Former captain of Indian basketball team Jagdeep Singh Bains says that if Basketball in India needs to grow, there must be a professional league. The Ace basketballer has been an integral part of the Indian team, playing over 20 international tournaments, including the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and multiple Asian Basketball Championships.
Talking about the same he says, “Countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh have had professional leagues for the last 10 years but why has India not started a professional league? The only way to improve Basketball in India is if you have a professional league. With a professional league there come a lot of benefits like players get paid and are motivated to strive harder, which in turn improves competition and enhances the game.”
Adding further he said, “Once you have a professional league there is also a good medical staff, dietician, physios around players which help them keep fit. I am glad that after so many years India is finally getting their own pro 5×5 league. I hope that Elite Pro Basketball League will pave way for growth of the sport in the country. The way these guys are going about setting up the league, I am sure this will be the game changer for Indian basketball which is desperately needed.”
Jogging down his memory lane he recollects the time when he met NBA stars Yao Ming and Tony Parker at the NBA camp in 2004 in China. He elaborates, “It was a great experience for me, and I learnt a lot there, interacting with legends like Yao Ming and Tony Parker was surreal. Even though I didn’t know much English back then, but I understood the court language and we communicated through it. The major difference in our style of training and there is that, in India if you are tall they make you play post, but in NBA your all round game is trained which is what makes them a better overall player.”
