TimesofIndia.com in SINGAPORE: By the time The Velammal International School took the floor on Tuesday morning, the first impressions of the NBA Rising Stars Invitational had already been formed.South Korean teams had looked physically imposing. The Australians brought size and pace. Japanese teams moved with the confidence of a system that has produced players like Rui Hachimura and Yuki Kawamura. Around the OCBC Arena, the differences in basketball cultures were impossible to miss.Amid them all stood India’s lone representatives. A school from Chennai.For a week, some of the brightest young talents from across Asia have gathered under one roof. Some arrived with established systems behind them. Others brought decades of basketball tradition.Velammal arrived carrying something else: Expectation. Not necessarily from the tournament. But from a country still searching for its first breakthrough moment in basketball.The journey to Singapore had begun months earlier. Velammal had emerged champions at the regional clusters before overcoming some of the strongest school teams in the country.The performances eventually caught the attention of the Basketball Federation of India, which recommended the Chennai school for the tournament.“We have come here to win,” Kushal Singh had told Timesofindia.com before the team’s first game.“Every team is here to win. But we want to give everyone a tough fight. We want them to know that we can hoop too. Indian basketball is not slow. We can compete and we can challenge strong teams.”“We are hoping to create history here.”
Kushal Singh
A dream that survived familiar advice
Long before Singapore and the NBA, Kushal had grown accustomed to hearing the questions that follow most Indian athletes who dare to choose a sport outside cricket. Why basketball? Why not studies? What about the future?People advised him to become a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. Basketball, they felt, was not something worth betting a life on. His parents thought otherwise.“People tell them, ‘Make him study. You are not serious about his future,'” Kushal had said. “But my parents always tell me, ‘Just go and play. We will take care of everything. They keep pushing me forward.”The former NBA Academy India recruit has never hidden his ambitions. “My ultimate dream is to become the first Indian to represent in the NBA.”Asked which round he would like to be drafted in, Kushal smiled. “Any round. I just want to be drafted.”Beside him is point guard Fyodor Prem Athithan, whose basketball roots run even deeper. His mother Malavizhi is former basketball player and his father, Prem, a university-level footballer. The game was always around the soft-spoken boy.
His dream, though, is different from Kushal’s.“My ambition is to play for India and help India win an Olympic medal.”
A coach who stayed with the game
For Shamsher Basha, the man leading this group, basketball has been a journey spanning over two decades.He learnt the game watching seniors in Cheyyar before moving to Chennai and developing under coach TNR Chandran. Inspired by some of Tamil Nadu‘s most successful coaches, he eventually moved into coaching himself.Sixteen years later, he continues to work with young players.Over the years, several of his students have gone on to represent India and Tamil Nadu. Others have found opportunities abroad and in colleges.Yet, Basha believes the real challenge facing Indian basketball starts much earlier.“The biggest difference is fundamentals,” he told Timesofidia.com. “In countries like Japan, the fundamentals taught in schools are very strong. In India, the fundamentals are not yet very strong.”Infrastructure remains a challenge. So does nutrition. But perhaps the biggest battle is changing perceptions.“People in India do not value sports enough,” Basha said, adding “In countries like Japan and China, parents are very interested in sports. In our country, many people think sports are a waste of time. Because of that mentality, coaches face many struggles.”
Shamsher Basha, Kushal Singh and Fyodor Prem Athithan
A glimpse of the next level
Back at the OCBC Arena Hall 3, for almost two quarters against Indonesia’s Jubilee High School, Velammal looked comfortable.The scoreboard moved back and forth. They led during phases of the opening half and looked capable of matching the pace.Kushal attacked relentlessly and was hitting his three-pointers at will. Fyodor, the point guard, more in the Isiah Thomas contributed 15 points and four assists. He was gliding through the court with ease, reading passing lanes brilliantly and producing timely interceptions while dictating the tempo.
Kushal’s attack
Then the game changed.As the pace increased, the margins became visible.“In the first quarter, we scored very well and had the lead. We also had the lead in the second quarter,” Basha said afterwards.“In the third quarter, we lacked stamina. Because of that, they took advantage with fast breaks and attacks. They scored easily, including three-pointers and free throws. Our boys were very tired,” he added.The absences of Justice Ilesanmi Kayode, Gabriel Atem and Kuru because of visa issues only made matters harder.“If those players had come, we would surely have been winners in this tournament,” Basha said. Unfortunately, they could not get their visas.”The scoreline eventually read 95-61.
Team Photo after the match
Yet, for Basha, merely sharing the court with teams from Indonesia, Australia, South Korea and Japan represented an opportunity his players would have struggled to find back home.“We never expected to play in this tournament, so being selected itself made us very happy,” he said.“The students have got a very good opportunity. We get to meet people from Korea and Japan, make friends and even watch NBA players. Sitting at home, we would never have had these experiences.”Basha believes more tournaments of this nature can help bridge the gap Indian basketball continues to face.“If more tournaments like this are organised, Indian basketball will definitely develop. Playing against foreign players and travelling outside India gives us valuable experience,” he said.The players too left the first game with something more important than disappointment: Perspective.“We know that the other countries are better in basketball, so we get better competition to play against,” Kushal said.“Back in India, we were number one, so we could compete with any team there. Now that we have seen this level of competition, we understand as a team what we need to work on, what we are good at and what we are not so good at.“We can improve and come back next time to give these teams better competition. These teams are great at basketball, so we get to know where we stand as individuals. We just have to come back better.”For Fyodor, the lessons came in different ways.“It was a very good experience,” he said. “They were pressing full court. Back in India, there was no full-court press, only zone defence. Here, there is full-court pressure, so next time we should be able to handle it better and make the right moves.”
The dream remains
On the opening day of the tournament, Rui Hachimura had spoken about wanting to inspire more players from Asia to reach the NBA.“I think about whole Asia,” the Los Angeles Lakers forward had said.For Indian basketball, that road still feels long.But inside the OCBC Arena this week, that distance will become easier to understand.One teenager dreams of helping India win an Olympic medal; another dreams of hearing his name called on draft night.The dreams of others will be more or less the same.And for a school from Chennai representing India on a bigger stage, still searching for its place in basketball, that dream remains reason enough to keep going.
