India men's national basketball team

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Last edited March 22, 2026
This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see India women's national basketball team.

India
FIBA rankingTemplate:FIBA World Rankings
Joined FIBA1936
FIBA zoneFIBA Asia
National federationBasketball Federation of India
CoachVeselin Matic
Nickname(s)Young Cagers[1]
Olympic Games
Appearances1
MedalsNone
Asia Cup
Appearances25
MedalsNone
South Asian Games
Appearances5
Medals Gold: (1987, 1991, 1995, 2019)
Silver: (2010)
Template:Basketball kitTemplate:Basketball kit

The India men's national basketball team represents India in international men's basketball. It is controlled by Basketball Federation of India.[2] The team made significant improvements as the sports of basketball is becoming more popular.[3]

A 1936 founding member of FIBA Asia,[4] India has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions. Throughout its history, Team India qualified for the FIBA Asia Championship 25 times and is placed in the top-5 in appearances in this tournament. Further, India's basketball team won four gold medals and one silver medal at the South Asian Games and became the most successful team in South Asian region.India have also won the SABA Championship five times .[5] Team India celebrated its victory at the 2014 Lusofonia Games after they finished the tournament with a 4–0 record as they beat 11 times African Champions Angola in the final.[6]

Its most famous moment came at the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup with the win against home favorites and most successful Asian team China by 7 points.[2][7] This win has been labelled as the "biggest basketball win in the nation's history."[8]

History

1965-1979

India appeared at the international stage for the first time ever 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.[9][10]

1980-2010

Main article: Basketball at the 1980 Summer Olympics

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 basketball fans worldwide. 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.[11]

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.[12]

1990-2010

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.[13]

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.[14]

2010-present

At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship India was coached by former Sacramento Kings head coach Kenny Natt.[15] Further, for the first time ever, India had its own strength and conditioning coach. Even though the team lost most games, its performance against Lebanon, which had made it to the final four at the previous tournament, superseded expectations.

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.[16] 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 the Indian team had experienced. In 2011, plans for the establishment thereof were officially agreed upon.

Gallery

Competitive record

Summer Olympics
Year Host city Position
1980 Template:Country data USSRTemplate:Preview warning Moscow, Soviet Union 12th
FIBA Asian Championship
Year Host city Position
1965 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 7th
1967 South Korea Seoul, South Korea 6th
1969 Thailand Bangkok, Thailand 5th
1971 Japan Tokyo, Japan 6th
1973 Philippines Manila, Philippines 6th
1975 Thailand Bangkok, Thailand 4th
1977 Malaysia Kula Lumpur, Malaysia 7th
1979 Japan Nagoya, Japan 5th
1981 India Kolkata, India 5th
1983 Hong Kong Hongkong 6th
1985 Malaysia Kula Lumpur, Malaysia 10th
1987 Thailand Bangkok, Thailand 6th
1989 China Beijing, China 6th
1991 Japan Kobe, Japan 13th
1995 South Korea Seoul, South Korea 13th
1997 Saudi Arabia Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 11th
2001 Australia Shanghai, China 8th
2003 China Harbin, China 8th
2005 Qatar Doha, Qatar 12th
2007 Japan Tokushima, Japan 15th
2009 China Tianjin, China 13th
2011 China Wuhan, China 14th
2013 Philippines Manila, Philippines 11th
2015 China Changsha, China 8th
2017 Lebanon Beirut, Lebanon 14th
Asian Games
Year Host city Position
1951 India New Delhi, India 4th
1970 Thailand Bangkok, Thailand 6th
1982 India New Delhi, India 8th
2006 Qatar Doha, Qatar 17th
2010 China Guangzhou, China 11th
2014 South Korea Incheon, South Korea 9th
FIBA Asia Challenge
Year Host city Position
2004 Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan 6th
2008 Kuwait Kuwait City, Kuwait 5th
2012 Japan Tokyo, Japan 9th
2014 China Wuhan, China 7th
2016 Iran Tehran, Iran 7th
SABA Championship
Year Host city Position
2002 India Assam, India 1st
2014 Nepal Kathmandu, Nepal 1st
2015 India Bengaluru, India 1st
2016 India Bengaluru, India 1st
2017 Maldives Male, Maldives 1st
Commonwealth Games
Year Host city Position
2006 Australia Melbourne, Australia 8th
2018 Australia Gold Coast, Australia 8th
South Asian Games
Year Host city Position
1987 India Kolkata, India 1st
1987 Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka 1st
1995 India Chennai, India 1st
2010 Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh 2nd
2019 Nepal Kathmandu, Nepal 1st
Lusofonia Games
Year Host city Position
2014 India Goa, India 1st

