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Indian team confident despite Shabbir's injury

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD JULY 4. India's campaign in the Middle-Asia qualifying tournament to be held in New Delhi next week, where the winner will qualify for the Asian Basketball Confederation championship, scheduled later this year, suffered a major blow with one of its frontline players and pivot, M.S. Shabbir Ahmed, pulling out with a knee injury.

This development has left the most experienced player, Parminder Singh Sr disappointed, who told The Hindu: "There is no doubt we will badly miss him for he has been a force of strength of late and played a key role in India winning the SAARC championship and finishing eighth in the last edition of ABC.''

Six teams, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh besides host, are in the fray and even if India loses a match it can be very costly.

The players however, are determined to rise to the occasion despite Shabbir Ahmed's injury. They had long, intensive training sessions and were particularly happy that they were put up at the venue itself, which ensured that there was no loss of time by way of travelling.

Essentially, the first three weeks of the camp, under the supervision of Ch. Ramesh (Hyderabad) and R. Ramar (Bangalore), focussed more on physical conditioning. Once the chief coach K.K. Chansoria took over the players were trained in the simulated match conditions with referees also joining them.

The emphasis was on long-range shooting, an area where there is scope for improvement and the players were happy at the end with the way things progressed. Both Gangesh Kumar and Sridhar are expected to perform well as shooters with support from Gopinath.

The brains-trust is entertaining thoughts on fielding Muralikrishna in place of Shabbir and he was duly paid extra attention by the chief coach in the last few days. It is also obvious that the under-19 players like Snehpal Singh and Shiva Kumar were made to realise the importance of the upcoming event and also the likelihood of a major contribution from them in India's gameplan. "Definitely, there is a lot of improvement amongst the junior players,'' said Parminder Singh.

That the mood is upbeat at the end of the camp is also a reflection on how the players enjoyed the means adopted by the chief coach to rectify any flaws in an individual's game. Every morning, there were review classes on the court. It is also pointed out that the Indians were basically taught to wriggle out of a crowded defence.

The decision of the Basketball Federation of India to recruit a foreign coach is also welcomed by most of the players. Parminder echoed the sentiments of his teammates, "It should work well for a foreign coach along with the Indians and it will always be an asset. Definitely, there will be some new things which we can learn.''

And, he also points out that it is time the players too are sent abroad for training as is done by China and Japan which invariably send their national teams to Europe or United States before the ABC. "That is the reason why South Korea, China, Japan and Philippines are such a force in the sport in Asia,'' he said.

That the Asians do not lag far behind if given the support is evident enough by the plain fact that two Chinese players are now playing in the world-famous National Basketball Association (NBA) League. It is interesting to note that even India's Parminder Singh got an offer way back in 1992 to play in the NBA's Lakers University but he had to decline because of the indifferent attitude of his bosses.

What has also pleased the hoopsters is that for the first time, they could train in truly, world-class facilities that have come up for a National Games and have been put to proper use even after the show.

Parminder Singh says that he played in five National Games winning two gold, two silver and a bronze for Punjab and never had he seen this sort of support to sports in any State. "This is without doubt the best stadium we have ever been, both in terms of training and accommodation facilities,'' he added.

The players are unanimous that unless the Indian team performs exceptionally well in international level in the coming months, the support-system could not be expected to be lively.

And, they are cautiously optimistic that the future is bright provided the results are there.

Whatever be the case, the Indian basketball team, after being given all-out support especially from the State Government, is determined to write a new script for the good by performing well and look for more support.

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