FIBA urges Indian sports ministry to grant immediate recognition of BFI to Team Govindraj

Last week, the Indian Men's basketball team made its fans proud, making it to the Quarter-Finals of the biggest tournament in Asia - the 2015 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship (ABC) - for the first time in 12 years, and taking an encouraging leap up to 8th place in the continent. However, despite the stellar performances by India's star players, something was amiss. India did well, but they could've done much better. The team that headed to Changsha for the 2015 FIBA ABC lacked severely in depth of talent. Several big names of Team India - players like Pratham Singh, Joginder Singh, Prasanna Venkatesh, Rikin Pethani, and Narender Grewal - didn't show up for the national team camp and final cut. India played well despite them, but their presence could've possibly pushed the national team a spot or two even higher.

Of course, India being India, missing an entire five-man lineup of experienced, quality players is more than a random coincidence; many in the Indian hoops fraternity believe that the players were held back through pressure from government and political connections conspiring against the team from within itself. Indian basketball has been suffering from political infighting for the past six and a half months. The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has divided into two separate executive committees boasting of two separate presidents. The committee led by secretary of the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA) K. Govindraj (Team Govindraj) conducted their Annual General Meeting in Bengaluru on March 27 under the rulings of the correct BFI constitution and have the backing of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Operating out of Bengaluru, they have been conducting domestic tournaments, national team camps, and organizing India's international activities (including FIBA Asia Championships for Men and Women) this year. The committee led by MP from the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha constituency Poonam Mahajan (Team Mahajan), formed in Pune on March 28, have the backing of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (Sports Ministry). Last month, the IOA created an 'ad-hoc' committee to oversee the divide in Indian basketball with the hopes of holding fresh elections that involve Team Mahajan in BFI governance in an official manner.

Now, frustrated by the ripple effect the rift in India is having internationally, FIBA has interjected again. In a letter addressed to the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (Government of India), Sarbananda Sonowal, FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann urged him to immediately grant official recognition of the BFI to Team Govindraj. Copies of the letter, dated 6th October 2015, were also been sent to other departments within FIBA as well as IOA and BFI.

Excerpts of the letter from FIBA (Patrick Baumann) to the Sports Ministry (Sarbananda Sonowal) are below:

FIBA issued an official decision dated 23 May 2015 recognizing a group of newly elected BFI officials who shall act as the sole representatives of the BFI towards FIBA and all other official sports authorities, and as the only officials in charge of controlling and developing the sport of basketball in India.
In this decision, FIBA respectively requested the Indian Olympic Association and your honourably Ministry to join FIBA in supporting the officials duly and legally elected during the BFI General Meeting held in Bangaluru [sic] on 27 March 2015. More than 4 months later, we regret to note that the institutional situation of the BFI remains extremely fragile and subject to unacceptable pressures that hinder the proper development of basketball in your country.
To our utmost concern, we have indeed received evidence and copies of correspondence issued by persons who were directly or indirectly part of the parallel General Meeting held in Pune the day after the holding of the valid BFI Meeting, threatening and dissuading players and State Unit Associations to take part in competitions organized by BFI and/or FIBA.
While it is not unusual for officials involved within the sports political sphere to have disagreements, FIBA cannot accept that players who have absolutely nothing to do with these political matters and personal arguments be held hostages and prevented from representing their country in major international competitions. Not only are these threats disrespectful towards the hard work these players and their coaches went through in order to be at the required level but it is also a direct insult to the State of India whose national team has been missing out on key players due to this institutional turmoil.
Just a few days ago, your national team reached the quarter finals of FIBA's flagship basketball event in Asia after a 12-year gap. However, key players were not allowed to take part in this championship due to various threats allegedly motivated by the absence of BFI recognition by your Ministry. FIBA is therefore of the firm opinion that this matter cannot continue any longer and we would respectfully request your Ministry to act without delay in the interest of the athletes, coaches, clubs, parents, sponsors, and fans who invest considerable time and resourced in our sport, by granting, without delay, the necessary recognition to the BFI presided by Mr Govindraj and recognized by FIBA.
Also, and equally more importantly, any State Association or Public Service Companies which decides to join the BFI to pursue basketball activities shall not be prevented to do so and any player registered with such associaitons shall also be encouraged to participate in competitions organized by the BFI and endorsed by FIBA.

FIBA's newest letter has been chiefly in response to the IOA's refusal to recognize Team Govindraj's BFI and support Team Mahajan, who has considerable clout in the Indian government because of Poonam Mahajan and Secretary-General Roopam Sharma's BJP links. The IOA's creation of an ad-hoc committee claimed (falsely, it has been alleged by Team Govindraj) that they were requested by FIBA to solve the BFI dispute. The IOA's ad-hoc committee also intended to hold fresh elections for the Executive Board of the BFI within a period of two months of giving notice to all affiliated members (state federations/associations, etc). Team Govindraj claim that the IOA order is "illegal" since they do not have the provision to make an ad-hoc committee for any National Sports Federation in India that is recognized by an international federation.

