Evening to remember as KSBBA fetes former stars

Forty two former and current basketball players were felicitated by the Karnataka State Basketball Association at the Sree Kanteerava stadium on Saturday.

The function, held during Federation Cup basketball championship, was one for the ages as some of the finest basketball players to have represented Karnataka were rewarded for their achievements.

“The game has progressed a lot. I remember when we started we used to play on mud courts, then came clay courts and then there were cement courts. After a while there were wooden courts in Patiala, Delhi and Calcutta so it was a privilege to go and play there,” said K Rajagopal, who represented India between 1969 and 1970.

“Now there are wooden courts everywhere so it’s great for the game. The game has also become very physical and fast. It used to be very different back when I used to play in the 60s and the 70s,” he said.

While the two-time Indian national team representative felt so, G Dilip, the only Karnataka player to have represented India in the Olympics said the game may have changed but the basics remained untouched. “Now, things are very different. In fact, when I was playing the three-point rule was brought into effect.

It changed everything and the game has continued to evolve, but it’s at the end of the day the same game,”

Meanwhile, Indian men’s senior team coach Scott Flemming will conduct a clinic for children and the KSBBA has also decided to conduct an open-for-all three-point shooting competition for men and women as well as a slam dunk competition for men on Sunday.
The winners of the three-point competition will receive Rs 10,000 in each category while the victor in slam sunk will take home Rs 10,000 and the runner-up richer by Rs 7,000.

List of felicitated players: Men: Kadambi Rajgopal, SA Rangadev, R Jairaj, A Parthasarathy,
G Dilip, Selvakumar, R Rajan, Ravi Raju, BS Gautam, A Rajkumaran, J Murali Mohan, Austin D’Almeida, Umashankar C, Sanjay Raj R, Roshan, R Kaushal, Chandrappa, Dr Arvind SR, Sanath Kumar, Guruprakash, Bhaskar Babu, Latif SA, Sanjay Singh, Srinivas Naik, Karan Joshua.

Women: Pushpa Kuttanna, Nandina Basappa, Jayavanthi Shyam, Sonam Singh, Kruthika Laxman, Seeth Devaiah, Zarine, Pavithra, PU Navnita, Reshma Chengappa, Reshma Punith, Sagarika Shyam, Sneha Tiwari, Dechamma, Savitha.
Coaches: Srinivas Gowda, Captain Ramar P.