Princepal Singh, Amaan Sandhu included in India squad for basketball tourney

The Basketball Federation of India on Monday announced the senior men's squad that will be part of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. The team will play its first of two games in Window 1 of the qualifiers on Friday against Bahrain at the Manama, Khalifa Sport City. Two days later, the team travels to Baghdad to play Iraq at the Al Shaeb Hall.

India is placed in group D alongside Iraq, Bahrain, and Lebanon.  As per the latest FIBA men's rankings, India (74) is the second-best team in the group while Lebanon, Iraq, and Bahrain are ranked 55th, 79th, and 113th respectively. While key veteran players like Satnam Singh and Amjyot Singh ( reportedly banned for 3 years ) are missing, 19-year-old NBA Global Academy student-athlete Princepal Singh is part of this roster.

Singh, who recently led Punjab to gold in the U-21 category in the 2020 Khelo India Youth Games, has been at the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia for over a year. Also part of the squad is 17-year-old Amaan Sandhu. Sandhu, a student-athlete at the NBA Academy India, was also part of the gold-medal-winning Punjab squad. He was one of three Indians (the only boy) selected to the Basketball Without Border Global Camp at the 2020 All-Star Weekend in Chicago.