Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (born 13 November 1991) is an Indian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who is the captain of the

Indian National Basketball Team The India men's national basketball team represents India in international basketball. It is controlled by the Basketball Federation of India.

, and most recently, a player with the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in the state's capital of Adela ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL). Bhriguvanshi was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

by the government of India for the year 2020. Bhriguvanshi also has a biography by Nirupma Baghley, titled ''Vishesh: Code To Win'', about him being India’s youngest captain.

Early life

Bhriguvanshi was born in

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

Family of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. His father was a lecturer and his mother was a principal in a Government College. His career began with participation in the Varanasi U-13 district meet. At the age of 17, Bhriguvanshi was recruited to the Senior Indian men's team.

Professional career

Bhriguvanshi began playing competitive basketball in 2009 at the Asian Club Championships. In 2017, Bhriguvanshi averaged 30.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 11 games for

Bengaluru Beast The Bengaluru Beast was an Indian professional basketball team based in Bangalore, Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as My ...

in the United Basketball Alliance of India Pro Basketball League. In one match against rival Hyderabad, he poured in 57 points and registered 11 assists. On 7 July 2017, Bhriguvanshi signed a one-year training deal with the

of the Australian National Basketball League, becoming the league's first Indian player. He did not appear in a game for the 36ers during the

2017–18 NBL season The 2017–18 NBL season was the 40th season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between October 2017 and February 2018, followed by a pos ...

. He is the first Indian to be signed by Australia's National Basketball League (NBL) in 2017.

National team career

Bhriguvanshi made his debut for the India national basketball team in 2009 at the

FIBA Asia Championship The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania. Through the 2015 edition, the tourna ...

. He has since competed at the

2011 FIBA Asia Championship The 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men is the intercontinental championship for basketball organized by FIBA Asia that doubles as a qualifying tournament for the men's basketball tournament of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, United ...

2013 FIBA Asia Championship The 2013 in sports, 2013 FIBA Asia Cup, FIBA Asia Championship for Men was the intercontinental championship for basketball organized by FIBA Asia that served as the qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. The tourna ...

2014 FIBA Asia Cup 2014 in sports, 2014 FIBA Asia Challenge, FIBA Asia Cup was the 5th FIBA Asia Cup, a top-level international basketball tournament of FIBA Asia. The tournament was held in Wuhan, Hubei, China from 11–19 July 2014. Iran national basketball team, ...

2015 FIBA Asia Championship The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship was the 28th and last edition of the FIBA Asia Championship in men's basketball in Asia. It was organised by FIBA Asia. At the FIBA Asia Congress held in Doha, Qatar, the Central Board awarded the hosting rights t ...

, and

2016 FIBA Asia Challenge The 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge was the 6th FIBA Asia Challenge, an international basketball tournament of FIBA Asia which was hosted by Iran from 9–18 September 2016. This tournament served as the first step in determining the process of the quali ...

. At the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge in Iran, Bhriguvanshi averaged a career-best 16.9 points per game, to go with 4.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals in eight games.

Championship

Bhriguvanshi helped

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

win a 3x3 basketball Gold Medal at the Asian Beach Games in 2008 and has since played in every major FIBA Asia Championship. He has won three domestic national championships with Indian Railways and, in 2011, was appointed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation as its

Brand ambassador A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person paid by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the ...

References

External links

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi's profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhriguvanshi, Vishesh 1991 births Living people Basketball players at the 2010 Asian Games Basketball players at the 2014 Asian Games Basketball players from Varanasi Indian expatriates in Australia Indian men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Young Cagers players Asian Games basketball players for India Recipients of the Arjuna Award South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games silver medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in basketball