Indian Senior Men's Team lose to Egypt & Korea at William Jones Cup
(Featured Image is from the SABA Qualifying round and is for representative purposes) New Delhi/ Bengaluru, 27th July 2016: The Indian Senior Men’s National Basketball Team continued to be put through the paces by higher ranked opponents in the 38th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament 2016 underway in Taiwan. The side was outgunned by higher ranked South Korea yesterday, followed by a 67-79 loss to Egypt (WR-41) earlier today.
India vs Egypt- A difference of 10 mins
Competing in their fourth straight game against a higher ranked team, the Indian men matched Egypt for three entire quarters. However, a stronger showing in the second period by Egypt meant that India (WR-53), ultimately lost 67-79. While the unfavourable result meant that India is now 0-5 in the competition, the actual games themselves were extremely close affairs, barring the one-sided loss to Korea. In today’s match, India actually led 16-11 at the end of the first quarter, thanks to captain centre Amritpal Singh’s early domination in the paint with 8 points. However, in the decisive Q2, Egypt outscored India 25-13, before India fought more gamely in the second half, scoring 38 points to the North African side’s 43. India was the better rebounding (43-39) and shooting side (55.81% from the field as against 45.45% for Egypt), but a high rate of turnovers (28) caused chiefly by 20 steals meant that Egypt simply had more opportunities at the basket. Egypt (Amr Abdelhalim 19 pts & 6 stl, Ibrahim Elgammal 16 pts, Mohamed Nasar 13 pts) bt India (Amritpal Singh 22 pts & 9 reb, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 14 pts & 5 ast, Aravind Annadurai 10 reb 3 ast & 1 blk) 79-67 [11-16, 25-13, 24-22, 19-16]
Korea beat India
Korea came off the blocks quickly, racing to a 29-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, and forcing India to play catch up the rest of the game. India competed well for the remaining three periods but could not prevent a 97-55 win for their opponents, ranked 30th in the world. One bright spot for India today was the play of forward Arvind Arumugam, off the bench. He had 8 points & 4 rebounds, shooting 80% from the field in a little over 16 minutes of being on the floor. South Korea (Ung Heo 19 pts, Sangjae Kang 15 pts, Jinsoo Choi 13 pts) bt India (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 9 pts, Talwinderjit Singh 8 pts, Amritpal Singh 8 pts, Arvind Arumugam 8 pts) 97-55 [29-9, 19-14, 24-14, 25-18]
Indian Squad for the 38th William Jones Cup 2016
Jersey No Family Name(s) /Last Name First Name(s) /Given Name Place of Birth (City and State) Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy) Height (cm)(ft & inches) Weight (Kg) Position 4 Bhullar Arshpreet Singh Jalandhar Punjab 02/10/1996 190 (6’ 3’’) 86 G/F 9 Bhriguvanshi Vishesh Varanasi Uttar Pradesh 13/09/1991 195 (6’ 4.5’’) 95 G/F 10 Amritpal Singh (c) Ganna Pind Punjab 05/01/1991 207 (6’ 9.5’’) 110 C 12 Philip Basil Sulthanbathery Kerala 10/01/1991 184 (6’ .5”) 76 G/F 15 Pethani Rikin Sajiavadar Amreli Gujarat 02/12/1990 203 (6’ 8”) 104 C 23 Annadurai Aravind Tanjore Tamil Nadu 05/07/1993 200 (6’ 7”) 95 C 25 Arumugam Arvind Mandya Karnataka 28/01/1991 197 (6’ 5.5”) 94 PF 27 Amjyot Singh Chandigarh Punjab/ Haryana 27/01/1992 203 (6’ 8”) 104 F 44 Bhardwaj Ravi Chandigarh Chandigarh 31/10/1992 207 (6’ 9.5”) 100 F/C 46 Sivakumar Prasanna Venkatesh Gobichettipalayam Tamil Nadu 25/09/1992 186 (6’ 1”) 85 G/F 66 Pari Akilan Chennai Tamil Nadu 20/07/1989 180 (5’ 10.8’’) 70 PG 77 Talwinderjit Singh Patiala Punjab 20/10/1986 182 (5’ 11.6’’) 80 PG
*PG - Point Guard / Feeder, G - Guard, F - Forward, G/F - Wing, PF - Power Forward, C - Centre, PF/C - Pivot
13) Coach: Sebastian Padipurakkal Joseph 14) Coach: Sunny Cheruthottil Varghese 15) Physiotherapist: Navaneeth Atholi Thiruvoth 16) Manager: Chengalraya Naidu Talipinani
