The Ghosh who walks… tall

For a woman who has represented the country in five Asian Basketball Championships and Railway team in the Nationals for 15 years, Aparna, however, is sad.

Sad at the declining standards of selection for the Railway team, which remains THE championships for women. “I have seen players who do not know how to make a lay-up shot, getting selected for the Railway team. I did not want to be associated with such players,” said the 30-year-old Aparna.

AndAparna, the eternal fighter, did not want to keep quiet. She walked out of the Railway team after 15 years, missing her first nationals in so many years when it was held at Jaipur recently.

A Railway team without Aparna still won the National title with ease but her refusal to play created some stir.

“My refusal did not go down well with many officials. Ultimately, I had to cite personal reasons for my withdrawal from the Railway team,” said Aparna.

Passionate about the game even after playing for nearly two decades, Aparna can produce the spark whenever the team needs her. And nobody can vouch better than the Central Railway side in the Inter-Railway tourney. Touted as the favourite, Central Railway went down to Eastern with Aparna scoring nearly 40 points and doing much more damage to the local team’s hopes.

And Aparna enjoys such performance. “I enjoyed it. Nowadays I have started liking the way I play. Maybe because I am getting old,” says Aparna with a smile on her face. “In my younger days,I would not have been satisfied. I always wanted to play better and better. So much so that I wanted to play like the boys I played with,” explains Aparna, who joined the Railway team after writing her 10th standard examinations.