Geethu Anna Jose (born 30 June 1985 in Kollad,

Kottayam Kottayam () is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

, India) is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the

India women's national basketball team The India women's national basketball team is the team representing India at the international basketball level. It is controlled by the Basketball Federation of India. At the 2017 FIBA Women's Asia Cup, India was promoted to Division A after ...

Personal life

Jose was born in a

Syro-Malabar Catholic The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. It is a ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholi ...

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, () formerly Changanacherry, is a municipality in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is located south of the district headquarters in Kottayam and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 I ...

. 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, who is 6ft 2in tall (188cm) played in the 2006 to 2008 Australian

Big V The Big V is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. History The Big V Conference was established in 2000 and joined the Australian Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA ...

seasons for the

Ringwood Hawks Ringwood Hawks is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Ringwood Basketball Association (RBA), the major administrative basketball organisation in ...

, 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 The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

, 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 of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles 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 of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

, 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 th ...

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 Asian FIBA member associations. Sub-zones 44 member associations in 6 sub-zones: # Central Asia Basketball Association (CABA) – 5 member associations # ...

Championship for Senior Women,

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

, 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 language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

(Australia)

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

*2006: played in a friendly-match series at

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, 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 (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

International Invitational Basketball Championship,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

; 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 language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

Asia Championship for Women,

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

*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 Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

) * 2003: Junior nationals (

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

) * 2003: Senior Nationals (

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

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

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

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

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

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

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

) * 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 Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

) * 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 Benares, Banaras ) or 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 tradition of I ...

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

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

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

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...

) * 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, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

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

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest 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 seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

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

Jabalpur Jabalpur, formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative h ...

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

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city and the headquarters of Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Gohil. It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state before it was merged into the Dominion ...

) * 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 the state capital Bhubaneswar and is ...

)

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 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games basketball players for India