Basketball: NZ to take on India ahead of Games

The New Zealand men's and women's basketball teams will each play India in three warm-up games in March in Auckland as part of their build-up to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Each of the side's three games will be a double header featuring both the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns -- at the North Shore Events Centre on March 9, Waitakere Trusts Stadium on March 11 and North Shore Events Centre again on March 12.

At 47th in the FIBA world rankings, the Indian men are 31 places below New Zealand.

The women are ranked 41st by FIBA, below the 19th-ranked Tall Ferns.

"India are certainly not traditional basketball opponents," Basketball New Zealand performance general manager Leslie Dal Cin said.

"But, like our other opponents at the Commonwealth Games, we don't want to under-estimate them.

"We will have to figure out a strategy to prepare for them without knowing a lot about them."

The Tall Blacks' first game at the Melbourne Games is on March 16 against South Africa, while the Tall Ferns get their campaign underway against Malta the following day.

India will host the 2010 Commonwealth Games and will have the decision on whether to again include basketball on the programme.

- NZPA