Arjun Singh: Point Perfect

As a chubby young child, Arjun Singh got the nickname ‘Golu’, which literally translated, means 'Round One'. As he grew older though, he left the chubbiness and roundness behind him – but it was another round thing that caught his full attention.

The basketball.

From the looks of it, this new ‘Golu’ in Arjun’s life is likely to stick with him forever.

Fulfilling his potential as an explosive youth star, Arjun Singh has become one of the most respected and feared young players in India over the last few years. Still only 20 years of age, Arjun is already becoming a key ingredient of India’s senior national team. He has starred in several national and international tournaments already, and is looking to cement his position as India’s top choice at the point guard position in the future.

Following the footsteps of his older brother, former Indian international Amit Singh, the Varanasi-boy Arjun started playing basketball when he was just 11 years old. “My brother had a serious knee injury that ended his career early,” Arjun said, “I always liked the game and used to watch my brother playing so well and winning – I knew I had to make this game my future, too.”

Arjun began playing the game at the UP College basketball court in Varanasi, where his ascension as a basketball star mirrored another young player that started with him – Vishesh Bhriguvanshi. Arjun and Vishesh started off playing together at the same age, making it through to the UP Sub-Jr. team together, and then moving on to the Youth, Junior, and finally the Senior level. Arjun also followed Vishesh to Indian Railways, where the duo combined to make a devastating backcourt for Railways’ two of the last three years of National Championship victories.

Arjun’s first experience to a national side was when he was called up to play for the Junior FIBA Asian Basketball Championship (ABC) back in 2008. The youngster got his first exposure of playing internationally in Tehran. He followed this with another call-up when the team went to Kuwait for the Stancovic Cup.

Things started to get better for the youngster: Arjun, along with Vishesh, was part of the squad that won gold for India at the 1st Beach Games in Bali (Indonesia) at the 3-on-3 championship.

2010 was an up and down year for Golu: After playing for India in the South Asian Games in Dhaka, he went on to have his best performance to date for India as the Junior ABC in Yemen neared. A good ball-handling PG for his tall height, Arjun and the Indian Junior Team dominated opponents at the Middle Asia Zone Qualifying matches held at Bangalore. His performances gained him steady crowd support too, and when India headed to Yemen for the tournament in September, he announced his arrival at the Asian stage, finishing as India’s leading scorer in a tournament that was otherwise a disappointment for the talented young team.

“The ABC experience was great,” Arjun says, “This was the second time in this tournament for me and many of the other players. I was able to play more confidently this time. Plus our coach was Mr. Ram Kumar, who is also my coach at Indian Railways. With him on our side, I knew that the training for this tournament was going to much better.”

Unfortunately, Arjun faced a setback at this tournament: despite his good performances, he suffered an injury that kept him out of contention for India’s Sr. Team which went on to make the country’s first appearance in an Asian Games basketball tournament since 1982.

Arjun watched from home as India, after winning their grudge match against Afghanistan in their first game, went on to lose their next five matches against Qatar, Chinese Taipei, Iran, Philippines, and Japan. “We lost, but India played very well,” Arjun defended his fellow players, “The team lacked experience, but still played much above their level through stretches in many of the matches.”

Arjun’s injury kept him out of the team for the Super Kung Sheung Cup in Hong Kong too, but he chose the biggest domestic stage – the National Championship – to announce his much-awaited comeback to basketball. In his second year for Indian Railways, for whom he is the starting point guard, Arjun became a fan favourite at the tournament, wowing opponents and supporters alike with his improving abilities. Indian Railways went on to win their third straight National Championship gold, defeating their rivals, Services, in the Final, 74-62.

Arjun was in scorching-hot form in the final, scoring a game-high 27 points. Boasting an exciting line-up of Arjun, Vishesh, Gagan Deep Singh, Prakash Mishra, Yadivinder Singh, and Kiran Pal Singh, blazed through the tournament in style.

