Afghanistan national basketball team

Afghanistan Afghanistan
FIBA ranking T-94 Steady[1]
Joined FIBA 1968
FIBA zone FIBA Asia
National federation National Basketball Association of Afghanistan (NBAA)
Coach Mamo Rafiq
Olympic Games
Appearances None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances None
Asian Championship
Appearances None
South Asian Games
Appearances 1
Medals Gold: 2010
Uniforms
Light
Dark

The Afghanistan national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Afghanistan in international competitions.[2][3][4][5]

The gold medal at the 2010 South Asian Games was the first ever gold medal of any Afghan sports team in the history of the country.[6]

History

Basketball was first played in Afghanistan in 1936. In 1966, the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee (ANOC) founded the first national basketball team after receiving challenges from India and Pakistan. Tom Gouttierre, an American Peace Corps volunteer and coach of the team at Habibia High School, became the first coach. Using detailed, confidential instructions from John Wooden, the Afghan team became the only other to run the famous UCLA zone press.[7]

Although the international games were canceled, in 1969 Gouttierre returned on a Fulbright Fellowship and again became the Habibia coach, and in 1970 Bill Bradley of the New York Knicks tutored the team while visiting the country. That year China challenged the ANOC. Because of the lack of preparation time, Gouttierre decided that current and former Habibia players were the best choice for a second Afghan national team. Using the zone press, it defeated a much larger Chinese team in Parwan Province in the Afghan team's first international victory.[7]

Current roster

Afghanistan National Basketball Team roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG 3 Gholami, Akbar 21 – (1996-01-11)11 January 1996 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Afghanistan
G 9 Kader, Yama 29 – (1987-12-08)8 December 1987 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Afghanistan
F 5 Mashriqi, Nafi 32 – (1979-06-03)3 June 1979 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Afghanistan
F 6 Haider, Qais 23 – (1987-10-16)16 October 1987 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Afghanistan
PG 7 Tahiry, Masseh 22 – (1989-10-28)28 October 1989 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Afghanistan
F 8 Ansary, Sayed 22 – (1989-12-16)16 December 1989 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Afghanistan
PF 9 Kabir, Habib 24 – (1987-05-25)25 May 1987 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Afghanistan
G 10 Karimi, Abdullah 28 – (1982-12-23)23 December 1982 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Afghanistan
G 11 Arefi, Haroun 24 – (1987-11-10)10 November 1987 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Afghanistan
G 12 Noorzad, Ali 25 – (1985-10-25)25 October 1985 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Afghanistan
G 13 Mojaddidi, Safi 25 – (1987-02-03)3 February 1987 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Afghanistan
PG 14 Soratgar, Mohammad 20 – (1991-06-21)21 June 1991 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Afghanistan
F 15 Amiri, Sayad 23 – (1988-01-29)29 January 1988 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Afghanistan
Head coach
  • United States Mamo Rafiq
Assistant coach
  • Afghanistan Abdul Wasi Pazhman
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • nat field describes country

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench
C Nafi Mashriqi Habib Kabir
PF Haroun Arefi Arian Razaq
SF Ethan Hadwick Qais Haider
SG Ali Noorzad Abdullah Karimi
PG Safi Mojaddidi

Competitive record

Summer Olympics

yet to qualify

World championships

yet to qualify

FIBA Asia Championship

yet to qualify

Asian Games

  • 1970-2002 : Did not qualify
  • 2006 : 13th
  • 2010 : 13th
  • 2014 : Did not qualify
  • 2018 : To be determined

South Asian Games

  • 1995-2004 : Did not participate
  • 2010 : 1st
  • 2018 : To be determined

Honours

Head coach position

  • United States Mamo Rafiq – 2007-now

See also

Videos

References

  1. ↑ "FIBA Ranking for Men". Fiba.Com. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "FIBA National Federations – Afghanistan". Fiba.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  3. ↑ "Keeping Afghan Men's basketball Alive is a Scramble". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-09-18. (Subscription required (help)).
  4. ↑ "Afghan national team making basketball inroads". Usatoday.Com. 2010-11-12. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  5. ↑ "Afghan Men's Basketball Team Denied Chance at Olympics". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-09-18. (Subscription required (help)).
  6. ↑ "Afghan Sports Federation – 2010 South Asian Games in Dhaka, Bangladesh; BREAKING NEWS: Afghanistan National Basketball Team Wins Gold". AfghanSportsFederation.org. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  7. 1 2 Ballard, Chris (2013-07-22). "The Wizard of Kabul". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
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