Awaiting a ‘golden era’

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Two of the Indian team members have just landed in the State from Taiwan after taking part in the 34th William Jones Basketball Cup at Taiwan. Both, hoopster P.S. Jeena and Indian team assistant coach Prem Kumar, are optimistic about the growth of basketball in India.

“A golden era is at hand for the Indian basketball. The game’s popularity and quality of the players are slowly going up. With regular camps being held as part of the tournaments, basketball players are sure to get a major boost in the coming years,” says Prem Kumar.

Though India finished fourth in the tourney held in Taipei, Indian players equalled the players from USA, JAPAN and Taiwan in their techniques, he stressed.

“Indians played well in the tournament. Though we were held back in the physical qualities, the other skills, mainly techniques, have improved. The physical attributes such as speed, endurance, and jumping will still have to be bettered to get a winning form for the team,” he says.

”This has to be done through regular camps and bringing up a player from the earlier age, something which we did not do before a couple of years ago. But, a golden era of opportunity is waiting for hoopsters with the kind of training we are receiving now,” he says.

Meanwhile, hoopster P.S. Jeena, who played her first senior nationals, says the foreign players bettered Indians mainly in speed. “We were able to come up with a good performance. If we had done a little better, we could have grabbed the third place,” she says.

She did well by scoring 24 points against the Taipei team and also scored a decent number of points against other teams. “The experience of playing with the likes of Geethu Anna Jose was great, and the tournament is surely a turning point in my career.

Geethu chechi supported me well with her advises and pointing out my drawbacks. She also became the top — scorer in the Indian squad,” says Jeena, a native of Wayanad. “Several youngsters are given chances in the national team and this is really helping us to learn more about the game,” she says.