Geethu Anna Jose (born 30 June 1985 in Kollad,

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

, India) is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the Indian women's national basketball team.

Personal life

Jose was born in a

Syro-Malabar Catholic lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...

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 Changanassery or Changanacherry is a municipal town in Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. History The first recorded history on the origin of Changanacherry is obtained from Sangam period literature. According to Sangam era d ...

. 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. Jose played in the 2006 to 2008 Australian

Big V Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

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 Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainl ...

in the Australian

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

, but didn't take up the offer. In April 2011 WNBA teams,

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2 ...

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was fou ...

, and

San Antonio Silver Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the ...

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 "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by the ...

*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 FIBA Asia is a zone within the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) which contains all 44 Asian FIBA federations. Member associations Tournaments Organized by FIBA Asia National teams * FIBA Asia Cup – since 2017, also include ...

Championship for Senior Women,

Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the ''daimyō'' Date M ...

, 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 Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

(Australia)

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

*2006: played in a friendly-match series at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand *2006: professional league player for the Australian Ringwood Hawks Club, Melbourne, Australia, receiving the ''Player of the month Award for July'' *2006: gold medal in the First

Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands o ...

International

Invitational Basketball Championship An invitational is usually a competition where players may be invited to play. Invitational can also refer to: Sport * Invitational sport College sports * National Invitational Tournament, a U.S. men's college basketball tournament * Coll ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

; awards for MVP, best player, top scorer, top rebounder, and most popular player. *2007: Australian League July ''Player of the Month Award'' *2007: winner in Pool-B at

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

Asia Championship for Women,

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

*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 Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

) * 2003: Senior Nationals (

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

) * 2004/5: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 55th Senior Nationals competition (

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

) * 2005/6: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 56th Senior Nationals competition (

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

) * 2006/7: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 57th Senior Nationals competition (

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known a ...

) * 2007: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 58th Senior Nationals competition (

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

) * 2008/9: represented the Indian Railways team in the 59th Senior Nationals competition (

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is ...

) * 2009/10: represented the Indian Railways winning team in the 60th Senior Nationals competition (

) * 2003: represented Inter Railways team in the 27th All India Railway Basketball championship (

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

) * 2004: represented Inter Railways winning team in the 28th All India Railway Basketball championship (

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divis ...

) * 2005: represented Inter Railways team in the 29th All India Railway Basketball championship (

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...

) * 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 Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

) * 2008: represented Inter Railways team in the 32nd All India Railway Basketball championship (

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

) * 2009: represented Inter Railways winning team in the 33rd All India Railway Basketball championship (

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. ...

) * 2005 represented the winning Southern Railway team in the 21st Federation Cup (

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state ...

) * 2007: represented the Southern Railway team in the 23rd Federation Cup (

Rourkela Rourkela is a planned city located in the northern district Sundargarh of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It is situated about west of state capital Bhubaneswar and is surrou ...

)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jose, Geethu Anna Indian women's basketball players Sportspeople from Kottayam 1985 births Living people Malayali people Basketball players from Kerala Recipients of the Arjuna Award Basketball players at the 2010 Asian Games Sportswomen from Kerala 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games competitors for India