Afghanistan national basketball team

Afghanistan

140px
FIBA ranking	T-94
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.

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.

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.

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.

Current roster

Afghanistan National Basketball Team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr. PG 3 Gholami, Akbar – (1996-01-11)January 11, 1996 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sweden Basketball G 4 Kader, Yama – (1987-12-08)December 8, 1987 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Malibu Pirates F 5 Mashriqi, Nafi – (1979-06-03)June 3, 1979 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) none F 6 Haider, Qais – (1987-10-16)October 16, 1987 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) none PG 7 Tahiry, Masseh – (1989-10-28)October 28, 1989 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) none F 8 Ansary, Sayed – (1989-12-16)December 16, 1989 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) none PF 9 Kabir, Habib – (1987-05-25)May 25, 1987 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) none G 10 Karimi, Abdullah – (1982-12-23)December 23, 1982 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) none G 11 Arefi, Haroun – (1987-11-10)November 10, 1987 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) none G 12 Noorzad, Ali – (1985-10-25)October 25, 1985 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) none G 13 Mojaddidi, Safi – (1987-02-03)February 3, 1987 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) none PG 14 Soratgar, Mohammad – (1991-06-21)June 21, 1991 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) none F 15 Amiri, Sayad – (1988-01-29)January 29, 1988 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) none	Head coach Mamo Rafiq Assistant coach Abdul Wasi Pazhman Legend (C) Team captain nat field describes country

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Nafi Mashriqi	Habib Kabir
PF	Haroun Arefi
SF		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
• 2016 : To be determined

Islamic Solidarity Games

never participated

Head coach position

• Mamo Rafiq – 2007-now

See also

• Afghanistan women's national basketball team

External links

• Asia-basket - Afghanistan Men National Team
• Presentation on Facebook

Videos

• Afghanistan Basketball Team Youtube.com video