Manmohan Singh: Hoopistani Indian Basketball Hall of Fame

Photo courtesy: punjabbasketball.org

A stalwart of Indian basketball in the early days of the 1960s and an Arjuna Awardee, Manmohan Singh - no relation to the former Prime Minister! - is today's addition to the Hoopistani Indian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Singh was born in May 1946 in Lahore and was brought over to India during the post-independence partition. Eventually settling in Ludhiana, Punjab, Singh played for Punjab and Services for his domestic career from 1960-1980. He especially starred for Services in their dominant run of the National Championship in the 60s.

He became a part of India's senior men's team in the mid 1960s and appeared for India in their first-ever appearance at the FIBA Asia Championship in Kuala Lumpur in 1965. His other major international appearances included the 1962 Pakistan tour, the 1967 Kuala Lumpur Tour, the 10th anniversary tournament in Manila in 1970, the FIBA ABC in Tokyo in 1971, and the Manila All Stars event in 1973.

Singh was honoured with the Arjuna Award in basketball by the Sports Ministry in 1971. In 2015, Singh was nominated as vice-chairperson of the Indian Basketball Players Association (IBPA).

Click here for more of the Indian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Indian Basketball Legend & Arjuna award winner Khushi Ram passes away

The man who was once called The Magician of Basketball in India, the legendary Khushi Ram, passed away at age 77 on December 29, 2013. Ram will go down in history as one of the India's greatest ever basketball players and - at his time - one of the top talents in all of Asia. A former captain of India's national Men's team, Kumar was handed with the Arjuna Award in 1967.

While we live in a time when basketball players in India rarely get the respect and admiration that the sport deserves, Ram was one of the leaders of an era when Indian basketball was on the rise. Ram was an integral part of India's national team from 1964-72, and captained India in 1965 at their first ever appearance at the Asian Basketball Confederation Championship (now known as the FIBA Asia Championship) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. India finished 7th at the tournament. He was the highest scorer at the championship (the only Indian at the Senior Men's level to be the tournament's highest scorer). In the next two Asian Championships in Seoul (Korea) and Bangkok (Thailand), he was the tournament's second and third highest scorer respectively.

Ram was also the father of another Indian basketball legend, the Dhyan Chand Award Winner Ram Kumar, and of the late Asok Kumar.

Ram was born in Jhamri village in Rohtak district in Haryana on August 7, 1936. His interest for basketball began at age 14 when he joined the Delhi-based Army unit Rajputana Rifles as a Boy Recruit in 1950. He made his debut as a youth player at the National Basketball Championship in 1952 representing the Armed Forces team. From a young age, he was known for his shooting ability - which helped him become an unstoppable scorer for the course of his career - and for his high IQ and sense of the game.

From 1958-68, Ram was associated with the Army. The Armed Force team won India's National Basketball title 10 consecutive years, with Ram leading the helm several times as the tournament's best player. In 1969, he moved to Kota (Rajasthan) to join Shri Ram Rayons. He represented the state of Rajasthan for the next five years in National Basketball Championships.

Ram's fame was at its height in 1970, when he dominated at the 10th Anniversary Celebrations Championship in Manila and scoring 43 points (highest by an Indian in an international) against the hosts Philippines.

After announcing his retirement he took over as the coach of Shri Ram Rayons Basketball team in 1976 and also coached Rajasthan's Basketball team for many years. Under his helm, Shri Ram Rayons became one of the best teams in India and won many All India tournaments.

Even until his final years, Ram was coaching basketball to students at the Modern School in Kota.

We wave goodbye to a pioneer of Indian Basketball, one of the greats to have paved the way for the path that all of today's players now follow. Ram received a lot of tributes for his achievements in his lifetime, but the most lasting tribute to his memory would be a concentrated effort by the basketball fraternity in the country to help India reach it's old glories again, and perhaps even shoot for a higher level than ever before.

India's teams drawn in FIBA Asia 3x3 basketball tournaments in Doha and Bangkok

Years from now, 2013 will be remembered as a year of ‘firsts’ for 3x3 basketball, particularly in Asia, and specifically for our interest, in India. This was that the year when, for the first time, Indian states held their own 3x3 championships across the country. This was also the first year when India held national-level 3x3 basketball tournaments for Seniors (in Delhi) and for U18s (in Ludhiana).

And now, the inaugural FIBA Asia 3x3 basketball championships – featuring the best 3x3 basketball players from across the continent – will be held in both the Senior and U18 levels for Men and Women over the next month. The 1st FIBA Asia 3x3 Basketball Championship for Men & Women will be held in Doha (Qatar) from May 15-16. The 1st FIBA Asia 3x3 Basketball Championship for U18 Boys and Girls will be held in Bangkok (Thailand) from May 22-24.

India is participating in all divisions in both competitions.

On April 24 in Kuala Lampur (Malaysia), FIBA Asia held the draw for the inaugural edition of the 2013 events. Here are the results of the draw, via FIBA Asia 3x3:

1st FIBA Asia Championship for Men - May 15-16 (16 teams)

• Group A: Mongolia, Qatar (Maroon), Philippines, Sri Lanka.
  
• Group B: India, Indonesia, Turkmenistan, Iran.
  
• Group C: Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Lebanon.
  
• Group D: Japan, Qatar (Grey), Jordan, Hong Kong.
  

1st FIBA Asia Championship for Women - May 15-16 (10 teams)

• Group A: Qatar (Maroon), Indonesia, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong.
  
• Group B: Qatar Grey, India, Mongolia, Lebanon, Nepal.

1st FIBA Asia Championship for U18 Boys - May 22-24 (22 teams)

• Group A: Jordan, Mongolia, India, China, Maldives
  
• Group B: Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Qatar, Syria, Philippines, Chinese Taipei.
  
• Group C: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand 2.
  
• Group D: Thailand 1, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Nepal, Macau.
  

1st FIBA Asia Championship for U18 Girls - May 22-24 (19 teams)

• Group A: Turkmenistan, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Mongolia.
  
• Group B: Philippines, Syria, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka.
  
• Group C: Thailand 1, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Vietnam.
  
• Group D: Macau, China, Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand 2.
  

Despite being minnows in many recent FIBA Asia Basketball tournaments, India has actually enjoyed quite a successful recent history in 3x3 competitions at Asia level. India's Men and Women both dominated the South Asian Beach Games in Sri Lanka two years ago, and more importantly, India's Women's team won gold at the 3rd Asian Beach Games in China against the hosts last year. India's finest Women's player Geethu Anna Jose spoke to FIBA in an interview recently and said that the Women's team goes in with a do-or-die attitude in this tournament. We hope the Men's teams - and the U18s - follow suit too.

Success (or at least respectful showings) in these tournaments will be a good stepping stone. But I hope our teams and federation doesn't forget the bigger, more important picture, which will be to improve the level of India's competitiveness across the board in the original 5x5 version of the game.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup gets bigger and better!

In a meeting of FIBA’s Central Board in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, on Sunday, FIBA has given the green light to some major changes in the format of its biggest international basketball competitions – including the Basketball World Cup – and the calendar of international basketball events. The new moves are designed to hopefully emulate the success of international football and give an exciting new identity to international hoops.

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