Guns, Fraud, and Basketball...

It keeps getting worse...



Nearly ten days ago, the All India Inter-University Basketball Tournament concluded in my hometown of Varanasi, or V-Town, which is my semi-affectionate moniker for the city. The tournament, which was hosted by the city's old and much-revered Banaras Hindu University (BHU) featured four teams from each of the four zones in the country. BHU fell in the East Zone, which also featured another V-Town team, the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV).

The tournament ended controversially, with BHU beating the MGKV in the final (held on February 1) at their homecourt. Rumours were already afloat that the tournament's organizers had predetermined the results so that the two hometown teams face off against each other in the final. Now, players of Delhi University (North Zone) that attended this tournament are claiming that they were threatened at gunpoint to forfeit their semi-final match.



Pardon my French, but this is truly f*cked up (from Times of India):

Delhi University's basketball team has alleged that it was forced to forfeit its inter-university semi-final match at gunpoint in Banaras because the organisers were keen on two local teams making it to the final.
"The BHU team couldn't even win a single round and here it has won an all-India event! It's wrong when players are threatened and harmed, and sports takes a backseat to politics," Ajay Kumar, Delhi team's manager said.
The Rajasthan University team too forfeited its match. "We had to leave the quarterfinal against BHU midway because they were assaulting and threatening my players on court. They even put a pistol to the head of one of the boys. Our vice-chancellor has written a formal complaint," said Bharat, coach of the Jaipur-based team.
Understandably shaken, the Delhi players conveyed their fears to the BHU authorities and also to All India Universities under-secretary Gurdeep Singh. But no action followed.

[The organizing committee's secretary Vidyasager] went on to insinuate that he had been forewarned by Singh that the Delhi team would "cook up" such charges. "The Delhi boys never looked like they were serious about playing. Gurdeep Singh had told me that these boys would go to the media and say things. The boys were completely out of hand.

Now, of course there is no proof of the gunpoint threats yet, but ask anyone who was at the tournament's final and it was obvious that BHU had been predetermined to win this tournament. The tournament referees were being blamed for favouring the home side. I was present in some of the group round games, and while I couldn't make it to the final, some of my contacts including Varanasi's former basketball coaches, event organizers, and MGKV players painted a pretty dismal picture.

To everyone's shock (or perhaps not), the entire starting five of the MGKV squad didn't play a single minute in the tournament's final against the BHU. These included 23-year-old Vikram 'Dicky' Parmar, the best player in the tournament, and one of the most talented young players in the country. The excuses for this ranged from "mild injuries" to "protecting the players from future injuries", but that is all really bullcrap - why would you protect your players in the FINAL of the most important basketball tournament of their time in university?



The truth is that it had been agreed from before that the MGKV coach would only play his reserves against BHU in the final, so that BHU could win their hometown tournament, and BHU's longtime revered coach KN Rai would be given a victorious retirement party.

But it got worse - after trailing most of the game, the MGKV reserves actually made an amazing comeback in the fourth quarter, and took a one-point lead against the BHU in the final two minutes. At this point, the MGKV coach had a word with his second squad, and subsequently, MGKV players practically gave up, loosening up their defense and standing around as the BHU scored freely to pick up a 63-56 victory. My brother Harsh, who attended the final, said that it was the most shameful thing he has seen on a basketball court. The crowd watched on in uncomfortable silence and the local newspapers the following day said that MGKV only played to assist a BHU victory. But nothing would change the result.

Despite the fact that teams such as Delhi University, SRM University, or even the MGKV fielded much better squads, the BHU came off as victors. So whether or not the Delhi boys 'cooked-up' the gunpoint story, one way or another, the last team standing was always going to be the BHU.

On a personal note, it's tragic for me to see such a fraud taking place in my hometown, which in recent years has groomed great basketball talents such as Trideep Rai, Divya Singh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and now, Vikram Parmar.

India lose to Afghanistan in SAG final

Despite an inspired second-half comeback, India lost to Afghanistan 65-64 in the final of the South Asian Games basketball tournament, at Dhaka (Bangladesh) last night.

India's national basketball team, The Young Cagers, had lost to Afghanistan once in the group stages of the tournament.

Afghanistan.

Seriously, Afghanistan.

Here's an excerpt of the final's recap from The Hindu:

India tasted its first setback of the 11th South Asian Games here on Friday. First the Indian football team bowed out in the semifinals losing to host Bangladesh 0-1 and later the men’s basketball team was beaten by Afghanistan in a rousing final 65-64.

Trailing 35-44 at half-time, the Indians made a remarkable recovery in the next two quarters to tie the score at 58-all. The Indians, 49th in the FIBA ranking, kept the pressure on and took the vital lead with four minutes to go.
Jagdeep Singh, who was the Indian playmaker, missed a couple of lay-up shots at the crucial minutes and this allowed the Afghanistan to sink in a two-pointer to regain the lead by one point.

