The India men's national basketball team represents India in international basketball. It is governed by the Basketball Federation of India. FIBA.com – National Federations & Leagues
A 1936 founding member of FIBA Asia,Jai Prakash, "Indian basketball team to feature in Dubai tournament" , Yahoo Cricket India, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015. 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.Pakistan basketball team named for 11th South Asian Games , gz2010.cn, accessed 25 March 2012. 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 everyone. 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. FIBA: 1980 Olympic Games : Tournament for Men, archives.fiba.com, accessed 17 October 2011.
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.http://www.taiwanhoops.com/2004/11/stankovic-cup-day-4-robinsons-36-leads.html Taiwan Hoops – Stankovic Cup Day 4 – Robinson's 36 leads India upset Korea, 81–76, taiwanhoops.com, written 24 November 2004, accessed 13 October 2011. 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.http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/04/stories/2007120411292200.htm The Hindu – Sport / Basketball : Robinson not to play for India, TN, Hindu.com, written 4 December 2007, accessed 15 October 2011.
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. India continued their dominance in South Asia by winning further South Asian Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2021.
Gallery
Performance record Olympics
Year Host Position M W L PF PA PD1980 Moscow, Soviet Union12th707458797−339Total 1/21 7 0 7 458 797 −339
Commonwealth Games
Year Host Position M W L PF PA PD2006 Melbourne, Australia8th505304474−1702018 Gold Coast, Australia8th303222292−70Total 2/2 8 0 8 526 766 −240
Asian Games
Year Host Position M W L PF PA PD1951 New Delhi, India4th413184266−821970 Bangkok, Thailand6th826478560−821982 New Delhi, India8th927739651+882006 Doha, Qatar17th202040−402010 Guangzhou, China11th615375507−1322014 Incheon, South Korea9th523353344+9Total 6/19 34 8 26 2129 2368 −239 1970: No Data vs 1982: No Data vs 2006: Withdrew
Asia Cup
Source:
Year Rank Played Won Lost PF PA PD 1960Did not enter 1963 1965 7th 7 4 3 491 542 −51 1967 6th 9 5 4 709 797 −88 1969 5th 8 4 4 748 720 +28 1971 6th 8 3 5 563 632 −69 1973 6th 10 3 7 744 902 −158 1975 4th 8 5 3 754 728 +26 1977 7th 9 7 2 957 776 +181 1979 5th 7 3 4 539 604 −65 1981 5th 7 3 4 521 511 +10 1983 6th 5 2 3 298 310 −12 1985 10th 6 3 3 585 459+126 1987 6th 7 2 5 518 608 −90 1989 6th 6 2 4 472 520 −48 1991 13th 7 2 5 575 596 −21 1993Did not enter 1995 13th 8 4 4 537 558 −21 1997 11th 6 3 3 433 409 +24 1999Did not enter 2001 8th 6 1 5 406 508 −102 2003 8th 7 2 5 551 678 −127 2005 12th 7 3 4 545 578 −33 2007 15th 7 2 5 468 627 −159 2009 13th 5 2 3 371 415 −44 2011 14th 5 1 4 283 310 −27 2013 11th 8 2 6 532 641 −109 2015 8th 9 3 6 669 789 −120 2017 14th 3 0 3 186 249 −63 2022 16th 3 0 3 169 305 −136 2025 15th 3 0 3 212 275 −63 Total 27/31 181 71 110 13,836 15,047 −1,211
Asia Challenge
Year Host Position M W L PF PA PD2004 Taipei, Taiwan6th532389405−162008 Kuwait City, Kuwait5th404217291−742012 Tokyo, Japan9th404294370−762014 Wuhan, China7th734473425+482016 Tehran, Iran7th844585670−85Total 5/6 28 10 18 1958 2161 −203
SABA Championship
Year Host Position M W L PF PA PD2002 Guwahati, India1st2014 Kathmandu, Nepal1st440372142+2302015 Bengaluru, India1st550552220+3322016 Bengaluru, India1st330272128+1442017 Male, Maldives1st440404218+1862021 Dhaka, Bangladesh1st330308120+188Total 6/8 19 19 0 1908 828 +1080
South Asian Games
Source: Year Host Position P W L PF PA PD1987 Kolkata, India1st 1991 Colombo, Sri Lanka1st1995 Chennai, India1st2010 Dhaka, Bangladesh2nd2019 Kathmandu, Nepal1st440471233+238
Lusofonia Games
Year Host Position M W L PF PA PD2014 Goa, India1st440304245+59Total 1/3 4 4 0 304 245 +59
William Jones Cup
Year Host Rank P W L PF PA PD2016 New Taipei, Taiwan9th817536638−1022017 Taipei, Taiwan10th909628885−257Total 2/44 17 1 16 1164 1523 −359
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
Coaching history Note: The following list may not be complete
Results and fixtures
2025
2026
Team 2025 roster Roster for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
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
See also Basketball in India India national under-19 basketball team India national under-17 basketball team India national 3x3 team
References
External links
FIBA profile India Basketball Records at FIBA Archive Asia-basket – India Men National Team Presentation on Facebook
Videos India v Japan – Group B – Game Highlights – 2015 FIBA Asia Championship Youtube.com video