Geethu Anna Jose

Geethu Anna Jose (born 30 June 1985 in Kollad, Kottayam, Kerala, India) is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the India women's national basketball team.

Personal life

Jose was born in a Syro-Malabar Catholic Nasrani family that had little history of basketball playing. She was educated at Kottayam's Mount Carmel English Medium School, and at Assumption College, Changanacherry. Her brother Tom Jose is also a basketball player who represented the State of Kerala. Jose married Rahul Koshy on 8 January 2014. They have a son and a daughter.

Career

As a child, Jose played volleyball, first playing basketball with the Kerala Junior Basketball Association. While playing in a championship match for Kerala, she was spotted by the Southern Railway basketball team; she joined Southern Railway in 2003. played in the 2006 to 2008 Australian Big V seasons for the Ringwood Hawks, being the first Indian woman basketball player to play for an Australia club as a professional. In the 2008/9 season she was invited to play for Dandenong in the Australian Women's National Basketball League, but didn't take up the offer. In April 2011 WNBA teams, Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks, and San Antonio Silver Stars invited her for tryouts. In June 2012, Jose scored 11 points in the finals of the third Asian Beach Games at Haiyang, helping India to achieve a 17–14 victory over China.

Sporting credits

International 2002: Junior ABC in Chinese Taipei 2004: Senior ABC, Japan 2004: Invitation Tournament in Malaysia 2004-8: represented Indian Railways basketball team, winning 5 Senior Nationals 2005: silver medal in 20th Asian Basketball Confederation Championship for Senior Women, Sendai, Japan 2005: played in the Invitation Tournament at Phuket, with awards for MVP, best player, top scorer, top rebounder and also the Most Popular Player Award 2006: The Most Valuable Player Award and top scorer, rebounder and best shot-blocker prizes in the Melbourne (Australia) Commonwealth Games 2008: selected for the WNBL 2008: Australian Most Valuable player of the Year 2009: silver medal for 3-on-3 basketball contest; Asian Indoor Games, Vietnam 2009: captain of the Indian Team at the FIBA Asian Basketball Championship for Senior women at Chennai 2009: top scorer for ABC, Chennai

Indian

Geethu received Arjuna Award the year 2014–15 for her outstanding contributions towards sport in India and International arena 2000 Youth championship at M.P (Kerala team) 2001: Junior nationals (Goa) 2003: Junior nationals (Punjab) 2003: Senior Nationals (Hyderabad) 2004/5: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 55th Senior Nationals competition (Ludhiana) 2005/6: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 56th Senior Nationals competition (Pune) 2006/7: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 57th Senior Nationals competition (Jaipur) 2007: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 58th Senior Nationals competition (Puducherry) 2008/9: represented the Indian Railways team in the 59th Senior Nationals competition (Surat) 2009/10: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 60th Senior Nationals competition (Ludhiana) 2003: represented Inter Railways team in the 27th All India Railway Basketball championship (Varanasi) 2004: represented Inter Railways winning team in the 28th All India Railway Basketball championship (Lucknow) 2005: represented Inter Railways team in the 29th All India Railway Basketball championship (Gorakhpur) 2006: represented Inter Railways winning team in the 30th All India Railway Basketball championship (Guwahati) 2007: represented Inter Railways winning team in the 31st All India Railway Basketball championship (Chennai) 2008: represented Inter Railways team in the 32nd All India Railway Basketball championship (Guwahati) 2009: represented Inter Railways winning team in the 33rd All India Railway Basketball championship (Jabalpur) 2005 represented the winning Southern Railway team in the 21st Federation Cup (Bhavnagar) 2007: represented the Southern Railway team in the 23rd Federation Cup (Rourkela)