Grounded, astute Siddhesh Rajamuniasamy ready to spread his wings in basketball

A school kid’s life in India, more often than not, revolves around playing various sports, while the emphasis leans towards their academic commitments.

Siddhesh Rajamuniasamy’s early schooling was also on similar lines, shifting between football, badminton and athletics, while excelling in academics.

“When Siddhesh was at Vydehi School of Excellence, he was very fortunate. The sports events there gave him a huge platform,” mother Niraimathi tells DH. 

At a time when sports were just about “participation rather than winning”, it did not take long for Siddhesh’s athleticism to come to the fore, helping him stand out from other kids, which in turn, pushed him to lean towards taking sports seriously. 

“Siddhesh was tall for his age. During sports day, he won different competitions and was awarded the best athlete award.”

However, basketball was never a central theme in Siddhesh’s life. And then he met coach Abdul Ajies. From then on, basketball has become an integral part.  “I found Siddhesh when he was in grade one with high energy and great maturity, giving me hope that one day he will shine in basketball,” said Abdul. 

However, for a young Siddhesh, it was a little too much to take at the time. 

“When Abdul saw something in him, the training got really rigorous and he was put into professional practice. But he could not take it and then shifted towards football. Once Covid hit, he was completely off sports,” Niraimathi adds.

Having rekindled a bit of love for basketball, Siddhesh’s father Rajamuniasamy enrolled him at Pitch Academy and it did not take long for the compliments to come.

Siddhesh swiftly progressed and started to hog the limelight while he dribbled the ball on the court. That’s when he was introduced to Vimanapura Sports Club by the then Chrysalis High School sports co-ordinator Ganesh Selvaraj. 

Siddhesh was also lucky, Niraimathi says, that Captain GRL Prasad took him under his wing for extra guidance. And she recalls that conversation vividly. 

“For extra practice, Siddhesh was under Prasad at Lakshyan. To have an Indian coach help us, it took us by surprise. He also registered for a high-performance batch and that is when the career started to take off.

That is when everything changed. Vimanapura were crowned state champions and Siddhesh was awarded the MVP. Following an impressive showing, the Karnataka camp came calling and then he was picked for the State.

While the Dehradun nationals were a bit of a reality check, Siddhesh was selected for an assessment camp at the National Centre of Excellence in Ahmedabad by Sports Authority of India. 

And a few months later, he was in the All-Stars NBA juniors side, finishing as runners-up among 200 schools. While there has been a rapid rise, the dream does not end there. 

“The goal is to represent India at the highest level. The next goal is to win the nationals and the junior NBA and play for India in the U-16 category,” Siddhesh says. 

Siddhesh Rajamuniasamy