Indian basketball team created history on October 16 (Sunday) as for the first time ever, they qualified for the World Cup. The four-member India team booked their place in the World Cup after they clinched a silver medal in the Fiba 3×3 U-17 Asia Cup which concluded at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The team including Harsh Dagar, Jaideep Rathore, Kushal Singh and Lokendra Singh fulfilled India’s dream and became the first in 88-year history of basketball in India, to participate in World Cup, scheduled next year.
The team had kickstarted their campaign in the 3×3 Asia Cup in Malaysia with thumping wins. At the beginning of the tournament, India had surprised third seed Uzbekistan 21-7 and within three hours they stunned the 2018 champions New Zealand 21-11. The consecutive wins guided the team at the top of Group B.
On Sunday, in the the three games that India played in the knockout stage, they first defeated Jordan 21-9 in the quarterfinals. And then in a thrilling semi-final, India defeated Chinese Taipei by a close margin of a point (21-20) to earn their qualification for the World Cup.
Though they qualified for the World Cup but lost the Asia Cup final to defending champions Japan 17-21. Thus, it led India to bag their first-ever silver medal at the junior level in Asia.
K Govindaraj, the president of Basketball Federation of India (BFI) was quite elated by the team’s win and therefore declared a prize money of Rs 1 lakh each for each member of the team.
While speaking to Times of India, Govindaraj said, “I feel very happy that the Indian team made it. It’s a very good achievement and other cagers should follow this and all the other Indian teams should make it a point in future to perform at the best of their abilities. I appreciate the players and coach as they worked hard and gave a really good message for all the future Indian players."
Scott Flemming, NBA Academy India technical director and former national coach said, “I want to congratulate BFI and the 3×3 team for this great accomplishment. Coach Matic and the Indian coaches have done a great job preparing them. Of course, we are proud that they are all NBA Academy players as well. They have come a long way since they first arrived in Greater Noida. This is just another way that we can partner with BFI in helping basketball to grow in India."
On an another note, the women team also showcased great performances as they qualified for the quarter-final stage of the four-day event.
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