But there is one problem that plagues Arjun despite the domestic success: many of the successful Indian players continue to get caught up in an unhealthy cycle of winning big in domestic tournaments, and then, unprepared to handle better talent, India’s national team ends up suffering internationally. “We need more exposure against better international teams before major tournaments,” Arjun said, “The Men’s team had little exposure together between the South Asian Games in January and the Asian Games in December. We can’t improve if we just keep playing against each other at home.”

Still, Arjun remains optimistic about improvement, both for the Indian National team as well for his own game. “It will take time, but I think we are close to figuring things out,” he says, “We need to make a habit of playing and practicing together to become a stronger side. Once we can find the perfect combination of players in the team, we should be able to improve. Of course, all of us have to remain motivated and keep training harder.”

“I want to keep improving my game, too,” Arjun adds, “Right now, I’m a good passer of the ball and can be quick running the floor. But to hang with international opponents, I have a lot more work to do. I have to add more body weight to take on stronger opponents, as well as try and get faster.”

With a sunny future in basketball ahead of him, the boy known as Golu has come a long way at a young age. For now, his focus is on the next challenge ahead of him: the upcoming Savio Cup in Mumbai, where he will once again lead Indian Railways as the team’s premier feeder. Following that will be the Federation Cup and the basketball tournament at the National Games later in February. Railways doesn’t play in the National Games, but Arjun will be there: A highly touted player, he is wanted both by Punjab (where his current job posting is) and Jharkhand (who, as hosts, can call upon any player). His decision could well bolster one lucky side at the tournament.

Though the young star’s ambitions, clearly, lie strongly with the National side. “I want to keep representing my country,” he says, “India’s position is down right now, so I feel that it will be my responsibility in the future to help fulfill the shortcomings we face today.”

Indian Men's Basketball: Dream Team

India has sent several different Men's teams to international competitions over the past year. These have included the South Asian Games at Dhaka in January, the Asian Games at Guanzhou in November, and the Super Kung Sheung Cup at Hong Kong in December. Additionally, a talented bunch of Indian youngsters represented the country at the Junior FIBA Asia Championships at Yemen in September. Of course, many fans got a chance to watch their favourite players in action for their states/clubs at the National Championship that was held at New Delhi in December/January.

Now, with all these different squads, which have included several new omissions, players left out due to injury/behaviour reasons, or other changes, it is hard to decide what would be India's strongest Men's side.

Fear not: what I have decided to compile here is my personal favourite pick of Indian players. If I was India's coach/selector, this is the squad of 12 I would pick to represent the country in International competitions. I have tried to pick a good blend of players with different sizes and abilities that I feel will complement each other. Also, this team should be a good blend of youth and experience - seniors to help lead the squad, players in their prime, and youngsters to provide the right kind of energy and hunger.

My Indian Dream Team

Starting Five
PG: TJ Sahi
SG: Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Captain)
SF: Trideep Rai
PF: Jagdeep Singh
C: Yadivinder Singh
Bench
Hareesh Koroth
Dinesh CV
Dishant Shah
Arjun Singh
Amjyot Singh
Sambaji Kadam
Jai Ram Jat

As you may notice, I've picked players like Sahi and Kadam, who are now in exile from the national system, but I feel who are strong enough to still make a difference at the biggest stage.

Here are some players who I would like to give honourable mention to: S. Robinson, Kiran Pal Singh, Prakash Mishra, Eudrick Pereira, Bobby Singh, Sunil Rathee, Ajay Pratap Singh.

Over to you now: if you could pick your Indian Men's Dream Team, what would it be?

Indian Men and Women teams drawn for Asian Games Basketball

The 2010 Asian Games are a little more than a month away, and preparations for the Indian senior basketball teams at the competition have been going on in full swing in Chennai. The men's and women's national teams have also been blessed recently with two new American coaches Bill Harris and Tamika Raymond respectively to guide them into this crucial competition.

