Basketball
Main article: Basketball in India See also: India national basketball team and India women's national basketball teamBasketball is a popular sport in India. It is played in almost every school, although very few people take it professionally. India has both men's and women's national teams in basketball. Both teams have hired head coaches who have worked extensively with NBA players and now aim at the goal of popularizing the game in India.
The Young Cagers, as the national team is nicknamed made one Olympic appearance in basketball, and appeared 20 times in the Asian Championship. India is currently ranked 58th in the world in basketball. It had their best result at the 1975 Asian Championship when the team surprisingly finished ahead of teams such as the Philippines, one of Asia's basketball strongholds. Internationally, one of the most recognized Indian basketball players has been Sozhasingarayer Robinson. Affiliated into FIBA since 1936, India has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions.
India's women had their best result at the recent 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Women when they finished 6th. The team does have several internationally known players such as Geethu Anna Jose who was invited to tryouts for the WNBA in 2011.
Read more about this topic: Sport In India
Famous quotes containing the word basketball:
“Perhaps basketball and poetry have just a few things in common, but the most important is the possibility of transcendence. The opposite is labor. In writing, every writer knows when he or she is laboring to achieve an effect. You want to get from here to there, but find yourself willing it, forcing it. The equivalent in basketball is aiming your shot, a kind of strained and usually ineffective purposefulness. What you want is to be in some kind of flow, each next moment a discovery.”
—Stephen Dunn (b. 1939)