Chennai will host India’s Group-D home match against Saudi Arabia as part of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers on November 30. India is grouped with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. India has to finish in the top 3 in its Group to progress to the next round of Qualifiers.
In a message to The Hindu on Tuesday, the Indian men’s basketball team head coach Scott Flemming reiterated the need to have exposure trips and said the team will have a camp next month. The 67-year-old American also hoped that Arpinder Singh and Princepal Singh, who are playing their trade in foreign leagues— Princepal in the Mongolian League and Arpinder in Japan ‘B’ Division league—will be available to represent the country.
Flemming said: “As usual, we are rated lower than all the other three teams. We have to find a way to narrow the gap through our preparation. We will start our camp in October and hope to have some exposure games prior to the qualifiers. We are missing several of our players who are playing professionally in other countries. The hope is that they would join us just prior to the games. It’s always a big challenge (to compete against higher-ranked teams.”
Aadhav Arjuna, president of Basketball Federation of India, admitted it will be tough for India and that Lebanon would be the toughest opponent in Group-D. Add to that, unlike other teams, India cannot use the services of naturalised players, Aadhav said.
“India faces the unique challenge of not being able to do so, as the Indian Constitution does not permit dual citizenship. Despite this limitation, our team has shown consistent progress in recent years, reflected in our rise in the FIBA World rankings from 81 to 76,” he said.
Published – September 10, 2025 08:47 pm IST
