Indian American Heritage Night at Philadelphia: 76ers honour Indian community for second consecutive year

Going back to the 2014-15 season, the Philadelphia 76ers' confounding 'process' has handed them one of the worst stretches in NBA history. Philly won 18 games last season, and have amassed just five wins so far in 2015-16, to give themselves a combined record of 23-119 (19 percent) in the past 15 months.

Fortunately, however, the 76ers have found their one, random lucky charm: the Indian community.

For the second consecutive season, the Philadelphia 76ers hosted Indian American Heritage Night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and for the second consecutive season, they came out with a victory. On Saturday, January 16, the 76ers blew out the Portland Trail Blazers 114-89 for the best win of their season and improve to 2/2 (100 percent) on Indian nights. Must be something in those pregame samosas.

Before the game, the Indian community and 76ers PR honoured Indian Americans in sports at the Hall of Fame room at the Wells Fargo Center. Notably, Kevin Negandhi, an anchor for ESPN SportsCenter in the USA and Crossover Basketball and Scholars Academy, a non-profit who have been coming to Chennai for several years to promote education and values through basketball among children from lower-economic households. Crossover were represented by their Founder, Shaun Jayachandran, and Shilpa Tumalla of Harvard, the only Indian-origin women player playing in the NCAA Division 1. Both Negandhi and Team Crossover were felicitated mid-court at the game on Saturday.

Live from the Wells Fargo Center on Indian-American Heritage Night: 76ers vs Trail Blazers #wellsfargocenter #IndianAmericanHeritageNight #philadelphia #philadelphia76ers #portlandtrailblazers

A photo posted by Karan Madhok (@karanmadhok) on Jan 16, 2016 at 5:01pm PST

I was fortunate enough to be invited to this year's Indian American Heritage Night, and made my first trip to Philadelphia for this memorable event. The event featured Bollywood music bumping outside the entrances to the court, cultural exhibits around the arena, special Indian themed 76ers T-shirts provided to the guests, and a performances by Philadelphia-based dance company Aatma. Other dignitaries like Raj Mukherjee, Pryia Roy, NBA Senior Director of Basketball Operations-International Troy Justice, Krossover founder Vasu Kulkarni, and more were present to celebrate Indian American heritage.

Back to the basketball, however: the 76ers started hot, and stayed hot, making the most of Portland's second night of a road back-to-back. Jahlil Okafor, the rookie poster-boy of the struggling team, dominated with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the win. A total of five Philly players scored in double digits and the 76ers now boast of a perfect record with me in attendance (1/1).

Indian-origin girls Sophia Bhasin & Shilpa Tummala become High-School Basketball stars in US

They live in different states and are two amongst thousands and thousands of high-school basketball stars in the USA, but Sophia Bhasin of Cajon High School (San Bernardino, California) and Shilpa Tummala of St. Mary's High School (Phoenix, Arizona) have a genealogical keeping them parallel: they are both of Indian-origin. The two young players have been making waves in the High-School girls basketball circuit in America and have both earned impressive Division I basketball scholarships for college.

Bhasin was born in Punjab, India, and moved to the US when she was 8 years old. She didn't start playing basketball until the 7th grade, but has since developed into a star at Cajun in California. The 5-foot-7 guard has been an important contributor to a side with a 32-3 record that finished fourth in the state of California. She has been a scoring and triple-double threat for her side, averaging 25.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 4.7 steals per game for her team.

Then there's 5-11 Tummala, who was born in Phoenix but her parents moved to America from Andhra Pradesh in India. Tummala is a great inside-outside threat who has worked hard for St. Mary's in Arizona to now find herself ranked at #68 by ESPN HoopGurlz in girls basketball across the US.

Both these young girls have broken traditional barriers set by the Indian cultural upbringing as well as expectations of basketball in the US, where Indian-origin players rarely make a mark. As a reward, both have committed to scholarships to Division-I basketball programmes at major colleges in the US: Sophia Bhasin will be attending Long Island University in New York while Shilpa Tummala has committed to attend the prestigious Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Glenn Nelson of ESPN wrote a special feature on the two Indian-origin girls. Here are some excerpts:

"Honestly, it wasn't very common for an Indian girl to be so actively involved in sports," Tummala said via email. "The fact that I played basketball competitively and devoted so much of my time to basketball shocked many people in my community."

"I do have family back in India," Tummala said. "And yes, most of them know that I am going to play basketball in college. They seem to enjoy the fact that I am going to Harvard next year to play basketball. But, I believe, the 'Harvard' part is what really excites them as they don't know much about my basketball career in America."
Both Tummala and Bhasin have fathers who became active supporters of their basketball pursuits. Bhasin's twin brother, Ranjit, was who dragged her into the sport. She became a quick study, mastering for example the advanced skill of creating jump shots off the dribble, an attribute that is the foundation of her 25.2-point scoring average this season.

Bhasin is a dual citizen of both India and the USA. In a story published for San Bernandino's 'The Sun', Bhasin said that she would be open to representing either country. Let's just hope she chooses us!

Here are excerpts from 'The Sun' article on Sophia Bhasin, written by Pete Marshall:

"It wasn't that hard (moving to the U.S.) because I had been here before and everyone has to learn English in India," Bhasin said.

Bhasin, who now has dual citizenship in India and the U.S., knows she is part of two worlds that don't often cross paths. Not only is she from India but she is a Sikh and attends temple on Sundays in Riverside.
"I don't really consider myself a pioneer," she said. "But I'll always be part of the India community. All of my dad's friends come out and my friends from temple come out and watch me play."
Her father, V.P., who owns businesses in San Bernardino and Upland, was a cricket player as a youth before his career was cut short by a knee injury. He not only is at games but frequently shows up to watch Cajon practice.
"I really wanted to encourage her to play basketball, which she really liked," V.P. said in a phone interview.

"The women's basketball team from India is not very good," V.P. said. "They didn't even qualify for the Olympics (this year). I'd love to see Sophie play for India."
"I'd love to be able to play for India or America," she said. "I'd be proud of myself as a dual citizen."

Wishing both these girls the best of luck in hoops... Even if they don't contribute to basketball in India, I'll be proud to see them succeed as Indians abroad!