The real tragedy of Indian basketball

This Saturday I was at my college alumni meet and decided to conduct a mini experiment. I approached approximately 100 people and asked them to name a few international sporting events that have taken place in the last month. Not surprisingly all of them mentioned the FIFA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, pushing them a little further I got the India vs England Test series. When I asked them to name one more event a good 90% mostly drew a complete blank. Hardly anyone knew that the 5th FIBA Asia Cup, the basketball tournament of FIBA Asia was held in Wuhan, Hubei, China from July 11–19, 2014. And I don’t really blame them. The tournament was not being covered live and most of the popular newspapers had reserved about 10 lines in their last page for this tournament. I have always been very intrigued by the condition of Indian basketball. Basketball by no measure is a “new” sport. In India, the first National Championship for men was conducted in 1934 and by 1950 we had our own federation - the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). Besides, anecdotally we all know it is a very popular sport and is played in most urban settings by both the sexes. [caption id=“attachment_1649047” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indians learned to love the game because it is relatively simple to play, requires little space and infrastructure and thanks to substitutions can accommodate many players at once. Reuters[/caption] My mom and dad tell me basketball was a very popular school and college sport in their days. The same holds true from my school and college experience and my younger cousins tell me that this love for basketball has not changed. Throughout history, Indians learned to love the game because it is relatively simple to play, requires little space and infrastructure and thanks to substitutions can accommodate many players at once. Participation among youth for this sport has never been a problem. What is the problem? Retention of talent. We all love playing basketball but don’t really take this love affair any further. And how can we take it any further? There are no professional leagues. Most talented junior basketball players feel that the best “return” the sport can give them is admission into a top college through sports quota. A few inclined to work for PSUs or the government take up those jobs. Though the majority of the basketball players I knew from school and college are now stuck at a 9 to 5 pace completely disconnected from the sport. This is the tragedy of Indian basketball. Talent is stuck working on excel models and making PPTs instead of captivating audiences with their slam dunks and turnaround jump shots. The other problem that most cite with the sport is that Indians are just not built to play this game at the international level. The average Indian height of 5 feet for women and 5 feet 5 inches for men automatically puts us in a disadvantageous position. But if China can do it so can we. Surely we can find a million or so people who cross the 6 feet mark. Being tall is an advantage but being skillful is a bigger advantage. And it is here that we need coaches who can strategise and develop an Indian style of play. Most of our coaches spend time on technique and almost no time on strategy. This must change. Though what really needs to change is the effort being put in by the Basketball Federation of India to market and develop the game. Indians love constant action, our love for Bollywood movies and IPL proves it — and basketball as a sport provides constant fast pace action. It is one of those sports that makes for a great viewing experience both in the stadium and on TV. Just ask hundreds of those Indians who wake up early in the morning to catch live NBA games. It really is a tragedy that the BFI never considered developing an Indian league. However this might change soon. If rumours are to be believed then India may soon get its own professional league. There are talks that IMG-Reliance and BFI are planning to float an ISL style basketball league. Also one hopes that with the NBA setting up shop in India and focusing on grass root development of the game, the scenario shall change in the next few years. A professional league will help retain talent which automatically will enhance the quality of play which should in turn help win more international games — resulting in creating role models and heroes. Once that happens, endorsements and media attention shall flow which in turn shall encourage more kids to take to the sport. All we need to do is set this wheel in motion. Soon.