Apart from the Afghanistan losses, the Vishesh Bhriguvanshi led squad actually performed well in the rest of the tournament. India was in a group with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. They won their other two group games, highlighted by a 52-point drubbing of Sri Lanka (led by Vishesh's 31-point explosion).

In the semi-final, India defeated the hosts Bangladesh 96-54 before losing to Afghanistan for the second time in the close final on Friday night.

How to suppress your superstars - 101

If you have been keeping up with Indian basketball, then you would no doubt be familiar with the name Geethu Anna Jose. The 24-year-old captain of the Indian Women's National team is the most talented basketball player in the country and one of the best in all of Asia.

And if you have really been following recent basketball news in India, you would have heard about the recent atrocity committed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOC), who barred Geethu from playing in a professional league in Australia.

From TimesNow.TV:

In yet another incident that has shamed Indian sports, top basketball player Geethu Anna Jose has being barred from playing in a professional League in Australia. Geethu has been invited by Ringwood Hawks a professional basketball club based in Australia to represent their side in the league.

The club wants Geethu to join the team as early as the February 15 and stay back till the league ends in August.
However, the Indian Olympic Association has denied permission since Geethu is also the captain of the Indian women's Basketball team. According to the explanation given by the IOA, the Basketball Federation of India is supposed to organise a National camp during the same time.
But, Geethu believes that having participated in the Australian league before, another stint there will prepare her better for the Asian Games rather than attending a national camp.
She said, "I am so unhappy that my country is not allowing me to participate in the Australian League. I have written to the Basketball Federation but they have not given me any permission. I am still hoping that they will change their mind. I am sure that I will be able to play for the Australian League between February and August, come back to India, prepare for 3 months and play the Asian Games."

She is absolutely right! The hopes of all those involved in promoting basketball in India lie on building on the successes of talented, marketable individuals. Geethu is exactly that. She was the top scorer for the FIBA Women's Asian Basketball Championships in Chennai in November. She has already played three seasons with the lower league Ringwood Hawks (the only Indian to ever play pro in Australia), bagging a league MVP award in 2008. She was even selected to play for the Dandenong Rangers, which is a top-division WNBL team in Australia, but "personal reasons" kept her from ever suiting up for them.

Geethu's big break came during the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where she turned heads in an otherwise-lowly Indian squad, putting up an impressive and eye-catching performance. The Indian Women finished sixth.

The young girl (did I mention she's just 24!) has serious skills: if it is marketable stars are what we claim we need, then we don't need to look any further than this talented Kerelan. Letting Geethu have success and acclaim abroad, and then welcoming her back with support by the media, the IOC, and the BFI support will help put a face to the sport in India, just like Saina Nehwal did for Badminton, Sania Mirza did for Tennis, and PT Usha did for Track & Field.

Obviously, playing at a higher, more competitive level will only benefit Geethu as a growing player. She still has potential to be better, and as she said in her statement above, she will have three months after the season in Australia to return home and prepare for the November Asian Games in China.



Earlier, in an interview for The Hindu, Geethu even went as far as saying, "I’ve started modelling too in a small way... Earlier, the game was glamorous, now we have to be glamorous to attract the crowd and sponsors."

It is a pity that India's most talented basketball player had to say these words, but when the system works in such a nonsensical way, can we really question her?

To the Olympic Associations around the world, if you're watching, then learn: this is how to suppress a superstar talent.

Also published on SportsKeeda.com

No Basketball at the Delhi Commonwealth Games

Are you in the mood for some crappy news this morning? According to an exclusive report by More than the games yesterday, the Basketball championships at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi this year have been cancelled by FIBA.

This year's Commonwealth Basketball Championships, due to be staged in New Delhi in August, have been cancelled by the world governing body, FIBA.
The tournament was not directly connected with the Commonwealth Games, which are being held in India for the first time in October.
Although the scrapping of the tournament represents a set-back to the Indian organisers and those players hoping to compete, FIBA stressed that the cancellation had nothing to do with concerns about facilities, organisation or security - three issues which have blighted the build-up to the Delhi Games.
"The FIBA Commonwealth men's championship has been cancelled," a FIBA spokesman told national press agency Sportsbeat.
Basketball has only been included in the Commonwealth Games once, in Melbourne four years ago where teams from eight countries, including England and Scotland, competed in men's and women's tournaments.
Both gold medals were won by Australia, with England's men and women taking the bronze medals.
Although Australia are understood to have requested a postponement of the Commonwealth tournament until 2011, FIBA blamed a crowded international programme for its decision.
"The major national federations of the Commonwealth have experienced difficulty with the scheduling of the national team programmes as Australia, Canada and New Zealand have all qualified for the FIBA world championship in Turkey while England - as part of Great Britain - will compete in the European championships qualification series," said a spokesman.

