FIBA recognizes 'Team Govindraj' to lead BFI. Will Indian basketball fiasco clear up?

FIBA is the association that organizes and governs major international basketball tournaments around the world. The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) is the association that organizes and governs tournaments in India. The BFI is affiliated to FIBA, and without them, India can't play in FIBA international tournaments. Unfortunately, the BFI is now split in two division, each claiming that it should be the rightful leader of basketball in India. FIBA has been left as the intermediary parent burdened with the responsibility of picking one of the two bodies. On Saturday, it seems, they came to a decision.

For those who are new to the storm, welcome. The last two months in Indian basketball have been a fiasco. The BFI has split in two: two factions called two separate meetings/elections (on March 27 and March 28 respectively) in two different cities (in Bengaluru and Pune respectively) and selected two separate executive committees (presided by K Govindraj and Poonam Mahajan respectively) to head the BFI. Because of the split in governance, the Govindraj side was left with the finances and the Mahajan side with capture of the BFI's office in Delhi. In the next few months, the split caused confusion and anger among Indian basketball players and coaches, saw India's foreign basketball coaches pack up and leave their posts, and led FIBA to consider the BFI in a freeze, thus taking away India's chance of playing in FIBA sanctioned tournaments.

Finally, on May 23, a letter signed and sent from the office of FIBA's Secretary-General Patrick Baumann declared FIBA's stand on the fiasco. The letter spanned three pages, over a dozen paragraphs, and outline the various issues in the past, present, and future of this problem. But the only line that truly matters now was this:

Consequently, the result of the elections held in Bengaluru on 27 March 2015 is recognized by FIBA.

The elections that the letter refers to was the one where the former president of the BFI (KS Gill) was present to oversee Karnataka's K Govindraj named the new president, Teja Singh Dhaliwal named the new Senior Vice-President, Chander Mukhi Sharma the Secretary-General, and V Raghothaman the Treasurer. We will refer to them henceforth as 'Team Govindraj'. The other body, 'Team Roopam' - led by 'president' Poonam Mahajan, 'Secretary-General' Roopam Sharma, and 'Treasurer'Mukut Medhi - did not follow the BFI's rule-book when they held their meeting and thus, cannot be the BFI.

The matter was brought to light yesterday when the media cell of the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA) provided the letter to Ekalavyas.com. You can find the soft copy of the letter over at Ekalavyas. The letter was addressed to the presidents and secretary-generals of both opposing factions and CC'd to the Ministry of Youth and Affairs and Sports of the Government of India, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and various other FIBA officials including President Horacio Muratore.

BFI rules state that an Annual General Meeting (AGM) can only be held in the presence of the outgoing executive committee, specially the outgoing president, who in this case was KS Gill. Gill was present with Team Govindraj in Bengaluru, thus legitimizing their stake at the federation. In FIBA's letter, it stated in regards to Team Roopam that, "In addition, FIBA casts serious doubts on the legitimacy (let alone statuary validity) of a parallel general council held without the outgoing president, vice-president, secretary-general, and treasurer in attendance."

Another interesting passage from the letter states that, "Files submitted to FIBA contain extremely serious allegations which may be subject for criminal proceedings in India as well as proceedings under the FIBA Code of Ethics. In this respect, FIBA reserves its right to shed light on the allegations made and to initiate further proceedings should this matter not be settled within the Indian Basketball family in India and should the present decision not be accepted by all sides."

FIBA has asked both groups to come to a peaceful resolution, "keeping first and foremost the development of basketball in India and the good of the athletes in mind."

But FIBA's approval/recognition doesn't solve the riddle yet. Although Team Govindraj also received the Delhi High Court go-ahead to take charge of the BFI's Head Office and website a few weeks ago, the next step is for the IOA and the Ministry of Sports to recognize the rightful stake of the Govindraj-led committee, too. FIBA has requested in the letter for the IOA to abide by its decisions, too. Meanwhile, on FIBA's official website, the page on India still hasn't listed the names of the president and secretary-general that they have handed recognition to.

Even if the IOA recognize Team Govindraj, it may not yet be the end of Team Roopam, who have the resources, political connections, and clout to keep fighting for power. The contest may yet continue with court cases in the future, and it can't be ruled out that Team Roopam may make a separate, rebel association to challenge the BFI. Of course, FIBA won't have to recognize that rebel association, and thus, the players who take part in it will not be able to participate in FIBA affiliated events.

