Opinion It’s only Satnam
He’s the first Indian in the NBA. But Indian basketball continues to be crisis-ridden
The distance Satnam has travelled from his tiny village in Barnala in Punjab — where, his father jokes, he would have spent his youth grazing buffaloes — is a giant step for India. (Source: Twitter)
Satnam Singh Bhamara, a towering teenager at 7 ft 2, has put India on the map of sport’s glitziest league, the National Basketball Association (NBA), when he became the 52nd pick for Texan franchise Dallas Mavericks. It is a sensational three-pointer for the tall boy and India, a country where basketball isn’t even the fourth-best sport. The distance Satnam has travelled from his tiny village in Barnala in Punjab — where, his father jokes, he would have spent his youth grazing buffaloes — is a giant step for India. To be sure, Mavericks jerseys will fly off the shelves in the country of a billion, now that they have an Indian on their roster. But that should not divert attention from the tremendous physical effort put in by a man who needed to be taught how to put one foot in front of another when he ran, owing to the mobility limitations of being an awkwardly tall boy.
[related-post]
It is ironic — and typical — that Indian basketball is currently riddled with two feuding factions, both of which have been stopped by the government from conducting any basketball event in India. The administration is floundering and Punjab, the game’s biggest nursery, seems drained of talent. Satnam’s rise to the NBA is a piece of good news in gloomy times. It can open doors for a dozen other talented hoopsters. But the country needs more than just one player to believe that it stands tall in the sport.
Yao Ming wasn’t the first Chinese in the NBA, and certainly not the last. The Houston Rockets benefited from his play while he was fit enough and their state rivals from Texas, the Mavericks, would have noted the crucial fineprint, even as they dream of benefiting from the billion people-powered bottomlines now. Satnam, too, will need to stay injury-free and earn decent court time if India is to wake up at dawn to watch the Mavericks move up in the Western Conference.
Share
