Aahana, Aanaya and Gunjan confident of strong show at U18 Basketball World Cup

New Delhi: The trio of Aahana George, Aanaya Bhaskar and Gunjan Mantri are looking forward to giving their best at the upcoming FIBA 3x3 U-18 World Cup, scheduled in Debrecen, Hungary, from August 26 to 30.

Beside Aahana, Aanaya and Gunjan, Gunvi Agarwal completes the Indian team for the tournament. Aahana became the youngest and the first basketball player from Gujarat to make it to the U-18 national team.

Speaking to SAI Media on what she is looking at from the tournament, the 16-year-old mentioned, “We may be an underdog but I want to prove myself, my team and the entire country that India is a strong team. We can definitely give a tough fight to Kyrgyzstan and Uganda as well as China and Japan. We’ll give our best.”

Seeded 11th, team India is placed in Pool C with Kyrgyzstan, Japan, China and Uganda. The top two teams will advance to the quarterfinals and the tournament features a total of 20 teams in both men’s and women’s sections.

Aahana, a former trainee of the SAI Training Centre (STC) Rajnandgaon, mentioned how she improved her training over the years being a Khelo India Athlete since 2022. “There have been a lot of changes in my fitness post training there at STC Rajnandgaon. Also, Khelo India has played a really big part in my journey. The Khelo India assessments camps at the SAI facilities keep me in check on my strong and weak points as an athlete,” she said.

“These assessment camps take place every 6 months, where we go through tests related to dribbling, shooting, yo-yo tests and so on. All the scores are recorded and they give you a rough idea on where you need to improve as an athlete,” Aahana added.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra duo Aanaya and Gunjan, trainees at the Delhi Public School Rajnandgaon’s Khelo India accredited basketball academy, sounded confident ahead of the big tournament. “We are definitely looking forward to winning the matches and getting to know the players and reading their stats from a technical standpoint,” Aanaya told SAI Media.

Having also played the Khelo India Youth Games together and winning bronze medals twice for Team Maharashtra in the 2022 and 2023 edition respectively, Gunjan is hyped to play alongside her teammate, now at the international level.

“We (Aanaya and me) have played many matches together and she’s a good teammate. There’s a bit of pressure and responsibility but now, we’re looking for a strong performance for our national team too,” said Gunjan.