The letter confirmed that a FIBA delegation will visit India soon to provide support for the BFI.

There was one other excerpt from the letter, written above, that deserves to be repeated to keep in perspective what truly matters here. "... keeping first and foremost the development of basketball in India and the good of the athletes in mind." So far, the 'athletes' and the 'good of Indian basketball' has suffered the most as a victime of the BFI battle. Unfortunately, the situation will remain so until the storm clears up.

With the FIBA Asia Championships for Men and Women looming in just a few months, reaching a resolution is a race against time. The FIBA recognition takes us one step closer to the resolution: only when the BFI can have one, united, legal body to run it will FIBA 'unfreeze' the BFI and allow India to participate in international events again. Only then will the BFI able to give confidence to stakeholders in the sport (including sponsors like IMG Reliance and future Head Coaches of the national teams) to continue their faith in the country's basketball potential despite the recent scars.

You can find FIBA's entire letter here (via Ekalavyas). 

Federation Games

The best way to solve Basketball Federation of India’s power struggle? A game of basketball, of course!

This article was first published in my column for Ekalavyas on April 9, 2015. Click here to read the original post.

Ms Poonam Mahajan (left) and Mr Govindraj are the two nominated Presidents
in each of the rival factions. Photo Courtesy: Ekalavyas

The stage was set for a showdown when two opposing factions of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) called two separate Annual General Meetings (AGM) in two different cities on two different days. The purpose of both these meetings was to select a new executive committee – including a new BFI president – for the federation that governs all things India Basketball. And that is exactly what happened. In Bangalore on March 27, in a meeting led by former president KS Gill, the Karnataka State Basketball Association’s secretary K Govindraj was elected president; in Pune on March 28, in a meeting organized by BFI CEO Roopam Sharma, the chosen president was Poonam Mahajan.

Two meetings. Two presidents. Two executive committees. One federation. With neither side willing to back down, it has become clear that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will have to step in to resolve the issue. A legal battle in court might be the next chapter in this ugly drama.

But what if the problem was resolved on a different kind of court? After all, ‘Team Roopam’ and ‘Team Govindraj’ are each fighting for the throne to lead Indian basketball. Somewhere along this political fight, basketball itself seems to have been ignored. Maybe the best way to solve the Basketball Federation of India’s power struggle is just a game of basketball.

Introducing… The Basketball Game for Basketball, where the competing factions of the BFI play step out on the basketball court for one 40 minute contest to decide it all.

This is a (mostly) a work of fiction.

Setting

Three years ago, the BFI dedicated the Mastan YMCA basketball courts in Mumbai to the memory of former Secretary-General and CEO Harish Sharma. Sharma was the leader of the BFI and the CEO position had been created specifically to keep him in a position of power. Other positions like Secretary-General, President, Treasurer, and the rest of the Executive Committee have to be elected on the basis of a vote at the AGM. There is a time limit of how many years any one individual can keep hold of a senior committee position. After Sharma’s death in 2012, his wife Roopam Sharma was made CEO (instead of the position being abolished) and the divide within the BFI grew wider: some supported her, others didn’t. Of course, this means that he newly named Harish Sharma Basketball Courts in Mastan, Mumbai should play host to The Basketball Game for Basketball.

Team Govindraj

Starting 5: K Govindraj (President), Teja Singh Dhaliwal (Senior Vice-President), RS Gill (former President), Chander Mukhi Sharma (Secretary-General), V Raghothaman (Tresurer).

Bench: Ajay Sud, D.R. Saini, Shafiq Shaikh, Bhupendra Shahi, L. Suren (Vice-Presidents), Shakthi Singh Gohil (Associate Secretary), Norman Isaac (Executive Committee Member).

Team Roopam

Starting 5: Poonam Mahajan (President), Roopam Sharma (Secretary-General), Mukut Medhi (Treasurer), RS Chahal (Senior Vice President), Prempal Singh (Associate Secretary).

Bench: Nandini Bassapa, Ashok Kumar Sahu, Rajesh Patel, Ajeet Singh Rathore, Dalbir Singh Kharab, Vinod Vachani (Vice Presidents), Ashok Rangeen (Associate Secretary).

First off, Team Roopam must be praised for diversifying the gender field and featuring two women in the starting lineup (Mahajan and Sharma) and one off the bench (Bassapa). They also have youth on their side, kind of: 34-year-old Mahajan is the youngest president of any Indian sports federation. Both teams have some great Indian coaches and former players but Team Govindraj may be a little more athletic (I’m using the word ‘athletic’ in its broadest definition possible).

