from the tournament. India finished 12th out of 12 in the Olympics after getting knocked out in the preliminary round by losing all three of their matches and then losing all five of their matches in the Classification round.

While the results did not go India's way one game in particular caught the attention of everyone. India played against the Australian Team, one of the world's top basketball teams. India, which was made up solely of voluntary basketball players competed against the elite team of Australia for almost the whole game until it finally ceded to the Boomers 75–93 after leading at halftime 41–37.

Many Indian players also made headlines while in the Soviet Union as well. Ajmer Singh gained worldwide attention as he was amongst the top 10 shooters there and became the 10th best pivot player in the tournament there. The late 90s saw the emergence of Sozhasingarayer Robinson, the first Indian basketball player who gained considerable international attention. Robinson led India to a surprising victory over South Korea, one of Asia's top teams. In 2005, however, Robinson complained that the structure and support for basketball in India was still mediocre and government officials did not do enough to support the sport. As a protest, he retired from the national team.

At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship India was coached by former Sacramento Kings head coach Kenny Natt. In 2012, former NBA D-League and U.S. college coach, Scott Flemming, took over the team. Under his supervision, the team won the South Asia Championship in 2014. India had two wins and finished 3 places higher (11th) in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship than in 2011. In 2014, the Young Cagers (as team India is often nicknamed) won the Lusofonia games with wins over Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Angola in the gold medal game. This was Team India's first title ever in a non-Asian competition. In the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup India pulled off the biggest win in their 80-year history by defeating China on their home court 65–58. The establishment of a professional league was a major step in continuing this recent success.{{cite news|url= https://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/indian-national-basketball-league-from-january-4/article37568803.ece|title=Indian National Basketball League from January 4|newspaper=The Hindu |date=18 November 2021 |access-date=3 December 2021}} India continued their dominance in South Asia by winning further South Asian Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2021.

Gallery

File:Kanteerava Indoor 40.JPG|The Kanteerava Indoor Stadium hosted the SABA Championship in 2015 and 2016. India won the gold medal on both occasions. Team India has frequently used the facility for training sessions File:Satnam Singh Bhamara.jpg|Satnam Singh Bhamara (left) with the Indian national team in 2013 File:Vishesh Bhriguvanshi.JPG|Vishesh Bhriguvanshi File:Anoop Mukkanniyil.jpeg|Anoop Mukkanniyil File:Akilan Pari.JPG|Akilan Pari File:Rikin Pethani.JPG|Rikin Pethani File:Trideep Rai.JPG|Trideep Rai File:Yadwinder Singh.JPG|Yadwinder Singh File:Riyaz Uddin.jpeg|Riyaz Uddin

Performance record

Olympics

Main article: Basketball at the Summer Olympics

Commonwealth Games

Main article: Basketball at the Commonwealth Games

Asian Games

Main article: Basketball at the Asian Games

• 1970: JPN - IND (No Data)
• 1982: DPRK - IND (No Data)
• 2006: Withdraw

Asia Cup

Main article: FIBA Asia Cup

Source:

Asia Challenge

Main article: FIBA Asia Challenge

SABA Championship

Main article: SABA Championship

South Asian Games

Main article: Basketball at the South Asian Games

Source:

Lusofonia Games

Main article: Basketball at the Lusofonia Games

William Jones Cup

Main article: William Jones Cup

Honours

Intercontinental

• Lusofonia Games
  • Gold Medal: 2014 Continental
• SABA Championship
  • Gold Medal: 2002, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021
• South Asian Games
  • Gold Medal: 1987, 1991, 1995, 2019
  • Silver Medal: 2010

Coaching history

Note: The following list may not be complete

• PHI Lauro Mumar
• IND Makolath Rajan
• IND Keshav Kumar Chansoria – 2001
• IND Jay Prakash Singh – 2004
• SER Zoran Lukić – 2006
• IND Mahender Rathor – 2007
• SER Aleksandar Bućan – 2007–2010
• USA Bill Harris – 2010–2011
• USA Kenny Natt – 2011–2012
• IND Keshav Kumar Chansoria (interim) – 2012
• USA Scott Flemming – 2012–2015
• IND Sat Prakash Yadav – 2015–2017
• IND C. V. Sunny (interim) – 2017
• IND Bhaskar Sappaniambalam (interim) – 2017
• USA Phil Weber (interim) – 2017
• SER Zoran Višić – 2017–2019
• SER Veselin Matić – 2019–2024
• USA Scott Flemming – 2024–present

Results and fixtures

2024

2025

2026

Team

2025 roster

Roster for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.

