Indian basket team will travel to Iran for FIBA Asia Challenge

An 18-member senior Indian basket contingent is travelling to Tehran, Iran for the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge that will be held from September 9th to 18th at the Azadi Sports Complex.
India had qualified after winning the South Asian Basketball Qualifiers held in Bengaluru in July and will be one of the 12 participating teams in the tournament.
The teams will be divided into 4 preliminary groups and India has been clubbed with Philippines and Chinese Taipei in in preliminary Group B.
India will play its first match against Philippines on 9th September, while the second match against Chinese Taipei will be held on September 19th.

All 12 teams from the preliminary rounds progress to the second round, from where the top 8 teams will progress to the knockout stages.
India had upset China in the previous edition of this tournament in 2014, and will be looking to repeat its strong showing against Asia's best teams. Host Iran is the defending champion.

The final 12 members of the squad who will represent India at the FIBA Asia Challenge were selected at the end of a nearly one month long training camp held at NMAM Institute of Technology (NITTE) in Karkala, Udupi district of coastal Karnataka.
While the Indian side remains largely unchanged from last month's 38th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament, there are a couple of key changes.

Veteran swingman and defensive stopper Yadwinder Singh returns to the team, and is expected to provide much needed versatility on both ends of the floor in terms of matchups.
Also, teenager Hariram Ragupathy, one of the stars from India's 8th place finish at the 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship, makes his debut into the senior team.
"On behalf of BFI I convey my sincere thanks to NITTE University management, who for the last two years have been continuously providing us all the training facilities for the Indian team. This is one of the best campus facilities I have seen," said Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary General of BFI.

Addressing the departing contingent, he said, "Ultimately, it is the outcome of your efforts which will benefit basketball in India. You are the players who are icons for all other players in the country. So I wish you all the success and that you put up a performance that is even better than in all the previous championships that you have attended.