# India men's national basketball team

The India men's national basketball team represents India in international men's basketball. It is controlled by the Basketball Federation of India.
A 1936 founding member of FIBA Asia, India has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions. Throughout its history, Team India qualified for the FIBA Asia Championship 26 times and is placed in the top five in appearances in this tournament. Further, India's basketball team won four gold medals and one silver medal at the South Asian Games and is the most successful team in the South Asian region. India have also won the SABA Championship six times. Team India celebrated its victory at the 2014 Lusofonia Games after they finished the tournament with a 4–0 record as they beat 11–time African Champions Angola in the final.
Its most famous moment came at the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup with the win against home favorites and most successful Asian team China by seven points. This win has been labelled as the biggest basketball win in the nation's history.

## History

India appeared at the international stage for the first time ever at the Asian Games in the 1951 edition and the Asian Championships 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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship India was coached by former Sacramento Kings head coach Kenny Natt. 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. 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. India continued their dominance in South Asia by winning further South Asian Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2021.

## Gallery

* The Kanteerava Indoor Stadium hosted the SABA Championship in 2015 and 2016. India won the gold medal on both occasions. Further, Team India has frequently used the facility for training sessions
* Satnam Singh Bhamara (left) with the Indian national team in 2013
* Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
* Anoop Mukkanniyil
* Akilan Pari
* Rikin Pethani
* Trideep Rai
* Yadwinder Singh
* Riyaz Uddin

## Competitive record
### Summer Olympics

Summer Olympics :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 1980 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 12th |

### FIBA Asia Cup

| Year | Rank | M | W | L | PF | PA | PD |
| 1960 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 1963 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 1965 | 7th place | 7 | 4 | 3 | 491 | 542 | -51 |
| 1967 | 6th place | 9 | 5 | 4 | 709 | 797 | -88 |
| 1969 | 5th place | 8 | 4 | 4 | 748 | 720 | +28 |
| 1971 | 6th place | 8 | 3 | 5 | 563 | 632 | -69 |
| 1973 | 6th place | 10 | 3 | 7 | 744 | 902 | -158 |
| 1975 | 4th place | 8 | 5 | 3 | 754 | 728 | +26 |
| 1977 | 7th place | 9 | 7 | 2 | 957 | 776 | +181 |
| 1979 | 5th place | 7 | 3 | 4 | 539 | 604 | -65 |
| 1981 | 5th place | 7 | 3 | 4 | 521 | 511 | +10 |
| 1983 | 6th place | 5 | 2 | 3 | 298 | 310 | -12 |
| 1985 | 10th place | 6 | 3 | 3 | 585 | 459 | +126 |
| 1987 | 6th place | 7 | 2 | 5 | 518 | 608 | -90 |
| 1989 | 6th place | 6 | 2 | 4 | 472 | 520 | -48 |
| 1991 | 13th place | 7 | 2 | 5 | 575 | 596 | -21 |
| 1993 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 1995 | 13th place | 8 | 4 | 4 | 537 | 558 | -21 |
| 1997 | 11th place | 6 | 3 | 3 | 433 | 409 | +24 |
| 1999 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2001 | 8th place | 6 | 1 | 5 | 406 | 508 | -102 |
| 2003 | 8th place | 7 | 2 | 5 | 551 | 678 | -127 |
| 2005 | 12th place | 7 | 3 | 4 | 545 | 578 | -33 |
| 2007 | 15th place | 7 | 2 | 5 | 468 | 627 | -159 |
| 2009 | 13th place | 5 | 2 | 3 | 371 | 415 | -44 |
| 2011 | 14th place | 5 | 1 | 4 | 283 | 310 | -27 |
| 2013 | 11th place | 8 | 2 | 6 | 532 | 641 | -109 |
| 2015 | 8th place | 9 | 3 | 6 | 669 | 789 | -120 |
| 2017 | 14th place | 3 | 0 | 3 | 186 | 249 | -63 |
| 2022 | 16th place | 3 | 0 | 3 | 169 | 305 | -136 |
| 2025 | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined |
| Total | 26/30 | 178 | 71 | 107 | 13,624 | 14,772 | -1,148 |

### Asian Games

Asian Games :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 1951 | New Delhi, India | 4th |
| 1970 | Bangkok, Thailand | 6th |
| 1982 | New Delhi, India | 8th |
| 2006 | Doha, Qatar | 17th |
| 2010 | Guangzhou, China | 11th |
| 2014 | Incheon, South Korea | 9th |

### Asia Challenge

FIBA Asia Challenge :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 2004 | Taipei, Taiwan | 6th |
| 2008 | Kuwait City, Kuwait | 5th |
| 2012 | Tokyo, Japan | 9th |
| 2014 | Wuhan, China | 7th |
| 2016 | Tehran, Iran | 7th |

### SABA Championship

SABA Championship :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 2002 | Guwahati, India | 1st |
| 2014 | Kathmandu, Nepal | 1st |
| 2015 | Bengaluru, India | 1st |
| 2016 | Bengaluru, India | 1st |
| 2017 | Male, Maldives | 1st |
| 2021 | Dhaka, Bangladesh | 1st |

### Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 2006 | Melbourne, Australia | 8th |
| 2018 | Gold Coast, Australia | 8th |

### South Asian Games

South Asian Games :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 1987 | Kolkata, India | 1st |
| 1991 | Colombo, Sri Lanka | 1st |
| 1995 | Chennai, India | 1st |
| 2010 | Dhaka, Bangladesh | 2nd |
| 2019 | Kathmandu, Nepal | 1st |

### Lusofonia Games

Lusofonia Games :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 2014 | Goa, India | 1st |

### Other tournaments
#### William Jones Cup

William Jones Cup :
| Year | Host city | Position |
| 2016 | New Taipei, Taiwan | 9th |
| 2017 | Taipei, Taiwan | 10th |

## Honours

Intercontinental
* Lusofonia Games
** Gold Medal: 2014
Continental
* SABA Championship
** Gold Medal: 2002, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021
* South Asian Games
** Gold Medal: 1987, 1991, 1995, 2019
** Silver Medal: 2010

## Head coach history

Note: The following list may not be complete
* Lauro Mumar
* Makolath Rajan
* Major N.K. Singh - 1997
* Keshav Kumar Chansoria - 2001
* Jay Prakash Singh - 2005
* Zoran Lukić - 2006
* Mahender Rathor - 2007
* Aleksandar Bućan - 2007–2010
* Bill Harris - 2010–2011
* Kenny Natt - 2011–2012
* Keshav Kumar Chansoria (interim) - 2012
* Scott Flemming - 2012–2015
* Sat Prakash Yadav - 2015–2017
* C. V. Sunny (interim) - 2017
* Bhaskar Sappaniambalam (interim) - 2017
* Phil Weber (interim) - 2017
* Zoran Višić - 2017–2019
* Veselin Matić - 2019–2024
* Scott Flemming - 2024–present

## Results and fixtures

Win Loss Fixture

### 2025
## Team
### 2025 roster

Roster for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in 2024 and 2025.

### 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, Tarlok Singh Sandhu (Coach:Makolath Rajan)
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
2013 Asian Championship: finished 11th among 15 teams
2014 Asian Games: finished 12th among 16 teams

#### 2015 FIBA Asia Championship

    finished 8th among 16 qualified teams in Asia

#### 2017 FIBA Asia Cup

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification
2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualification