BFI, NBA to host Basketball Without Borders, women's camp in India

BENGALURU: The 2018 edition of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia will be held at the NBA Academy in Greater Noida from May 30-June 2, the NBA, FIBA and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) said in a joint statement on Friday.
This is the second time that India is hosting NBA and FIBA's global basketball development and community outreach programme after BWB Asia was held in the Capital in 2008.India's top playmaker Vishesh Bhriguvanshi was then named the camp's Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Last year, Karnataka's Priyanka Prabhakara and Hyderabad's Aashay Verma became the first Indian players to represent the country at BWB's Global Camp held during the NBA All-Star Weekend in the United States.
BWB Asia will feature the best men and women cagers aged 17 and under from the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the camp, they will get to learn from NBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches and will compete against the best youngsters from the region.
Furthermore, the BFI and the NBA will jointly run a development camp for India's top women players from May 27-29 as part of the NBA Academies Women's Program. They will identify 20-25 talented U-17 cagers for the camp, which will be overseen by two-time WNBA champion Ruth Riley, 1996 Olympic gold medalist and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame member Jennifer Azzi and former college coach Blair Hardiek, the global technical directors for women's programming across the league's seven academies.
"This will be a great learning experience for the young and talented players from India as they will be under the guidance of few of the best basketball trainers in the world. This will help them grow as basketball players and make their country proud in the future," BFI president K Govindraj said.
"Another outstanding effort put in by the NBA Academy is the women's development camp, as it will not only help the players grow but also women's basketball in India. We are already seeing the development of the sport here since the beginning of the NBA Academy in India and the BFI is ready to support the NBA as much as we can," he added.
BWB Asia 2018 and the women's camp will also include a variety of NBA Cares and Jr. NBA community outreach efforts with youth in New Delhi in partnership with local community organizations. These programs will highlight the power of sport to promote cultural understanding while teaching the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle and the values of the game, including teamwork, integrity and respect.
"Ten years ago, India hosted its first-ever BWB Asia camp in New Delhi. We're excited to return to the world's second-most populous country where basketball has really taken off over the past decade," FIBA National Federations & Sport Director Zoran Radovic said in a statement.
"The sport is growing extremely fast and there are great development opportunities for boys and girls. We look forward to teaming up with the Basketball Federation of India and the sport's wider community in India so that basketball can achieve its full potential in the country," he added.