India eves set realistic goals

We will look to maintain Level 1 status: Coach Garcia

The coach of the Indian women’s basketball team, Francisco Garcia Alvarez, knows he has a real challenge on his hand and he is game for it.

Garcia and his team are preparing for the Asian Championships next month in Wuhan, China, where they will be aiming to maintain their Level I status.

“Our goal obviously is to stay in Level 1. That is our realistic target,” said the Spanish coach talking on the sidelines of the training camp at the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium here.

India are pooled along with China, South Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Thailand in Level 1.  While the top four in the group will head into the semifinals of the competition, the bottom two will have to defend their status as a Level 1 side in a play-off against the top two sides from Level 2.

“We need to beat Thailand because China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei are from another basketball galaxy,” said the coach.

“And then in the play-offs we could avoid Kazakhstan — as they are likely to top Level 2. If we beat Thailand, we will probably face Jordan or Lebanon or Malaysia. They are more or less at our level. So that should help our cause,” added the coach.

Though the 22-member side will be without the likes of Geethu Anna Jose and Akanksha Singh, Garcia said the team would look to give a fight to the Asian heavyweights at the continental meet.

“The team that will surely miss Geethu and the others. But now, you can’t do anything about it,” he said.

“But we have players like Anita Pauldurai, Raja Priyadarshini and Shireen who will play a big role. And the youngsters too. They have been impressive at the Lusofonia Games and the Incheon Asian Games. I hope that these girls will do the job for us,” he quipped.

The team will play a handful of practice games against the local men’s side in the coming days. And Garcia stressed that such games will help his side get accustomed to the fast pace style and the physical nature of the game that awaits them at the Asian meet.

“We want to play friendlies against boys mainly because the teams we are going to face there are physically very strong.

“They play at a high speed. Here only the boys can offer us that level of competition,” said the coach whose contract expires at the end of the tournament.

The Indian probables: Preeti Kumari, Raspreet Sindhu, Shireen L, Priyadharshini Raja, Smruthi Radhakrishnan, Appoorva Murlinath, Sitamani Tudu, Jilna Jose, Stephy Nixon, Jeena PS, Poojamol KS, Anjana, Sruthi Menon, Kirandeep Kaur, V Srividhya, CL Rani, Anita Pauldurai, Standby: Sagrika Mahapatra, Sangeeta Kaur, Bhandavya HM, Athira Makkoottan, R Ramya.