Harikumar to lead U-18 district basketball team

Arun Harikumar of JN Petit was selected as the captain of the Boys’ Under-18 District Basketball team that will represent Pune at the State Championship to be held at Nagpur from May 25 onwards. Harikumar is a junior international player,having represented India at the Under-18 Asian Championship in Indonesia last year. The Pune boys are the defending champions going into the tournament,and look in good shape to repeat the title that they won last year,with Harikumar’s JN Petit teammates Nipun Jadhav and Balraj Gill,both national-level players,joining him in the team. The team also includes other national players like Nitin Chopade,Shaunak Ghate,Mandar Kulkarni and Faiz Sayyed.

The Girls’ team will be led by last year’s Maharashtra Captain Aditi Khaladkar of Dastur High School,while four other national-level players- Jinal Waghela,Shruti Menon,Shreya Khandelwal and Rupali Tripathi are also part of the side.

The Pune girls will look to win the title this year,having narrowly lost in the final last year. The boys’ team will be coached by Lalit Nahata,while Govind Patil has been named as the coach of the girls’ team.