Indian basketball team for FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers announced

The continental tournament will take place in july next year.

India is set to play in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 20 and 21 August 2021. The men’s basketball team which will play in the upcoming qualifiers was announced on 14 August 2021. The Cagers will hope to secure one of the first two qualifying spots. Managing to do so will get India a place in the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup 2021 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

India are in Group H along with Saudi Arabia and Palestine. Two out of the three teams will qualify for the main tournament in Jakarta. India will play Saudi Arabia on August 20 and Palestine on August 21; they are favourites to qualify. The fact that India (76) are the better ranked side than both Palestine (89) and Saudi Arabia (93) make them the favourites to advance from this group. However, being favourite on paper does not matter until they can perform on the day.

This will be the second chance for India to qualify for the main tournament. They failed to do so earlier as they finished third in the first round of qualifiers. The qualifying tournament of third-placed teams will now decide the remaining qualifiers into the main draw. Thirteen countries have already secured qualification into the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 and three more will join them.

Coach and players in focus

The head coach Veselin Matic will be hoping his team can deliver in the upcoming round of Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers. They need to take inspiration from their narrow 81-78 victory over Iraq in February which has earned India a second shot at getting into the main event. The Serbian coach will like to add another victory to the South Asian Games win in 2019.

Indian skipper Vishesh Bhriguvanshi will be hoping to lead the men by example. He will look to shine when the qualifiers take place later in August. The focus will also be on point guard Muin Bek Hafeez who must marshall the troops well. 

Here is the Indian lineup for the qualifiers:

Arvind Kumar Krishnan, Pratyanshu Tomar, Pranav Prince, Muin Bek Hafeez, Joginder Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Sahaij Pratap Singh, Amjyot Singh, Aravind Annadurai, Amritpal Singh, Prashant Rawat and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi.

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