• USA Scott Flemming
• IND Rama Gantupalli
• IND Sambhaji Kadam
• (C) Team captain
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 5 August 2025

Past rosters

1980 Olympic Games: finished 12th among 12 teams

Baldev Singh, Ajmer Singh, Parvez Diniar, Dilip Gurumurthy, Harbhajan Singh, Jorawar Singh, Amarnath Nagarajan, Pramdiph Singh, Paramjit Singh, Radhey Shyam, Hanuman Singh, Tarlok Singh Sandhu (Coach:Makolath Rajan)

2001 Asian Championship: finished 8th among 14 teams

Vinay Kumaryadan, J.Murli, B.J. Jadeja, Mohit Bhandari, S.Sridhar, Parmindar Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Austin Almeida, Sozhasingarayer Robinson, Suresh Ranot, M.S. Sabeer Ahamed, Des Raj (Coach: Keshav Kumar Chansoria)

2003 Asian Championship: finished 8th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Gagnesh Kumar, Mihir Pandey, S. Gopinath, S.Sridhar, Parmindar Singh, Muraleekrishna Ravindran, Trideep Rai, Sozhasingarayer Robinson, Riyaz Uddin, Snehpal Singh, Des Raj

2005 Asian Championship: finished 12th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Shiv Kumar, Mihir Pandey, Anoop Mukkanniyil, Yadwinder Singh, Rajanna Sanjay Raj, Muraleekrishna Ravindran, Trideep Rai, Sozhasingarayer Robinson, Riyaz Uddin, Talwinderjit Singh, Jagdeep Singh (Coach: Jay Prakash Singh)

2007 Asian Championship: finished 15th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Shiv Kumar, Ravikumar Krishnasamy, Anoop Mukkanniyil, Roshan Thankachan Padavetiyil, Rajanna Sanjay Raj, Muraleekrishna Ravindran, Trideep Rai, Dilawar Singh, Riyaz Uddin, Lokesh Yodav, Jagdeep Singh (Coach: Aleksandar Bucan)

2009 Asian Championship: finished 13th among 16 teams

Sambhaji Kadam, Talwinderjit Singh, Hareesh Koroth, Harpalsinh Vaghela, Sunil Kumar Rathee, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Prakash Mishra, Vineeth Revi Mathew, Abhilek Paul, Jayram Jat, Dinesh Comibatore, Jagdeep Singh (Coach: Aleksandar Bucan)

2011 Asian Championship: finished 14th among 16 teams

• Kenny Natt
• Rajinder Singh
• Pawan Kumer
• Zak Penwell
• (C) Captain
• Club denotes current pro club 2013 Asian Championship: finished 11th among 15 teams
• Scott William Flemmig
• Jora Singh 2014 Asian Games: finished 12th among 16 teams
• USA Scott William Flemming
• IND Rama Linga Prasad Guntupalli
• (C) Team captain
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 19 September 2014

2015 FIBA Asia Championship: finished 8th among 16 qualified teams in Asia

• IND Sat Prakash Yadav

2017 FIBA Asia Cup

• USA Philip John Weber
• USA Steven Philip John Klei
• IND Sebastian Padipurakkal Joseph
• IND Baskar Sappaniambalam
• (C) Team captain
• (NP) Naturalized player
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 8 August 2017

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification

• SER Zoran Višić
• IND Sambhaji Kadam
• (C) Team captain
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 23 November 2017

2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualification

• SRB Veselin Matić
• IND Pradeep Tomar
• (C) Team captain
• (NP) Naturalized player--
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 21 February 2021

References

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