While Team Mahajan attempts to coerce the IOA to create obstacles for Team Govindraj, Team Govindraj continues to hold basketball activities for India domestically and abroad, including the Junior National Basketball Championship that conclude in Ludhiana on Friday, October 9. They will be holding selection trials for India's U16 boys team on October 10-12 in Bengaluru for the U16 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in Indonesia at the end of this month. India were drawn yesterday in Group D of the U16 FIBA ABC, along with China, Korea, and Iraq.

Unfortunately, it seems that India's biggest rival in basketball success isn't China, or Korea, or Iraq, or the Philippines, Iran, or Japan. It's India itself.

To paraphrase FIBA and Baumann: dear India, stop messing with the hard work and passions of Indian basketball players. It is their dream to wear the Indian jersey, to make India proud, and eventually, help India achieve greater things. Their efforts should be supported, not halted. We can't let politics kill Indian basketball.

BFI / IMG Reliance expand School/College leagues to 24 Indian cities this season

Since we're always hoop-minded over here, compare the following bit of news to a team that maintains a slower pace through the first three quarters of the game, before letting out the floodgates for a dominant finish.

After three years of steady growth, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG Reliance organized school and college basketball leagues around India are set for an explosive acceleration this year. The BFI announced that the new seasons of the Indian School Basketball League (ISBL) and the Indian College Basketball League (ICBL) will be held in 22 and 21 Indian cities respectively. Over 1100 institutions and 13,000 combined school or college students - both men and women - will be participating in the ISBL and ICBL in 24 total cities. The games are starting this week and will conclude with the National Finals for all winners in New Delhi in December.

Roopam Sharma, the CEO of the BFI, and Ashu Jindal, the CEO of IMG Reliance, announced the new chapter of the leagues at a launch event in New Delhi on Thursday with Chief Guest Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister of State-Independent Charge for Sports & Youth Affairs, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. India's chief basketball coach KK Chansoria was also present at the occasion.

"Sport anywhere cannot be developed without nurturing the grassroots," said Sharma, "We firmly believe that a strong grassroots endeavor like this will not only cultivate a strong talent pool for basketball and it will popularize the sport among the youth in an unparalleled way. These leagues confirm BFI’s commitment to raise the profile of the sport in the country and help India excel to even higher heights on the world stage."

These leagues will form the foundation of one of the nation’s most robust school and college based grassroots sports programme. According to the BFI, the structured, pan-India leagues will allow players and coaches to develop their skills through continued performance over the dedicated three month season. Successful execution of this initiative will play a key role in transforming the sporting and basketball culture in the country, from the grassroots to the professional level. Furthermore, the ICBL and ISBL will serve as a feeder system into India’s Men’s and Women’s National Teams. The format of the leagues will emphasize continuous participation and improvement and provides an excellent platform for players, coaches and officials to develop the critical basketball skills required to compete and excel at the highest levels.

The ultimate conclusion for both the leagues will be the National Championship, which will be held at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi in December 2014.

Speaking about the initiative, Jindal said, "The Indian School Basketball League and Indian College Basketball League are groundbreaking additions to India’s sporting landscape. It is only through ambitious grassroots development programs, such as these that the sporting culture in India will truly transform. These leagues and our continued partnership with the BFI confirm IMG Reliance’s commitment to growing the sport of basketball in the country."

Both the ISBL and ICBL are divided into two divisions: The Premier League and the Challenger League. A total of 10 teams will take part from each city in each league and in each gender division.

ISBL Participating Cities

• Premier League: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Indore, Cochin, Jaipur. 
• Challenger League: Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Goa, Bhilai, Varanasi, Dehradun, Guwahati.

ICBL Participating Cities

• Premier League: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Indore, Thiruvanathapuram, Jaipur. 
• Challenger League: Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Goa, Raipur, Varanasi, Dehradun.

The winners of each city's 'Premier League' will travel to Delhi to play in the National Finals for both the ICBL and the ISBL and for both boys and girls. The format in both the ISBL and the ICBL will feature a 'relegation and promotion' system. The bottom two Premier League teams will play against the top two Challenge League teams in special playoffs to determine the winning two teams for the Premier League next season and losing two teams for the Challenge League.

The BFI will award the winning school and college at the national level with a refurbished basketball court, in addition to cash awards, certificates and trophies for standout performers.

Asian Games turmoil finally ends: Indian Basketball teams confirmed to participate

Sometimes, we can't help but slap our forehead and sigh "Only in India!"

