India wins 2019 SABA U16 Championship in Dhaka to qualify for FIBA U16 Asia Championship


The wheels keep turning unabated for India's basketball dominance over our South Asian neighbours. India is by far the strongest team in the subcontinent, and every new generation of players emerges to reinstate our place at the top. The latest to do so were India's U16 boys team at the 2019 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) U16 Basketball Championship, held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) from July 3-5. India finished the tournament at a perfect 4-0 on Friday at the Dhanmondi Basketball Gymnasium and punched their ticket into the FIBA U16 Asia Championship next month.

India featured a long and athletic squad for the SABA Championship, captained by Kerala's Pranav Prince and coached by new Serbian head coach Veselin Matic. They faced off against hosts Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Maldives in the 5-team event.

India started off the tournament with a two-game day on Wednesday, facing off against both Nepal and Bangladesh. They started off in style, exploding for a 103-28 victory over Nepal in which Lokendra Singh (20) and Robin Banarjee (16) led a deep bench of scorers for India.

In Game 2, India played their best defensive effort of the tournament, cruising to the unbelievable scoreline of 95-8 in winning over the hosts Bangladesh. Captain Pranav Prince led all scorers with 18. India held Bangladesh scoreless in the fourth quarter.

On Thursday, India continued this epic momentum for their biggest win, 108-9 (a 99 point victory!) over Maldives. Banarjee scored 23 for India while Amrendra Nayak added 19. Maldives were held scoreless in the first and fourth quarters of the game.

The toughest challenge for India - relatively - came against Sri Lanka in their final game on Friday. The Lankans managed to hold India to their lowest offensive output, but India still raced to a 72-41 victory. Warnakulasurya Shehan Anthony Fernando of Sri Lanka was the game's highest scorer with 16.

India finished top of the standings after four games, with Sri Lanka at second place, and Bangladesh at third.

India will now participate in the 2019 FIBA U16 Asia Championship set to be held in Beijing (China) next month.

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