Sankaran Subramanian - Hoopistani Indian Basketball Hall of Fame

One of the greatest and most influential coaches in Indian basketball history, the late Dr. Sankaran Subramanian is the second inductee into the Hoopistani Indian Basketball Hall of Fame. Subramanian passed away in 2013 at age 75, after offering over 40 years to the service of Indian basketball. His legacy is particularly highlighted by his leadership at the Ludhiana Basketball Academy, where he helped nurture dozens of India's best players.

Subramanian was born in Pirancheri village in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He played basketball for his school and college teams and later joined Indian Air Force in the year 1958. He took to coaching after that in 1968, working with the Air Force team and with Services and leading them to wins in several national level tournaments.

From 1968 onwards, he had been thoroughly involved in coaching and developing players in Punjab and for the Indian national team. Subramanian was the coach of the Punjab state team, the director and chief of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy (LBA) in Punjab and also the director of the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. While head coach of the Punjab State teams from 2000-2013, and led them to an era of great dominance, collecting 14 Gold, 13 Silver and 9 Bronze Medals in Sub-Junior, Youth, Junior and Senior National Championships. Under his tutelage, Punjab's Senior Men's team won the National Championship in 2012 and finished as runners-up in 2013.

A great number of talented stars blossomed under his tutelage, including Arjuna Award winner Manmohan Singh, Paramjit Singh, who represented Indian in the 1980 Olympic Basketball team, and Tarlok Singh Sandhu. Of the current era, Subramanian's LBA produced national players and stars like TJ Sahi, Yadwinder Singh, Jagdeep Singh Bains, Palpreet Singh Brar, Amjyot Singh (NBA G-League), Amrit Pal Singh (NBL Australia), and Satnam Singh Bhamara (first Indian drafted into the NBA). He also trained women's international Kiranjit Kaur. You can read more about Subramanian in my eulogy for him written in 2013.

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