Three Indian players selected for basketball camp in Taipei

Mumbai: The National Basketball Academy (NBA) on Thursday selected three players from the Indian national team to represent the country at the 'Basketball without Borders' (BWB) camp, to be held in Taipei for the first time ever from June 13-16.

Vishal Gupta, Ashish Briggs and Mahipal Singh will attend the three-day camp, which is part of an NBA and International Basketball Federation's (FIBA) global basketball development and community outreach program.

"Training at the BWB camp will make a lot of difference in my style of play, and it will be an unparalleled experience to interact with NBA legend Yao Ming and the other stars making their way to the camp," said Vishal.

"Hailing from a small town like Ujjain, one can only dream of visiting such international camps and learning the technical aspects of the game from the best players in the world.  I can't wait to be there and learn as much I can in those four days," said Briggs.

The camp will bring together top-50 players from different Asian and oceanic countries and will be mentored by NBA players and coaches including Nicolas Batum of Portland Trail Blazers, John Salmons of Toronto Raptors, Ronny Turiaf of Minnesota Timberwolves and Cody Zeller of Charlotte Bobcats.

Eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming is also expected to make a one-day appearance. This year, the organisers have already held camps in Rome and Italy. A BWB camp is also scheduled to be held in South Africa in the first week of August.