Indian Boys qualify after defeating Sri Lanka

Basketball U16 FIBA ABC Qualifiers: Indian Boys qualify after defeating Sri Lanka

India’s U16 boys’ basketball team faced no troubles in brushing aside the Sri Lankan squad on their way to a 122-34 rout at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, August 3rd. India won the qualifying round and secured their place in the 2nd U16 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship, which will be held at the Nha Trang City in Vietnam from October 18-28th.

It was India’ second successive rout in this competition – after the boys’ blazed to a 98-point win against Nepal on Tuesday, the finalists of the qualifying round, Sri Lanka, failed to provide much more of a challenge. The Indian camp saw a dominating breakout game by prodigious young 7-footer Satnam Singh Bhamara, who was unstoppable on the offensive end of the floor, going for an efficient 28 points. India’s guards played fierce defense, and on the other end, the Punjabi duo of Kushmeet and Love Neet Singh scored a lot of points by outrunning their opponents.

Even after holding to a 64-19 lead at halftime, India didn’t ease their full-court press, forcing Sri Lanka to commit several turnovers that led to easy baskets for the Indian youngsters. In the fourth quarter, Sri Lanka managed to slow the pace of the game a little by fouling the Indian players and sending them to the free throw line often, but the damage was already done, as India also held Sri Lanka down to just four points in the final period.

India were handed by winner’s trophy by Kenny Natt, the American coach of the Indian Senior Men’s side. Sri Lanka, who defeated Nepal 77-54 in their first game on Monday, won the second place trophy, handed to them by NBA India’s Head of Basketball Operations, Troy Justice.

Final Score

India (Satnam Singh Bhamara 28, Kushmeet Singh 26, Love Neet Singh 12, Ajay Pratap Singh 11) bt. Sri Lanka (Kenneth W 12, Praveen Ganlath 10) 122-34 (35-11, 29-8, 35-11, 23-4).