About the 38th William Jones Cup
Tournament Specifics
The venue for the tournament is the Hsinchuang Gymnasium in the city of New Taipei, Taiwan. 9 teams are set to participate, and this includes 2 local Taipei teams. Matches will be played between 23rd of July to the 31st. The final placement of teams will be based on their performance in a single round robin format. This will mean that every team will face every other team once. The William Jones Cup is one of the, if not the, biggest non-FIBA Asia tournament conducted in the Asian continent as it is regularly used for the top teams in Asia as a warm-up event for the regular FIBA Asia competitions. This marks the first time since 2005 that the Indian Men’s National Team was invited. The invitation comes after India made history in back to back years, in 2014 by beating China for the first time ever and in 2015 by reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in 12 years.
Participants
The list of participating teams range from National teams to amateur club and University teams, as follows:
Egypt National Team (WR-41)
Iran National Team (WR-17)
India National Team (WR-53)
Japan National Team (WR-48)
Korea National Team (WR-30)
Philippines (Mighty Sports Club team in the Pilipinas Commercial Basketball League or ‘PCBL’)
S.A (California State University, Sacramento)- NCAA Div I Team
Republic of China (ROC) Team A (WR-48)
Republic of China Team B
India’s Upcoming Schedule [Timings in IST]
vs Phillipines – 28th July, 10:30 AM vs ROC B – 29th July, 10:30 AM vs Iran – 31st July, 10:30 AM
Tournament History and India’s Participation
The William Jones Cup is a prestigious annual invitational tournament, the inaugural edition of which was held in 1977. The Cup was conceived and named to honour Dr. Renato William Jones, who served as one of the founders of FIBA and served as its first Secretary General for 44 years. Dr. William Jones was also instrumental in the creation of an Asian Zone for FIBA, which he did at the FIBA World Congress in Tokyo in 1964. Iran is the defending champion, while United States is the most successful participant in the competition, with 15 gold medal finishes. The last time the Indian men’s team competed at William Jones was way back in 2005. Subsequently, the women’s team participated in 2011 and 2012. In the 2011 edition, India finished (1-3), and was placed 4th, with the team’s sole win coming against South Korea (63-69). This game was notable Prashanti Singh’s shooting heroics as well as for Anitha Pauldurai top scoring (24 points) and Geethu Anna Jose’s 11 rebounds. In the following 2012 edition, India finished 4th again but fared better, going 2-3, by beating the Malaysian National Team and the Division III Chapman University, US.
About Basketball Federation of India
The Basketball Federation of India or BFI is the governing and controlling body of basketball in India, and is responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. BFI has been involved in conducting camps, clinics, events, and training sessions at its academies for the development of basketball. BFI came into being in 1935 and took complete control over Indian basketball in 1950. Prior to that time, the Indian Olympic Association handled the conduct of Indian basketball championships. Since 1950, the BFI has been conducting various such championships, from the grassroots to senior team participation in international tournaments. In addition, the BFI has been responsible for the establishment of strong sub-junior and junior level programs. The BFI has to its credit produced several international players of repute, among them 17 have been bestowed with the honour of Arjuna Awards. Earlier in June 2015, 19-year-old Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian national to be drafted by an NBA team, when he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks. More information at www.basketballfederationindia.org.