Team Roopam may have some home court advantage, specifically because of Mahajan’s Mumbai connection (she is the BJP national secretary and MP from the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha constituency) and because of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) support that Mahajan brings as the first women president of the MSBA. Mahajan has a lot of political clout and had a powerful father Pramod Mahajan, whose one-time aide was none other than the late Harish Sharma, Roopam’s husband. By extension, the overall political advantage goes to the president-secretary general combination of Mahajan and Roopam Sharma.

Team Govindraj may have the legal advantage, however. As per BFI’s constitution and the India’s Ministry of Sports code, only the president of a federation can call an AGM, and thus, the meeting in Bengaluru – held under the guidance of departing president RS Gill – was technically the only ‘legal’ one. Team Govindraj also scored a major win when FIBA – the international body that runs basketball around the world – recognised them as the rightful office-bearers of the BFI.

Tip-off!

Usually, the illustrious names that have been mentioned above do their best at every major Indian sports event to find the most comfortable sofa seats courtside, sip in the finest local chai, and make sure that there is an extra timeout called in every top game so that they can be introduced midcourt to the diligently lined-up players. But this time, it will be the VIPs taking the court while our top players sit on the bleachers and watch. Unhappily.

With more aggressive intent to their side, Team Roopam try to control the pace of the game, running and gunning from the get go and trying to put as many points on the board early in the first quarter. There are a lot of turnovers, bad passes, and individuals attempting to play one-on-one hero-ball, but due to the sheer number of their attempts and their opposition’s slow start, Team Roopam are able to take a double digit early lead.

But as the game moves along, Team Govindraj grind the pace down to their comfort level and defend hard in the post. The game takes an even uglier twist as neither side is able to make their field goals anymore. There are a lot of stoppages, and with the help of the free-throw line, Team Govindraj crawl back to tie the game by halftime.

‘Fans’

The score-keepers seated on the side are representatives from the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) and judges from the Delhi High Court. Despite their best efforts, they have a difficult time keeping track of the awry field goal percentages from both sides.

Meanwhile, representatives from IMG Worldwide and Reliance Industries – the partnership of the two powerful companies that brought sponsorship rights to the BFI five years ago –watch and judge the game from the sidelines, scouting for the finest prospects to work with to help develop the game in India in the future. IMG-Reliance have been hoping to help the BFI launch India’s first professional basketball league, a process that seems to have been suspended consistently over the past few years. Other sponsors are present too, watching the tamasha, as are representatives from the NBA and NBA India, who have vested interest in the long-term development of the sport after these intriguing Federation Games.

The camera pans from the sponsors and CEOs to the other end, where India’s best players and coaches – the individuals who should actually be the stars of the Indian basketball story – are seated. About 10 months ago, Coach Scott Flemming and his team’s top players like Amrit Pal Singh, Amjyot Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and more helped India get a historic first win over China at the FIBA Asia Cup. Two years ago, India’s Women’s team – represented here by Coach Francisco Garcia, legendary player Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Paul Durai, Jeena PS and others – helped India finish at their best-ever fifth place at the FIBA Asia Championship for Women. Jose was even conferred an Arjuna Award  this year.

(None of these accolades are mentioned of course because Indian basketball achievements weren’t the top priority at this basketball game).

Hundreds of more children, all of whom are basketball enthusiasts hoping to become stars for India and abroad, sit terror-stricken on bleachers around the stadium. Many concerned coaches reach over to them and cover their eyes to save them from the horrors ahead.

Second Half

Both teams start the second half with their more experienced players. For Team Roopam, coaches like Chhattisgarh’s Rajesh Patel, India’s junior coach Vinod Vachani, and Delhi’s Ashok Rangeen pit their collective strategies together to get some easy baskets for their team. For Team Govindraj, president Govindraj himself shows some moves from his playing days for Karnataka, while L. Suren rises off the bench to provide some defensive stops. Unfortunately, Team Roopam’s marquee player – president Poonam Mahajan – is confounded by the game that she is supposed to be presiding.

As the audience is subjected to a fourth quarter that no one wishes to watch, the game turns contentious, with the referees’ whistles threatening to steal the spotlight. An outlandish number of calls start going Team Roopam’s way, who opponents complain are winning the advantage due to political threats and blackmail. Team Roopam are unable to take advantage of the opportunity, however. The FIBA Commissioners presiding over this game – who have recently recognized Team Govindraj as the rightful office-bearers of the BFI – neutralize the refereeing scandal with imbalanced overseeing from their end.

