MSBA selectors opt for youth in Senior National basketball

NAGPUR: As a bold step forward for the development of the game, officials of Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) gave the much needed exposure to its future stars.
For the first time a new-look squad, mostly of youngsters below 20 years, both in the men and women categories, will represent Maharashtra in the 64th Senior National Basketball Championship starting at the Thyagraj Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from February 26.
"This time we gave chance to our youngsters. While selecting the team we made sure that our young international players and those who did a commendable job in the age category nationals get a berth for this high profile tournament. With an intention to give the much needed exposure to our future stars, around 3-4 players in both teams are below 20 years," said Ravindran Nair, joint secretary of MSBA.
Maharashtra men will try to promote themselves in the upper pool of top 10 teams, the state women squad eyes a berth in the semifinals.
While Maharashtra men had their preparatory camp at Mumbai the eves’ squad, under Abhay Chavan, did their training at Satara.
Maharashtra Teams
Women: Shireen Limaye, Kritika Diwadkar, Shreya Joshi, Rupali Tripathi (all Pune), Mugdha Amraotkar (Nagpur), Anamika Rai, Soni Shaji, Sangeeta S (all Mumbai South West), Kenny Sam, Sangeeta Mondal (both Mumbai South East), Lariza Fernandez (Mumbai North), Kranti Bankar (Solapur). Coach: Abhay Chavan, Ajay Shinde.
Men: Siddhant Shinde (Pune), Amit Ghelot, Abhishek Kumar, Fardin Khan, Kartik Couhdal, Aquib Khan (all Mumbai South East), Salim Malik (Mumbai South West), Melvin Rego, Nikhil Ayre, Nilesh Rawat (all Mumbai Central), Jatinder Singh (Navy), Ashish Renapurkar (Nanded). Coach: Hanif Patel, Salim Tirandaz, Manager: Manoj Reddy.
Big break for Nagpur's Mugdha
Nagpur's second international cager, 16-year-old Mugdha Amraotkar graduated to the senior state team on Sunday.
Having played an international U-16 meet and a couple of youth national basketball championships, Mugdha's attacking and free-flowing basketball helped the 5-foot-11 guard to grab her maiden berth in the Maharashtra team for the 64th Senior National Basketball Championship scheduled at New Delhi from February 26 to March 5.
Member of the Shankar Nagar-based Dharampeth Krida Mandal, Mugdha is the only city cager who will rub her shoulders against top Indian stars in country's biggest basketball event.
A student of Shivaji Science College, Mugdha represented India in the 3rd Fiba Asia Basketball Championship for U-16 women in Colombo, Sri Lanka last year.