The Indian team and officials at the press conference of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in Chennai on Tuesday (November 19, 2024).
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) on Tuesday (November 19, 2024) formally announced that the Indian men’s basketball team is all set to play Qatar and Kazakhstan in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers (Window 2) on November 22 and 25 at the Nehru indoor stadium in New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu’s Muin Bek Hafeez has been named the captain of the 12-member Indian team.
Head coach Scott Fleming, who’s in his second stint with the National men’s team, said that the team is young with most of the players being in the u-25 age category.
Scott Flemming, Indian men’s team head coach.
| Photo Credit:
Siva Sankar Arokaran
Asked about the team’s two recent exposure trips to Dubai, he said: “It always helps to play against someone else. We played a total of six games. They gave us an idea about our players. It was a great evaluator and a great preparation for us.”
On how optimistic he is about India’s chances to qualify for the Asia Cup, Flemming said: “We are going to take it one game at a time. These are really good teams. They are teams that are ranked higher than us. But I’ve been talking to our players for several months now about narrowing the gap.
“Every day in practice, we want to narrow the gap and get us closer to these teams. And the fact that we are playing at home in India is great. I’ll give you a little secret. We’re going to play more than five people. So, we’re going to keep fresh legs on the floor,” he added.
BFI President Aadhav Arjuna, Technical Committee Chairman Norman Issac, Treasurer T. Chengalraya Naidu, Secretary Aezaz Ahmed, and the Indian team members were also present on the occasion.
Published – November 20, 2024 03:02 am IST