Current roster

2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualification

Opposition: Bahrain (21 February)
Venue: Khalifa Sport City, Manama
Opposition: Iraq (24 February)
Venue: Al Shaeb Hall, Baghdad[17] Template:2021 India 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualification team roster

Head coach history

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, Raman Gupta,Tarlok Singh Sandhu

1997 Asian Championship: finished 11th among 15 teams

Pankaj Malik, B.S. Gowtham, Gagnesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, N. Appla Raju, Parmindar Singh, Nishant Kumar, Virendar Joshi, Jaldeep Dhaliwal, D. Swaminathan, Srikant Reddy (Coach: Major N.K. Singh)

1999 Asian Championship: not qualified

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

2011 Asian Championship roster

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2013 Asian Championship: finished 11th among 15 teams

2013 FIBA Asia Championship roster

Template:FIBA roster header Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA roster footer

2014 Asian Games: finished 12th among 16 teams

2014 Asian Games roster

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2015 FIBA Asia Championship "finished 8th Among 16 qualified teams in Asia "
2015 FIBA Asia Championship roster

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2016 FIBA Asia Challenge "finished 7th Among 12 qualified teams in Asia "

2017 FIBA Asia Cup[19]
2017 FIBA Asia Cup roster

Template:FIBA roster header Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player Template:FIBA player {{ 2019 FIBA world cup:' qualified among 16 teams INDIA team players Amjyot Singh Gill Satnam Singh Ashpreet Bhular Vighnesh more Tanmay shende Garry Rodriguz }} Template:FIBA roster footer

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification

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Template:FIBA roster footer

Kit

Manufacturer

2015–present: Roox[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ BFI - About Us Archived 13 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Basketball Federation of India - Coaches Corner, accessed 4 April 2013
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/FIBA/fibaStru/nfLeag/nfProf.asp?nationalFederationNumber=301 Archived 13 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine FIBA.com – National Federations & Leagues
  3. ↑ basketball in India "Basketball becoming popular". Retrieved 10 May 2021. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  4. ↑ Jai Prakash, "Indian basketball team to feature in Dubai tournament" Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Yahoo Cricket India, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Pakistan basketball team named for 11th South Asian Games Archived 23 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, gz2010.cn, accessed 25 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ "FIBA LiveStats". www.fibalivestats.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ↑ "1975 Asian Championship for men". FIBA. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  10. ↑ Howard tour;NBA archived posts at the Wayback Machine (archived 2013-05-09)
  11. ↑ http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/game/p/gid/10/grid/X/rid/727/sid/2940/tid/301/_/1980_Olympic_Games_Tournament_for_Men/statistic.html Archived 3 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine FIBA: 1980 Olympic Games : Tournament for Men, archives.fiba.com, accessed 17 October 2011.
  12. ↑ "Indian basketball team at the 1980 Olympics". Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  13. ↑ http://www.taiwanhoops.com/2004/11/stankovic-cup-day-4-robinsons-36-leads.html Archived 3 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Taiwan Hoops - Stankovic Cup Day 4 – Robinson's 36 leads India upset Korea, 81-76 , taiwanhoops.com, written 24 November 2004, accessed 13 October 2011.
  14. ↑ http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/04/stories/2007120411292200.htm Archived 25 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine The Hindu - Sport / Basketball : Robinson not to play for India, TN, Hindu.com, written 4 Dec 2007, accessed 15 October 2011.
  15. ↑ "I'm here to create a superstar, says India's NBA coach Kenny Natt". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  16. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ↑ "India at the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers". FIBA.basketball.
  18. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ↑ "India at the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 - FIBA.basketball". FIBA.basketball. Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  20. ↑ 2015 FIBA Asia Championship – India Archived 5 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, FIBA.com, accessed 16 February 2016.

External links

Videos

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Template:FIBA Asia

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