With only 10 days left before the beginning of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (Korea), the Government of India finally (FINALLY!) made a decision on an ongoing stand-off that threatened to leave athletes participating in several sports - including our Men's and Women's senior national basketball teams - back home despite qualifying to play at the competition. On Tuesday, September 9th, the government eventually made a decision to send a contingent of 679 athletes and officials to Incheon; a much smaller number than the Asian Games four years ago, but with the basketball and a few of the other threatened sports included.

Even though, until a week ago, it seemed all but guaranteed that all of India's participants who have qualified in various disciplines will be part of the country's national contingent to Korea, this ridiculous saga began when the Sports Authority of India (SAI) recommended that the large number of athletes and officials in India's proposed list (944 total) be cut down to avoid embarrassment. SAI's director general Jiji Thompson had said "The IOA list is huge and we have recommended pruning. We don't want the athletes to cut a sorry figure there. We want to send people with a realistic chance of winning medals since it's the country's pride that is at stake."

According to DNA India, SAI's strict criteria for the participating athletes was for the athlete to be ranked at least top six in the while the team to be in the top eight. Five sports - Basketball, Football, Handball, Table Tennis, and Sepak Takraw - potentially faced the axe from the government if SAI's recommendation had been followed.

As the national teams even our national coach waited in limbo, things got even worse. As the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal decision to shift the responsibility of the decision to the Prime Minister's Office, India missed a crucial Delegates Registration Meeting in Incheon. With 11 days left before the Asian Games, since there was no government clearance, no Indian official could even be there in Incheon.

Meanwhile, both of India's Men and Women's football teams, who had headed to Shanghai (China) for an exposure trip in preparation for the Asian Games, remained stranded out there without any knowledge of what the government's future decision was going to be.

Eventually, good news (for some) trickled in yesterday when it was confirmed that the five threatened sporting disciplines - including basketball - have been cleared as part of India's final contingent for Korea. And if you think that the decision was made because the government suddenly had a change of heart about the importance of promoting these sports, you would be wrong: the decision was made because India were warned by the Asian Games organizing committee that they would have to pay a heavy penalty if the basketball, football, etc teams backed out now after previously confirming their participation and even being drawn into groups at the tournament.

The 2014 Asian Games basketball tournament is scheduled from September 20 to October 4. India's Men are among the 16 participating teams and have been drawn in Preliminary Group B with Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Palestine. India's Women are among 11 participating teams and have been seeded to the final round with China, South Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Thailand.

This tournament is incredibly crucial for Indian basketball. The Men's team is coming off a memorable performance at the FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan (China) in July where they turned heads with their improved performances and even scored a memorable win over Asia's top team, China. India's women's side haven't been too shabby either; India finished at a best-ever fifth place in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Women in Thailand, including their first-ever triumph in Level 1 of the tournament, an overtime win over Kazakhstan. For India to continue on the right track to improvement, it is important for our teams to get as much high-level international experience as possible. The Men and Women have been preparing for the Asian Games basketball tournament for several months, and it's a relief that the positive momentum that the teams had built up won't be halted due to SAI's silly claim that they didn't want "the athletes to cut a sorry figure" at Incheon, as Jiju Thomson said.

How are we ever going to improve and reach the top eight unless we play against as many top teams as possible? Denying Indian teams top level experience was only going to make our teams worse and thus - by the same SAI reasoning - decrease the chances of Indian participation in disciplines such as basketball even further.

Eventually, India's Asian Games contingent has been cut down to 679, featuring 516 athletes and 163 coaches/support staff. The Sports Minister Sonowal took the decision in consultation with Prime Mininster Narendra Modi.India will take part in a total of 28 disciplines, seven fewer than the previous Asian Games in Guangzhou (China) four years ago.

India had sent 609 athletes in a delegation of 933 to the Guangzhou Games in China four years ago where they participated in 35 disciplines and won 65 medals, including 14 gold.

Even though the result (for basketball) is a positive one, this is a worrying trend for India. If SAI or the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs only start thinking about sending teams who are going to be medal hopefuls, India's contingents for these events are going to get smaller and smaller. The basketball teams were finally cleared this time because of a fear of the penalty: but what if, in the 2018 Asian Games, the government doesn't register the participating of basketball, football, and similar sports in the first place so to skip the penalty altogether? Jiji Thompson had said that, "We want to send people with a realistic chance of winning medals since it's the country's pride that is at stake." This is what I say: Dear Mr. Thompson, the country's pride isn't just about winning medals, it's about competing with pride. Which is what our athletes always do.

After qualifying for the tournament for the first time in 28 years, India went winless at the basketball tournament at Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010, finishing 0-5 and 0-3 in the Men's and Women's tournament's respectively. China are both the Men's and Women's reigning basketball champs at the Asian Games.

