Twelve years after Geethu Anna Jose made history by becoming the first ever Indian women's basketball player to play professional basketball outside of India, Jeena Skaria is set to follow her footsteps.
The team's website made the announcement official a few hours ago.
In the press release, the team's head coach Tim Mottin had a lot of praise for Skaria:
“Our tour to India was fantastic and we played a 5 game series test in 5 different cities of India against the Indian national Champions, Kerala.” Mottin said. “Jeena, along with a few other girls, were very impressive and we think that given a chance they can not only develop their game but also do well in Australia and other countries.”
Skaria had a spectacular 2017 as she top-scored in the final of the 67th senior national basketball championship to lead her state Kerala to their first gold medal finish at the tournament since 1984-85. This achievement was after she had top-scored in the final and helped Kerela emerge as champions of the 30th Federation Cup National Basketball Tournament in 2016.
She was among the top performers for India when the women's team dominated Division B and earned their promotion to Division A in the FIBA Asia Women's Cup in July of 2017. She was also a member of the national squad that reached the semifinals of the FIBA 3X3 Asia Cup 2017 in Mongolia.
Skaria, who is the current National Women's Team captain, was named the recipient of Times of India’s Most Popular Basketball Player Award in 2018.