Best 5 cagers for NBA event

The best five cagers in the 15-19 age group will represent the country...

The best five cagers in the 15-19 age group will represent the country — of the 50 chosen from 16 countries that form part of the Asian Zone — in the NBA’s (National Basketball Association) ‘Basketball without Borders’ programme.

The NBA will be conducting three such camps this year — Moscow (June 4-7), New Delhi (July 3-6) and Johannesburg (Sept 3-7) with India becoming the second country from the region to be chosen to host it. China — Beijing and Shanghai — is the other nation from the region to host the programme since it was conceived in 2001.

In fact, the city that will host the Summer Games this August is only second to Shanghai which hosted the event twice.

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Talking to mediapersons, Todd Jacobson, vice-president, community relations, NBA, said that they realised the potential of hosting such an event — fully funded by NBA — in the Capital and it would, apart from promoting the game, help in other spheres such as education and health. “Our initiative since 2001 has had the desired results and we hope the New Delhi event won’t be any different.”

During the four-day camp, the 50 boys from the region will be put through basketball drills and games with special attention given to skills. For this purpose, the NBA will have some of its current players and trained coaches to conduct the programme. “The idea of bringing in players will not only attract youngsters to the game but their presence with coaches will also arouse passion among them. Moreover, the players can perfectly fit into the role of mentors,” added Akash Jain, a Director with the NBA.

For the moment, though, the NBA has plans to induct only boys but will consider a similar programme for the girls in the future. As for the selection of boys, Jacobson said that it will be purely based on the data provided by FIBA and the national federation — the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) in our case.

The five-member NBA team also said while India have been given five slots, China get the most from the region because of the popularity of the game in that country. “It’s but natural for them to bag most slots,” said Jacobson.

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As for BFI, they are happy with the present five slots. But secretary-general Harish Sharma was not ruling out the possibility a couple of slots more in case the NBA team doesn’t find the required number from a few other countries. “It (five) is a good number to begin with,” said Sharma, who also had a separate meeting with FIBA president, who was here, to press India’s case.

The NBA members also said that India’s proposed launch of the professional league this year will be taken into account in furthering India’s cause. “We will definitely send our observers to watch the league for a feedback. And any subsequent quantum of assistance will depend on the success of the league,” said Jacobson.

The countries that fall in the Asian zone are: India, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Syria and the Netherlands.