India U17 basketball team creates history by qualifying for the FIBA ​​U18 World Cup 2023

It was a historic day for India as the Indian U17 3×3 basketball team qualified for the 3×3 FIBA ​​U18 World Cup 2023 for the first time since 2011, following 2nd place in Asia Cup. The FIBA ​​U17 3×3 Asia Cup began on 13 October in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia.

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The Indian team of Jaideep Rathore, Harsh Dugar, Kushal Singh, and Lokendra Singh sealed their place in the FIBA ​​U18 World Cup 2023 after making it to the final of the ongoing U17 3×3 Asia Cup in Malaysia. Indian youngsters sealed their place in the final after beating Chinese Taipei 21-20 in a thrilling semi-final match. Earlier, India had defeated Jordan by a huge margin of 21-9 in the quarter-finals. In the final, India lost to Japan by a close score of 21-17 and had to be content with the silver medal.

On the other hand, the Indian women's team went down to Chinese Taipei 4-21 in the quarter-finals of the Under-17 3x3 Asia Cup. The Indians seemed to have no match with the opponents as they surrendered. India reached the quarter-finals with a 13-11 win over Turkmenistan. But they suffered a hard-fought 14-15 loss against Singapore in their Pool D match.

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Both the Indian men's and women's basketball teams have previously played in the inaugural edition of the FIBA ​​Under-18 3x3 World Cup in 2011. This is India's only appearance in the Basketball World Cup in any format or age group. While Indian men were ranked 29th and women were ranked 16th.