Now, the draw has been made: the draw was held at a ceremony in host city Guangzhou (China) on October 7th, draws were made in in eight sports, including Basketball, Water Polo, Handball, Sepak Takraw, Rugby, Football, Volleyball and Gymnastics (Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline).

And if you don't know what Sepak Takraw is, neither did I until about three seconds ago. Okay - I did know the game, I just didn't know what it was called. Sepak Takraw is "kick-volleyball", where you combine football and volleyball together.

Anyways, back to the hoops draws. 17 Men's teams will be participating - and the Men's draw is looking complicated. The better eight of these teams (China, Korea, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Qatar, Iran) have been placed into second round groups E and F. The rest of the team are spread across Groups A-D. The winners of Group A and C join Group E in the second round, and the winners of Group B and D join group F in the second round.

All good so far? Now, India is in Group D along with Afghanistan. If they win, they can move on to the next round to play Chinese Taipei, Jordan, Qatar, and Iran in group F. And it's not going to be a cakewalk, mind you, because the last time the Sr. Men's team were in competitive action at the South Asian Games, they lost to only one team (including the final): Afghanistan - who actually beat India twice in the competition.

The other teams in the men's pool are: Hong Kong, Kuwait, DPR Korea, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Mongolia.

The Women's pool in the tournament only has seven teams divided into two Groups. Indian Women are in Group X, along with China, Korea, and Thailand. Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Maldives are in the Group Y.

The 16th Asian Games will be held from November 12-27, 2010

Addicted to the Game: Vishesh Bhriguvanshi

An edited version of this article was first published in the August 2010 edition of All Sports Magazine. Here is the full version.

Two years ago, I walked into Vishesh Bhriguvanshi’s room for the first time. The experience was surreal on at least four levels.

Surreal because this room belonged to a 17-year-old boy who just might be the biggest prospect in Indian basketball. Surreal because the little room, with its creaky sofa/bed and flaky wall paint and dozens of LeBron James and Allen Iverson posters was as much the family’s living room (read: guest hospitality/chai offering area) as it was this 17-year-old’s bedroom. Surreal because, despite his accomplishments, Vishesh was a relative nobody, destined to a life of relative-nobodiness.

And it’s surreal to me now because, two years later, despite his continued accomplishments in the basketball world, few outside the basketball world even know/care if this world exists.

But very soon, it might just be the right time to start caring: Somewhere deafened behind the loud noises of the World Cup vuvezelas and the news/updates/criticisms from the CommonWealth Games and MS Dhoni’s “secret” wedding was a bit of sport news sure to get every basketball fan in India jumping and dunking in delight. To change the face of sports in the India, American sports management powerhouse IMG aligned with Reliance, which stands amongst the richest corporations in the world. One of their first moves? The announcement to delve into a 30-year-long deal with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). IMG-Reliance will assist to improve basketball facilities, provide training to young talent, and most importantly, help set up a professional basketball league in India, akin to the IPL or the National Basketball Association (NBA) from the US. It may take a few more years, but with fanfare sure to follow the growth of the sport in India, young talents in the country now have an opportunity to become the stars of the game in the future.

Vishesh, unsurprisingly, is looking forward to it.

Let’s go back two years again: Vishesh, which means unique or special, surely lived up to his name in the early days of 2008, when the NBA, surely the holy grail of all-that-is-great-and-importance-and-where-amazing-happens-etc of basketball, organised a Basketball Without Borders (BWB) – Asia camp in New Delhi. The camp featured over 40 of the most talented under-18s from dozens of countries around Asia and Oceania. Vishesh walked in as one of them, and he walked out after a few days as the Most Valuable Player of the camp’s ‘All Star Game’.

“I just kept working hard,” he had told me then, “Just kept playing and playing. 6-7 hours every day, I just love being on the court.”

It’s been more than two years since. I can still taste the chai and Marie biscuits that I was offered by his parents in that room and I can still remember those LeBron James posters.

