A four-member Indian senior men's basketball team is set to participate in the 3x3 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Qualifiers 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka on August 1 and 2.
The four-member team comprising Basil Philip (Kerala), Rajesh Uppar (Karnataka), Siddhant Shinde (Maharashtra) and Jeevanantham Pandi (Tamil Nadu) flew out of Bengaluru to Colombo earlier this morning, and will return on August 3, a statement from the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) said.
The winners of the SABA Qualifiers will participate in the 3x3 World Tour which will be held on August 15 and 16in Beijing, China.
India had not participated in the inaugural 3x3 SABA Championship back in 2014, which was eventually won by hosts Bangladesh.
Basil Philip has made it to the Indian team for the second time after representing the national side during the 2013 SABA 5x5 Championship in New Delhi.
The remaining three, Uppar, Shinde and Jeevanantham are all first timers in the senior side.
"3x3 is a fast paced game in which Indian players have a chance to compete against the top countries in the world as we develop the 5x5 version of the sport. This is a great opportunity for these players and if they compete hard and win, they'll have the opportunity to play in China for even more and greater exposure," said BFI secretary general Chander Mukhi Sharma.
Elaborating further, BFI president K Govindaraj said: "We wanted to give these four players, who worked extremely hard during the coaching camp prior to SABA the chance to obtain valuable international experience. They didn't make the SABA 5x5 team but all four are young, talented and extremely hard working. They will certainly be part of future Indian teams and this will be valuable exposure for all of them.
