New Delhi/Bengaluru, 30th July 2016: After its historic run to the quarterfinals of the 24th FIBA Asia U18 Men’s Championship came to an end yesterday, India faced off against Chinese Taipei in the first of its two classification games for 5 to 8 positions.
Chinese Taipei is a familiar foe, having beaten India earlier in the league stages of Group A. This classification game was no different. The fatigue of playing 7 matches in 9 days finally got to India’s starters, especially captain P Baladhaneshwar, who was unable to muster up the all-round impact that we are used to seeing from this playmaking guard.

Wing player Rachit in action against Chinese Taipei. Image credit- FIBA Asia.
In his absence, shooting guard Hariram Ragupathy and power forward Muhammad Noushad scored in double digits. India plays its final 7th-8thclassification position game tomorrow, against another Group A side, Philippines. The match tips off at 1pm IST.

Power forward Gineeb Benny uses his length against Chinese Taipei. Image credits-FIBA Asia
You can watch the game here:
Indian Squad for the 24th FIBA Asia U18 Men’s Championship 2016
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*PG – Point Guard / Feeder, G – Guard, F – Forward, G/F – Wing, PF – Power Forward, C – Centre, PF/C – Pivot
13) Team Manager: Mr. Ashok Sahu
About the 24th FIBA Asia U18 Men’s Championship 2016
There are 12 participating teams that have been divided into two preliminary groups:Group A – China (WR-12), Chinese Taipei (WR-27), India (WR-52), Iraq (WR-62), Philippines (WR-28) and Thailand (WR-67).
Group B – Indonesia (WR-70), Iran (WR-24), Japan (WR-26), Kazakhstan (WR-37), Korea (WR-18) and Lebanon (WR-54).
Each team shall play all the other teams within its own group and the top 4 teams from each group qualify for the quarter-final round, followed by the semi-finals and finals. Additionally, placement matches will also be held for positions 3-8.
The significance of this Championship is that the top three teams progress to the FIBA Under-19 World Championship that will be held in Cairo, Egypt from 1 to 9 July 2017.
Championship History
The Asia U-18 Men’s Championship was first held in 1970 in Seoul and has since been held every 2 years (or 3 years in certain cases). China is the most storied team at the Asian level, having won gold 11 times, followed by Philippines (6) and South Korea (3).
Coming into this edition, China is the defending champion, followed by Iran (silver) and South Korea (bronze).
For info on all time medallists, see: www.fiba.com/asia/u18/2016/
India’s Record
Prior to the upcoming edition, India has participated in the Asian Championship 18 times, with its best finish coming at the 1972 Championship held in Manila, Philippines, where the side finished 4th.
As hosts, India had conducted the 1998 and 2004 iterations in Kolkata and Bengaluru respectively. From 2006-2010 and in the last 2014 edition, India finished in 13th place, while in 2012, India managed a higher 10th place finish.
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