LeBron was in a Cleveland Cavaliers #23 jersey then, but will be donning a Miami Heat #6 come next season. Vishesh has changed too, grown, yet somehow, remained the same. He went from being budding young star to national team captain in less than two years, leading the Indian national Men’s team, who are dubbed the ‘Young Cagers’ into the South Asian Games at Dhaka. But he is still the same in the manner with which he talks of his love for NBA basketball, hoping to copy their flashy plays, hoping to dunk on someone and ‘posterise’ them just like LeBron does. His game has changed, as he has evolved further and further into becoming an all-rounded player, and he has added to his CV back-to-back national championships with the Western Railways. But his work ethic is still the same, the same humble young man, the same kid who just wants to get on the court and satisfy his addiction for the game. Just keep playing basketball, all day.

Vishesh deflects every question I ask him about his extraordinary ability on the basketball court, and when I keep probing, he answers with a clichéd, “Just keep working hard” answer. He has said it so often in the past few years that I’m starting to believe the cliché. And he isn’t alone: everyone from the BFI secretary Harish Sharma to renowned American coaches who worked with the national team have had the same, clichéd-but-true words for the youngster: “hunger to learn”, “always wanting to get better”, “always working harder”.

Why do you work so hard? I ask him the most obvious, why-not? question of the day. “Basketball is my life,” he answers, “I still practice all the time, whenever I get time… 6-7 hours a day. The game has given me so much: a job, popularity, and gotten me all the way to the national team. I just respect the game, so I keep on practicing.”

Much further beyond the picturesque ghat and Ganga scenes in the Coffee Table books and the ringing of a thousand temple bells lies the real Varanasi – the Varanasi of nerdy university students, shady office buildings, lazy rickshaw-wallahs, broken roads, and awful traffic.

Probe even further into the holy city and you will find a city that passionately bleeds basketball. Over the past few decades, Varanasi has regularly churned out legends of the game on the national and the international level. The Indian Women’s team has been blessed by the talents of the four ‘Singh Sisters of Varanasi’ – Divya, Prashanti, Akanksha, and Pratima – who have been dominating the game for the better part of this past decade. Many national level players from the city have learnt their trade at the basketball courts of the Udai Pratap (UP) College, which has gained a reputation for becoming a factory for producing Indian hoop stars.

Vishesh is from those same courts. His father was a Biology teacher at the UP College, and when he was around 11, Vishesh started to discover the game for himself. As he grew up, his biggest role model was another Varanasi boy, Trideep Rai, whose incredible talent had made him into a regular fixture in the Indian starting squads and propelled him to captaining the side in several crucial tournaments. “Trideep Bhaiya,” Vishesh says affectionately, “He was the one that brought the game closer to me and so many others. He had a lot of experience and helped us practice hard, helped us play the right way.”

And soon came the national camp invitations, the championships, the selection. Sub-Junior. Junior. And after the BWB experience, Senior. Vishesh was the youngest player in the Young Cagers side that went to play in Kuwait in 2008, his first national team experience. “I didn’t get to play much,” he remembers, “But it was still a chance to have fun with the team, learn and improve my game.”

Like most other young sportsmen in India, one of the Vishesh’s first major hurdles started from home. “When I was younger and playing and improving, my family told me to focus on studies, ‘Basketball should be a hobby’, they said, But when I made it into the Indian team, and when I got a job with the government even before I turned 17, they started to believe that I had a future here and they encouraged me.”

It has already been a wild ride for the youngster who, unbelievably, is still in his last days as a teenager. He has won two National Championships with Western Railways. “We were an extraordinary team this year,” he speaks of his Railways squad, “It was a team of young players who were struggling before, but were able to improve slowly and find form at the right time.”

And the clichés continued – talking about team before self, refusing to highlight his own strengths.

