Indian Men win gold at 3x3 South Asian Basketball Meet
Indian Senior men's team after their 3x3 South Asian Basketball Gold. Standing L to R Jeevanantham Pandi, Rajesh Uppar, Siddhant Shinde and Basil Philip.
Following in the footsteps of the 5x5 squad before them, the Indian senior men’s team has been crowned champions in the 3x3 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Qualifiers 2015 a short while ago at Gateway College in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Facing familiar opponents Colombo Sri Lanka Reds in the finals, whom they had lost to yesterday in the league stages, India showed great heart and courage to dominate the Islanders at home 21-10.
The day began with India dominating Nepal 20-10 in a must win last league match to qualify to the semifinals as the second seeded team. In the semis, India continued its strong form to beat Sri Lanka Blacks 18-10, before powering through to a 21-10 finals victory.
An excited Siddhant Shinde said after the gold medal finish, “We did it for the 1.24 billion people of India. We hope this inspires the youth of the nation to take up basketball.” As South Asia winners, the four man squad comprising Shinde, Basil Philip, Rajesh Uppar and Jeevanantham Pandi, has now qualified for the 3x3 World Tour which will be held on 15th and 16th August 2015 in Beijing, China.