By the final whistle, neither team has put up a particularly impressive score, all the players on court have picked up flagrant and technical fouls, and none of the fans are having a good time.

Final Whistle

Nobody is sure who won the game, but everyone knows that basketball lost.

Junior Nationals: Tamil Nadu boys beat MP to become Junior Champions; Kerala girls win gold again

In front of Delhi’s large hoop-loving audience that collected together to watch India’s best under-18-year-old basketball players at the Thyagraj Stadium on Tuesday, the eight-day long 62nd Junior National Basketball Championship for Boys & Girls came to an enthralling end as Tamil Nadu boys and Kerala girls clinched the gold medals.

For Kerala, this win stretched their dominance over the younger-level basketball in India: Kerala have now won the last two Junior Championships as well as the last two Youth Championships. For Tamil Nadu, who ended up as runners-up to Punjab in the tournament last year, the gold medal in Delhi on Tuesday was a fitting way to bury the demons of last year’s final loss.

In the boys Final, Tamil Nadu faced another team who matched them in high-flying athleticism – Madhya Pradesh. TN still took the early initiative, starting the game hot and taking a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter. TN seemed to be on cruise control for most of the game, and before the start of the final quarter, were still leading by 11, 55-44. But it was here that MP put up one last inspired run and chased TN, making it a 4-point game with just seven minutes to go.

But TN regained their composure, made all the clinical plays in the final stretch of the game, and survived to be crowned champions, 77-64. It was TN’s unselfish ball-movement that saw them hoist the winner’s trophy this year. The final belonged to TN’s Sivabalan S, who was able to forget about the disappointment of 2010 to score 34 points and 11 points. Arvind A hadded 18 points for TN. For MP, it was a disappointing finish to a great tournament – their high-scoring dup of Amit Kanarjee and Siddharth Chouhan played well in a losing effort in the final, scoring 21 and 17 points respectively.

In the earlier Final, Kerala continued their dominance over girls’ basketball in the country by rolling to a comfortable victory over Tamil Nadu. Just two months ago, Poojamol KS scored 40 points in the Final of the Youth Championships in Nagpur to help seal the title for her side. On Tuesday, she again started the game with the fire to give her team the win. After a close first quarter, Kerala began to dominate the second period, turning on their defense, and on the other end, scoring at regular intervals, to secure a massive 18-point lead at the end of the first half.

Tamil Nadu could never recover from this second-quarter debacle: the match was an interesting battle between two talented bigs on each side: Rajapriya Darshini for TN and Jeena PS for Kerala. While Darshini more than held her own (19 points, 9 rebounds), Jeena put up a strong performance too, with 17 points and 17 rebounds, continuing to stake her claim as the best rebounder in the Nationals.

TN failed to make up the deficit in the second half, as Kerala’s Surya PR continued her consistent play all championship to put up 28 points. Poojamol ended with a dominant 25 points to go with 15 rebounds. When the final buzzer sounded, Kerala celebrated, having cruised to a 83-67 victory.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Boys beat Chhattisgarh 78-62 to win the third-place playoff, behind Loveneet Singh (23) and Baljeet Singh (16). For Chhattisgarh, B. Dinesh scored 26 points. In the girls’ third-place playoff, Chhattigarh beat Karnataka to claim the bronze medal in a close game, winning by 78-76. Anjana Ekka (24), A. Kavita (17), and Sagarika (16) were the leading scorers for Chhattisgarh. For Karnataka, Navaneetha scored 27 and Simonelle added 20.

RS Gill, the president of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), Harish Sharma, the CEO of the BFI, Ajay Sud, the BFI’s Secretary General, and Bobby Sharma, the Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, Basketball for IMG Worldwide, were amongst the various dignitaries present at the Finals.

The winning teams in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions were rewarded with a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000. The runners-up were handed Rs. 50,000, and third-place received Rs. 25,000.

Final Scores

Girls: Kerala (Surya PR 28, Poojamol KS 26, Jeena PS 17, PG Anjana 10) bt. Tamil Nadu (Rajapriya Dharshini 19, Suganya L 11, Ramya R 10) 83-67 (22-20, 27-11, 24-19, 10-17).

Boys: Tamil Nadu (Sivabalan S 34, Arvind A. 18, Kasi Ranjan M. 14) bt. Madhya Pradesh (Amit Kanarjee 21, Siddharth Chouhan 17) 77-64 (24-11, 20-22, 11-11, 22-20).