So this truly sucks: Here was a chance for hoop enthusiasts in India to be able to see some better international talent perform at home, and be able to size up how our own national team competes alongside them.

Come on FIBA: pull some strings... make it happen... It's the friggin Commonwealth Games. Once you get past the primadonna auto-rickshaw drivers and the rapists, Delhi isn't all bad.

The Hoopistani is a Sports Keeda

Some of my blog entries from 'The Hoopistani' will now be featured on SportsKeeda, which is a community of 'India's Kick-Ass Sports bloggers' and Indian sport fans. Sports Keeda features blogs by various India writers on a dozen sports such as football, hockey, tennis, cricket, basketball, and many more.

Sports Keeda also started an E-Magazine with in-depth Indian sport writing.

Here is my page on the website.

The Cricket Delusion: How Indian basketball can learn from the recent field hockey debacle

Let me start with my thesis: Sport in India is a joke.

I write this article as I watch my favourite ever sportsmen devastate the Bangladesh bowling attack with another spectacular performance. He has just completed his 45th Test century (half a dozen more than his nearest competitor), and would go on to make a breathtaking 143 runs.



It’s been 20 years since Sachin Tendulkar first gripped India’s emotions as a talented 16-year-old, and up to this day, he remains in the eye of the Indian public the one untouchable, uniting figure in the country. Globally, he’s ranked as one of the greatest to ever play the game. I don’t exaggerate when I say that there has been no more unanimously loved Indian since that Gandhi character.

Sport can’t be a problem in India when an athlete is the nation’s more powerful icon, can it? Sport can’t be a problem when the Indian Premier League (IPL), a competition of cricket’s newest format, the Twenty-20, is Asia’s first billion dollar sporting league , and one of the richest sporting leagues around the world? Of the top-10 most earning cricketers in the world, spots 1-4 and 6 are occupied by Indians. Number one is the captain of our national cricket team, MS Dhoni, and although his 2009 earnings of approximately 10 million USD are Lilliputian compared to the amount of money that superstar athletes make in other sports worldwide, these cricketers aren’t exactly fighting to feed their kids.

How can sport be a problem when India is ranked the number 1 Test Cricket team in the world? How can sport be a problem when our cricketers are as famous as our much-revered film stars? How can I call sport a joke in India, when millions keep their eyes glued to their TV sets, the housewives offering prayers to our pick of a hundred thousand gods for another victory, the fathers ditching work and the sons ditching school to sit home and watch another India international cricket match?

The problem, obviously, is the fact that all the glorious stories and figures in India belong to cricket, and if we do strike lucky and succeed in another sport, the successes are either quickly forgotten, or the newspapers find it tough to squeeze in the news amongst the barrage of daily cricket stories that the Indian audiences are overdosed with.

There are, of course, a few exceptions. Field Hockey, officially our ‘national sport’ has been headline material twice over the past few years. The first time was in August 2007, when Bollywood came to temporarily save the day (and earn a lot of money) as the blockbuster film Chak De India on the story of India’s women’s hockey team made the sport the flavour of the month.

The second time was a few weeks ago, when the members of the Indian hockey team boycotted a national camp in Pune, demanding their unpaid dues. The news wouldn’t have made as much noise as it did but for the fact that India is set to host the Hockey world cup in a month. There was suddenly the ridiculous danger of the home team fielding a B-squad for the greatest stage of their so-called national sport.



The stand-off between the players and the hockey federation stretched for several days, with everyone from state ministers and movie stars (After Chak De India, superstar actor Shahrukh Khan became the self-appointed ad-hoc spokesperson for Indian hockey) pitching in their opinion.There were debates on national TV, front page articles in the newspapers, and more editorials written about the sport nationwide than those accumulated in the last ten years. The Hockey Federation seemed to have the sponsor money with them, so when news broadcasters asked the federation’s bigwigs in a live telecast about where the money went, they got bumbling, anxious responses. The audiences were glued: we smelled corruption and couldn’t look away.

Cricket must have watched jealously for a week. Well, finally, a resolution was reached: the players got their money, and India began another cricket series. The media’s attention shifted away and order was restored in the universe.

Most of the sport fans in India didn’t even know that the hockey world cup was imminent, and what more, that it was being hosted by India. The general public only became interested when hockey went wrong, and we suddenly had the federation to throw our verbal rotten apples at, and Shahrukh and the media had us showering our sympathy on our poor professionals who never get what they deserve, and the facilities are appalling, and the money is bad, and now, it is the women’s hockey team turn to start asking for their money and so on and so forth.