He had done the same thing two years ago, so the only way for me to discover his skill-set was to watch him play. After the tea and biscuits, Vishesh and I headed out to the UP College court, where I decided to test his competitive spirit (and of course, my own) when I challenged him to a game. One on one, first to five points, uber-competitive journalist versus the country’s most talented youngster. Vishesh laughed, but when I insisted, he agreed.

I scored the first two points, leaving only a bemused smile on Vishesh’s face and an unblinking focus on mine. And suddenly, the pace of the game changed. Vishesh switched on his incredibly swift first step, beating me ragged for four straight points in a matter of seconds. Lay-ups, jump shots, rebounding and tipping in his own misses.

“He has a world of talent and is an unbelievably gifted player,” said Harish Sharma, the BFI secretary, “He has a great quality to control the ball, quick execution, and then finishing well around the basket.”

I could’ve done with this scouting report before, because Vishesh did all of the above, and more. I did manage one more jump-shot, but the game was over as quickly as it began. Another move from the top of the key, near the three-point line – fake shot, cross-over dribble, a blur passed by my left, three large strides to the basket, lay-up, game over.

“If he keeps focused off the court, and stays disciplined on it, he has a lot of potential,” Sharma had added, “He has the potential to make to the lower leagues in the USA, maybe even the NBA’s Development League (NBDL).”

Sharma believes that he has the god-given talents and the perfect physical ability to dominate the game. Vishesh is still nit-picky, pointing out how his jump-shot can be improved, and how he can hustle harder, how he can be better.

He will need to be, too. A basketball league in India is not far away, and Vishesh, along with thousands of other basketball players and fans are anxiously awaiting its development. “This is amazing news,” says Vishesh, “And if not the current crop of stars, then at least the future basketball players will be able to have a league of their own. We’ll be able to have top-level matches and involve players from different countries, which in turn will improve our own game.”

“A league like this will help in selling basketball to youngsters as media interest and broadcast coverage increases as well.”

Vishesh is still young, and if the dream of such is league is implemented as planned, he is on his way to becoming one of its stars. There are many others like him in the country, other young basketball players hungry to make their hobby into work, hungry to keep playing this addictive sport. They come from all over the country, from Varanasi to Bhopal to Indore to Chennai and Bangalore and Pune and New Delhi, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, and Mumbai. They have made something out of a sport that has been nothing in this country, and are on their way to having their skills noticed by a national audience.

And yet, what remains surreal is how Vishesh, like many of these other young boys and girls, loves to remain home. He loves his little living room and the LeBron posters and the labyrinthic Banarasi gullies and the UP college court.

“I am never more comfortable than when I’m playing basketball back in Varanasi, back with my friends and my family,” he says, and when I ask him the secret behind the town’s basketball pedigree, he answers: “There’s no secret! It’s just a good atmosphere to practice and play. We don’t do anything else but work hard, because it’s fun.”

Welcome to Vishesh’s world, a world soon to be exploding with a lot more fun and a lot more noise. Welcome to the surreal world of Indian basketball.

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.

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).

Players for National Training Camp Announced

From India Basket:

The Basketball Federation of India has released a list of 14 players for National training camp at Bengaluru from 9th January. Twelve from these would represent the National team at the South Asian Games, being held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) from 29th January to 8th February.

Players List:

1. Prakash Mishra (Indian Railways)
2. Vishesh Briguvanshi (Indian Railways)
3. Arjun Singh (Indian Railways)
4. Harpal Singh (Indian Railways)
5. Yadwinder Singh (Indian Railways)
6.Trideep Rai (Uttrakand)
7. Mihir Pandey (Tamil Nadu)
8. S. Robinson (Tamil Nadu)
9. C.V. Dinesh (Tamil Nadu)
10. Hareesh Koroth (Tamil Nadu)
11. Vineet Ravi Mathew (Tamil Nadu)
12. Talwinder Singh (Punjab)
13. Jagdeep Singh (Punjab)
14. Kiran Pal Singh (Chhattisgarh)

Nice to see my hometown representative Trideep Rai getting a call-up.