Chinese pair and Indian duo top youngsters shining at 4th FIBA Asia Cup

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – Wang Zhelin and Guo Ailun of China and the Indian duo of Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Amritpal Singh were the four top youngsters to shine at the 4th FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo, Japan.

Guo confirmed why he was selected to play for China at the 2012 London Olympics and Wang why he was very close to making the team, while Bhriguvanshi and Singh gave Indian fans some faint hope for the future – despite India bowing out of the Asia Cup with four losses in four games.

China, who just like India were playing with a very young team, lost to hosts Japan in the quarter-finals and will play for fifth place. Guo, who doesn’t turn 19 until November, was held to 10 points and 3 rebounds and did not have an assist with 3 turnovers against Japan.

In the 5th-8th place game against Lebanon, Guo used his experience of also playing at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and bounced back with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

The 18-year-old center Wang meanwhile averaged nearly a double-double with 12.3 points and 9.8 rebounds. The Fuji native almost made China’s Olympic team but instead spent his summer starring at the 2012 FIBA Asia U18 Championship, averaging 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in guiding China to the title.

Wang spoke candidly about his experience at the Asia Cup, calling it a “reality check” after having dominated the U18 level. This will be a good experience for the 2.14m youngster after a successful summer as he can now return to the club scene.

India meanwhile did not enter the tournament with hopes of competing for a medal and sent a young squad led by the duo of 21-year-olds Bhriguvanshi and Singh.

Bhriguvanshi, a shooting guard who celebrated his birthday earlier this month, has probably more international experience than any other young player for India, including the 2009 FIBA Asia East Asia Championship and the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship. He was also named the MVP of the 2008 Basketball Without Borders camp in New Dehli.

Bhriguvanshi had a strong tournament in Tokyo, averaging 17.8 points, 6.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 44 per cent from the field and only turning the ball over 3.3 times per game in 38.5 minutes of action. The Varanasi native’s top game was a 20-point, 12-assist, 4-rebound effort against Chinese Taipei.

The 2.01m center Singh was Bhriguvanshi's main running mate for India as he averaged 13.8 points and 11.5 rebounds a game, including a monster double-double of 13 points and 20 rebounds against Japan. The Ganna Pind native – who switched from kabaddi to basketball – also played at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship.

But India’s problem was clear.

“The lack of experience has been a problem for us all in all four games. I think we did play real hard in all our games. We are a young team and we have shown we can play good basketball,” said Bhriguvanshi.

But with more showings like this, India basketball could be moving forward.

Iran have long been a power in Asian basketball and they brought in a number of young players for the Asia Cup. And one of them is low post prospect Saleh Foroutan Nik.

The 18-year-old showed his promise in Iran’s contest against Uzbekistan with 9 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of action – well more than the total number of minutes in played in the previous three games. He had a strong showing at the 2012 FIBA Asia U18 Championship with 11.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

With Iran looking for youngsters to make the move into a slowly-aging senior team, Nik could be one to watch.

The other team to finish win-less was Macau despite a strong performance by 19-year-old Hip Meng Lo. He registered a 10-points, 12 rebound double-double against the Philippines in averaging 9.0 points and 4.3 rebounds a contest.

David Hein

FIBA

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