The problem is that, with all the attention and finances thrown around by the broadcasters, promoters, media, and government authorities to make cricket the most lucrative business in India, there is little left room left to share with other sports in the country. It is perhaps no surprise then, that India, a country of a billion and a half people, has won a staggering ONE (1) individual gold in the history of the Olympic Games, and that too went to the shooter Abhinav Bindra at Beijing 2008, who was rich enough to self-finance his training, equipment, and success, free from the meddling hands of the government. The Olympics, obviously, don’t feature cricket, or India would have be raking in the medals and the positive vibes.

Team sports in India, such as football, basketball, and hockey, are forever stifled by age-old bureaucratic traditions, where a young talent finds it near improbable to climb up the ranks without politicking with the authorities on the side. Football has managed to thrive a little more than the others because of the century old tradition in the country and the marginally successful I-League. Even they have complaints: International superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi are far better known than the members of our own national team.

The hockey debacle has once again exposed India’s monomaniacal obsession with cricket. A cricket international would never be treated the way the hockey internationals were. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is obviously the country’s richest sporting body. Compared to it, other sports, and particularly basketball, is still miles behind. Basketball even lacks the ‘national sport’ sentiment that hockey is often credited (or burdened) with or the historical significance of football.

Ayaz Memon, one of India’s most respected sport’s journalist and a columnist for NBA.com/India, writes in his article ‘The Changing Face of Sports’ that, “…NBA can be of help to India: not necessarily because of the sport it represents, but more because of the way it has gone about conducting its business. I used the last word of the previous sentence deliberately, because in India, sport has hardly been seen as business, more as pastime: the government provides some grant, officials hang on to office for power rather than passion for the sport, and players fight heavy odds to eke out a living or at least some glory.”

The NBA business model relies a lot on individual marketing of players to deepen their fan base. Would a basketball star in India ever be marketed this way? Would another sport’s star ever be held in the kind of reverence that is showered on cricketers like Tendulkar or Dhoni? The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has been pondering bringing in a NBA-inspired league system to basketball here, and although it would generate a little more excitement and hope for the sport, it would only be a modest first step.

Compared to a few of the other sports, Basketball has a relatively cleaner reputation in terms of corruption or embezzlement in India, but I believe that the trend of seniority-based preferential treatment and unfair team selections would have to be cleaned out from the sport’s culture. When I spoke to India’s former women’s national captain Divya Singh, she said, “I don’t like cricket very much, but I admire the way that it is managed. It’s possible for basketball to grow in India. There is a court in most of the schools in India, and kids play the game regularly at a young age. Their talent needs to be channelized in the right way.”



The other good news is that, as time has passed, the attention level of your average viewer is diminishing by the day. Half a century ago, cricket started off as a five-day marathon, and in the 70s morphed into a day-long game. Now, the most recent form of the game (the Twenty-20) only lasts around three hours and has taken cricket hysteria to new heights. If projected as a shorter, faster, and more athletically appealing sport, basketball has the perfect opening to carve out a space for itself in the public's consciousness.

In recent years, Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Viswanathan Anand, Bhaichung Bhutia, Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, Vijay Singh, and others have had relative successes in their respective sports, gaining a little bit of fame and commercial value. We are still a long way away before the successes of non-cricket athletes are taken by the majority of Indians seriously. The mainstream media’s regular interest in hockey’s darkest day shouldn’t be just some one-off fling with other sports in India. Like hockey, sports like basketball should be put under the scrutinizing media spotlight, making the structure behind the system accountable as well as help in promoting the game.

*First published on SLAMOnline.com on January 28, 2010.

Indian basketball team at South Asian Games

The South Asian games, being held at Bangladesh this year, were inaugurated yesterday at their capital city of Dhaka. Along with hosts Bangladesh, the other participating countries are India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, and Afghanistan.



India is sending a contingent of 331 athletes, and will be taking part in all of the 23 sports, except, funnily, T-20 cricket! They are the overwhelming favourites for the competition.

The basketball team for this tournament is being led by Varanasi boy Vishesh Bhriguvanshi:

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi of the Indian Railways will lead the men’s National basketball team that will take part in the SAF Games that got underway today at Dhaka, Bangladesh.
For the Dhaka meet, the players had been training attending the national coaching camp from January at SAI Bangalore.
According to Basketball Federation of India (BFI) secretary general, Harish Sharma, the team is a blend of youth and experience, and should deliver the goods.

Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Captain), Yadwinder Singh, Prakash Mishra, Arjun Singh (all Indian Railways), Talwinderjeet Singh, Jagdeep Singh (both Punjab), S Robinson, Hareesh Koroth, Vineeth Revi (all Tamil Nadu), Mihir Pandey, Trideep Rai (both Uttarakhand) and Kiran Pal (Chattisgarh.
Aleksandar Bucan (head coach), Mohit Bhandari (assistant coach)
Suryaveer Singh Shekhwat (manager).