3rd/4th Place Playoff

Girls: Chhattisgarh (Anjana Ekka 24, A. Kavita 17, Sagarika 16) bt. Karnataka (Navaneetha 27, Simonelle 20, Sagarika 13) 78-76 (20-19, 14-16, 34-19, 10-22).

Boys: Punjab (Loveneet Singh 23, Baljeet Singh 16, Manpreet Singh 12, Gauravdeep Singh 10) bt. Chhattisgarh (B. Dinesh 26, Ajay Pratap Singh 15) 78-62 (20-12, 15-12, 26-16, 17-22).

Indian Railways complete a three-peat double of National Basketball Championship

Indian Railways stamped their mark over Indian Basketball as they completed three-years of double victory of both the Men’s and the Women’s squads at the 61st IMG-Reliance National Basketball Championship for Men and Women at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday, January 4, 2011.

For the ninth straight year, the Women’s final of the National Basketball Championship was held between budding rivals Indian Railways and Delhi. And for the eight straight year, Indian Railways upheld their dominance in the rivalry and over Women’s basketball in India by destroying Delhi 95-55. Indian Railways have won 23 of the last 25 National Championships, and once again, this was their year in the tournament.

It was more of the same in the Men’s Final, as Indian Railways muscled their way towards a gritty victory against their rivals, Services. This was the third straight National Basketball Championship title for the Railways Men.

After eight days of excitement, from December 28th – January 4th, at the Talkatora Stadium and the Modern School in Barakhamba, the finals of the championship were a showcase event. In the Women’s game, Delhi were no match for Railways’ devastating duo of Geethu Anna Jose (29 points) and Anju (23), as they were blown out by 40 points. Prashanti Singh and Raspreet Sidhu scored 18 and 16 points respectively for the hosts.

In the Men’s game, youngster Arjun Singh caught fire to lead Indian Railways a victory over Services, 74-62. Arjun had 27 points, whereas Jay Ram Jat scored 25 points in a losing effort for the Services side.

In the third place match-ups, Tamil Nadu Women edged out Chhattisgarh in a close encounter, 55-51, behind 18 points apiece by S Kokila and Apoorva Murali Nath. In the Men’s game, Punjab’s superstar Jagdeep Singh found his groove to score 33 points as Punjab beat Kerala 89-67. Amjyot Singh added 16 points for Punjab as they sealed third place. Basil Philip was the top man for Kerala in the match, adding 26 points.

Harish Sharma, the Secretary-General of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) expressed his satisfaction towards a successful tournament. “Thanks to the help of our sponsors, IMG-Reliance, this was the biggest national championship to date. The play on the court didn’t disappoint and it’s obvious for us to see that basketball is growing at an acceleration pace in India. Once again, I would like to thank and congratulate all the participating teams, coaches, managers, support staff, and fans who have helped make this a memorable championship.”

“2010 was a big year for Indian basketball and I’m hoping that 2011 will be even better!” Sharma added.

BFI’s president RS Gill was the honorable guest to present the awards to the winning teams, along with Arjuna Award winner and Indian Basketball legend Mr. Khushi Ram. Both the winning teams received a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakhs each. Runners-up were rewarded Rs. 1 lakh each and third-place winners were rewarded Rs. 50,000 each.

Scores

Women’s Final: Indian Railways 95 (Geethu Anna Jose 29, Anju 23) bt. Delhi 55 (Prashanti Singh 18, Raspreet Sidhu 16).

Men’s Final: Indian Railways 74 (Arjun Singh 27, Gagan Deep Singh 13) bt. Services 62 (Jay Ram Jat 25, Dalip Kumar 14).

Women’s Third-Place Match: Tamil Nadu 55 (S Kokila 18, Apoorva Murali Nath 16) bt. Chhattisgarh 51.

Men’s Third-Place Match: Punjab 89 (Jagdeep Singh 33, Amjyot Singh 16) bt. Kerala 67 (Basil Philip 26, Jomon Jose 13).

Final Standings

Women

Indian Railways
Delhi
Tamil Nadu
Chhattisgarh
Maharashtra
Kerala
Andhra Pradesh
Punjab
Madhya Pradesh
Rajasthan

Men

Indian Railways
Services
Punjab
Kerala
Tamil Nadu
Uttarakhand
Chhattisgarh
Andhra Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Delhi