NBA comes hunting for talent in city

Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, November 22

The second leg of India’s first national basketball talent search programme — the ACG-NBA Jump — was held at Guru Nanak Stadium here yesterday. Satnam Singh, a trainee of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy and the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the NBA, had tipped-off the programme in Delhi last month.

As part of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and ACG Worldwide Group’s endeavor to make the gane popular in India, the programme, would provide basketball players from around the country the opportunity to develop their skills.

NBA India Managing Director, Yannick Colaco, said: “One top player from the ACG-NBA Jump programme will get an opportunity to attend an NBA Development League (NBA D-League) tryout in the United States. This programme is the next step in our continued commitment to grow the game of basketball in India.”

“With Sim Bhullar becoming the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA and Satnam Singh becoming the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the NBA, basketball playing youth in India have now relatable figures to look up to, and this programme will give them the opportunity of a direct route to professional ranks,” he said.

Karan Singh, Director, ACG, who accompanied Yannick, said the goal of the programme was to identify and hone untapped talent pool of basketball in India.

“We strongly believed that our partnership with NBA can create a solid platform for aspirants who are talented but do not have access to such platforms,” he said.