Bengaluru, 4th September 2017: The Nepal Basketball Association is all set to host the 2nd SABA U-16 Zone Championship for Men from 5th to 9th September 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal. India has been drawn in Pool – A alongside Nepal and Bhutan. Pool – B comprises Maldives and Bangladesh. With five teams in the fray, this Championship will be played in a round robin league format, and the team with the best record at the end will qualify to the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship that will be held in Malaysia later this year. India had not participated in the previous 2015 edition that was won by Bangladesh, yet will start off as favourites. (It is important to recall that despite not participating in the previous SABA Championship, India had still competed in the 2015 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship as a replacement for a central Asian team that had withdrawn in the last minute.) India’s game schedule is as follows: · 5th Sept– v. Maldives 13:30 (13:15 IST) · 6th Sept– v. Bangladesh 13:00 (12:45 IST) · 8th Sept– v. Nepal 13:30 (13:15 IST) · 9th Sept– v. Bhutan 11:00 (10:45 IST) The team is coached by Vibhor Bhriguvanshi, elder brother of Indian senior national team star Vishesh Bhriguvanshi. His assistant coach is Babu Davis. The team will also be accompanied by manager Kulvinder Gill and referee Tanmoy Das. The Squad: Princepal Singh, Binod Rajak, Harshwardhan Tomar, Mani Thakur, Ajmer Singh, Gaurav Sheoran, Priyanshu, Jerom Prince George, Prashant Tomar, Nitish Beniwal, Vigneshwar Upadhyay, Rajveer Singh Bhati