FIBA to review basketball headgear rule following pressure from BFI, #LetSikhsPlay, & more

Let's take a moment to step back, take a deep breath, and marvel at the power of the internet. Less than two weeks ago, I wrote a post detailing how the governing body of basketball in the planet - FIBA - forced a rule upon India's Sikh basketball players to play at the FIBA Asia Cup in China without their turbans. While the players complied with the rules and played for the pride of their country, there was worldwide outrage, led by significant pressure by followers on the internet and specifically social media.

And the pressure from all angles jabbing at FIBA has finally brought some real results: earlier today, FIBA announced that their Central Board will soon review their 'no headgear' rule after a formal request to do so by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) at the FIBA Asia Congress a few days ago.

This is the first step to what detractors of the rule hope will eventually lead FIBA to allow players like Sikhs (who wear turbans) or muslims (who wear hijab) to keep their headgear on while playing basketball in FIBA/international basketball competitions. A FIBA press release today announced that "FIBA's Central Board, which is ultimately responsible for changes to the Official Basketball Rules, will review these requests and decide how to proceed in the best interest of the sport and of its 214 members." The Central Board is set to meet at the FIBA World Congress on 28-29 August in Sevilla, Spain during the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

FIBA's decision to review this rule will be seen as the appropriate step by many, including the BFI, who made the formal request to FIBA. The Sikh community and the thousands of others who support their cause - led by SALDEF and others - did an immense job at promoting '#LetSikhsPlay' on social media to protest against FIBA and asked for the international basketball federation to show the same request that the NCAA and other basketball bodies around the world have shown to players who wear turbans or other headgear for various reasons. India's Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal weighed in on the controversy, declaring that he was "shocked and outraged" at FIBA as he extended his protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Even United States congressmen got into the act and asked FIBA for a change in what they called a 'discriminatory policy'.

But most importantly, this review will come as a relief to players like Amjyot Singh and Amrit Pal Singh, two of India's most talented basketball players who were instrumental in the team's wondrous performances at the FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan. Until two weeks ago, both players had freely played with their turbans on in FIBA tournaments and other basketball competitions. As Sikhs who hold the symbolism of their headgear very closely to their identity and their religion, they had both expressed sadness at the implementation of FIBA's rule. And yet, they played on after being forced to tie their hair back by rubber bands or other hair bands through the course of the tournament.

The 214 members of FIBA now hold the key to a sensible and happy end to this conflict. Basketball shouldn't discriminate on basis of harmless cultural insignia like turbans or hijab. And the end of the 'No Headgear' rule will bring smiles to the faces of not just India's Sikh players but also Muslim players who have clashed with FIBA in the past over this.

Article 4.4.2 of FIBA’s Official Basketball Rules states, "Players shall not wear equipment (objects) that may cause injury to other players," a list that includes headgear like turbans, hijab, etc. FIBA claims that the rule was made to observe safety on the basketball court and uniformity of equipment within a team and currently, players are only allowed to wear headbands no wider than five centimetres in order to hold back hair and sweat.

Bizzarely, this is a 10-year-old rule, but FIBA only decided to start strictly implementing it recently and it was only imposed on Team India two weeks ago. I first reported the story on this blog days after India's first game against Japan at the FIBA Asia Cup when Amjyot and Amrit Pal were forced to take off their turbans and wait a couple of minutes after the game began before checking in. India's Head Coach Scott Flemming claimed that a misunderstanding with FIBA officials led to this last minute disturbance, which of course had adverse effects on the concentration levels of the entire squad.

While #LetSikhsPlay quickly got the wheels of protest in motion, India's own mainstream news factory typically reacted much later to this news, after India had returned back home from the tournament in China. The reaction eventually led to BFI's formal request against this ruling, but looking ahead, it will be the online pressure and the power of the internet directed that FIBA itself that could perhaps convince the ruling basketball body's voting members to rescind or edit Article 4.4.2.

The saddest part of this whole controversy? The outrage has pretty much overshadowed Team India's brilliant play at the FIBA Asia Cup, where - led by Coach Flemming - they defeated China for the first time in history in perhaps their greatest ever basketball victory and gave a tougher than expected fight to Asian giants such as Iran and the Philippines. The Indian media reacted to the negative news much fervently than the positive one. And unfortunately, Indian basketball's shining moment was portrayed by our mainstream media more as a silver lining around the dark cloud of FIBA controversy rather than the other way around.

The fight isn't over yet, but at least, there are positive signs that FIBA are willing to listen to the outcry of Indian, Sikh, and everyone else who supports this cause around the world. Hopefully, common-sense prevails over rudimentary thinking, and we can get back to basketball instead of worrying about whether a little bit of cloth covering someone's head could ever be a "threat". Especially if that bit of cloth has such a deep-lying significance to the culture and religion of the targeted individuals. The rest of the world is catching up with multiculturalism; it's time FIBA did, too.