India name team for Asian women basketball c`ship

The Basketball Federation of India has also named two stand-by players -- Sonika Ohlyan and Asha Hegde -- for the prestigious tournament.

New Delhi: India named an unchanged 12-member strong women`s basketball team for the 24th FIBA Asia Championship to be held in Omura-Nagasaki, Japan from August 21 to 28.

The team includes the likes of Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Paul Durai, Prashanti Singh and 16-year-old Shireen Limaye and is the same which represented India at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan last week, where the country finished at fourth place. The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has also named two stand-by players -- Sonika Ohlyan (Delhi) and Asha Hegde (Delhi) -- for the prestigious tournament. The girls will be accompanied by head coach Pete Gaudet, assistant coach Abdul Hamid Khan, trainer Gopika Vijay Kachare and physiotherapist Sudhir Singh Rathore apart from two official FIBA referees, a BFI release said.India have been placed in Level I of the championship, along with champions China, hosts Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Lebanon. Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Singapore have been grouped in Level II. The Indian eves will open their campaign against Chinese Taipei on August 21, followed by matches against Korea (August 22), China (August 23), Japan (August 24) and Lebanon (August 25). The semi-finals of the tournament will be held on August 27 with the final slated for August 28.Team: Akanksha Singh (Delhi), Anitha Paul Durai (Indian Railways), Bharti (Indian Railways), Geethu Anna Jose (Indian Railways), Harjeet Kaur (Delhi), Kruthika Lakshman (Karnataka), Kokila Subramani (Tamil Nadu), Prashanti Singh (Delhi), Pushpa Maddu (Indian Railways), Raspreet Sidhu (Delhi), Shireen Vijay Limaye (Maharashtra), Smruthi Radhakrishnan (Indian Railways). Schedule 21st Aug, 2011 (Sunday): India vs. Chinese Taipei 22nd Aug, 2011 (Monday): India vs. Korea 23rd Aug, 2011 (Tuesday): India vs. China 24th Aug, 2011 (Wednesday): India vs. Japan 25th Aug, 2011 (Thursday): India vs. Lebanon. PTI