Indian Senior Men post first ever win at the William Jones Cup
(Featured Image is from the SABA Qualifiers and is being used purely for the purposes of representation) New Delhi/ Bengaluru, 29th July 2016: Earlier today, the Senior Indian Men’s team posted its first ever win at the William Jones Cup, the 38th edition of which is underway in Taiwan. Prior to the ongoing edition, the men’s team had participated at this prestigious international invitational cup only once before, back in 2005, when the side finished winless.
India beat Republic of China Team B (“China White”) 77-63
As India took on Republic of China (i.e. Chinese Taipei) Team B today, it was still searching for its first win in the competition. Facing off against “China White”, India knew it had its best chance of securing a victory. Leading from the front, veteran guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who had a quiet few previous games by his standards, had his best scoring performance of the tournament, with 27 points. Giving him company, forward Amjyot Singh recorded a huge double double of 12 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks. Besides these two starters, India’s bench too got into the act, with three players scoring 10 points or more. India held a slight 17-16 lead at the end of the first quarter, before China White went on a 23-13 run in Q2. Unlike previous games though, India was able to successfully mount a 47-24 counter attack in the second half, to take the side to this moral boosting win. Crucially, as a team, India shot better from beyond the arc (8 threes), showed hustle on defence (11 steals & 4 blocks) and better second unit production (36 pts vs 14 pts). India (1-6) remains at the bottom of the table and will look to end on a positive note as it takes on Iran day after tomorrow (31st July, 10:30 am IST). India (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 27 pts 8 reb 4 ast 2 stl, Amjyot Singh 17 reb 12 pts 4 ast 2 stl 3 blk, Arvind Arumugam 13 pts, Rikin Pethani 10 pts, Akilan Pari 10 pts 4 ast 4 stl) bt China White (Hsing-Chih 18 pts 9 reb, Yu-Che Dog 14 pts, John Richard Florveus 14 reb 9 pts) 77-63 [17-16, 13-23, 28-14, 19-10]
Philippines beat India
Yesterday, India lost to a star studded Philippines’ Mighty Sports Club side that featured numerous international professional athletes who are former NBA players and former American high school and college standouts. Viewed from that perspective, team India did excellently to outscore Philippines 27-23 in the first quarter and keep the scoring neck and neck in the 2nd and 4th quarters. But an unstoppable 31-11 third quarter in favour of Philippines eventually proved decisive. Guard Dewarick Spencer was the wrecker-in-chief for Philippines, notching up an impressive triple double of 21 pts, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to go along with 5 steals. For India, besides an expectedly strong showing by forwards Amritpal Singh and Amjot Singh, debutant guard Arshreet Bhullar finally made the list of top scorers with 15 points. Philippines (Dewarick Spencer 21 pts 12 reb 10 ast 5 stl, Willie Thornton 30 pts, Vernon Marklin 14 pts) bt India (Amritpal Singh 18 pts 9 reb, Amjyot Singh 15 pts 13 reb 4 ast, Arshpreet Bhullar 15 pts) 101-81 [23-27, 25-21, 31-11, 22-22]
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 i.e. Chinese Taipei (ROC) Team A (WR-48)
Republic of China i.e. Chinese Taipei Team B
India’s Upcoming Schedule [Timings in IST]
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 only 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 for 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.