Indian cagers hope to make mark in Melbourne Commonwealth Games

New Delhi, Mar 3 (UNI) Indian women's basketball team will kick off their Commonwealth Games campaign with an encounter against hosts Australia on March 16, while their male counterparts take on Nigeria next day in their first match in Melbourne.

Talking to UNI here today, secretary of the Basketbal Federation of India Harish Sharma said the men's team has been clubbed in group A along with Australia, Nigeria and Scotland while group B consists of New Zealand, Barbados, South Africa and England.

''Top two teams from each group will reach the knock-out stage,'' Mr Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the women's team has been placed in group A along with Australia, Mozambique and England and group B comprises New Zealand, Malaysia, Malta and Nigeria.

Basketball is making its debut in the 18th edition of the Games, Mr Sharma added.

Indian Men's Team: Sambhajit Kadam, Anoop Mukkanniyil, Muraleekrishna, Shabbir Ahmed Muthappa, Trideep Rai, Sanjay Raj Rajanna, Riyazuddin Qureshi, Sozhasingharayer Robinson, Jagdeep Singh, Talwinderjit Singh, Yadwinder Singh and Shiv Kumar.

Officials : KK Chansoria (chief coach), Zoran Lukic (coach), SK Raja (assistant coach), Teja Singh (manager) Indian Women's Team: Arnika Gurjar, Asha Hegde, Geethu Anna Jose, Kamaljit Kaur, Kiranjit Singh, Sonamdeep Kaur, Shiba Maggon, Anitha Pauldurai, Divya Singh, Prashanti Singh, Seema Singh and Sofi Sam.

Officials : Abdul Hamid Khan (chief coach), S Bhaskar (assistant coach), Aparna Ghosh (assistant coach) M Venkatesh (manager) UNI HSB AY PDS KP1815