The Game suited the agile
and powerful built Punjabis who came out triumphant in the first Championship
on All India basis, held in New Delhi in 1934 under auspicious of Indian
Olympic Association. Before joining the Championship, a Regular Basketball
Association had been formed with G.L. Sayal as its Hony. Secretary,
Punjab
continued to dominate this game and won the top honours, when the next
Championship was held at Lahore in 1936. The Success was repeated at
Patiala in 1944. Mr. H.B.S. richie, an ardent lover of the game revived
Punjab Basketball Association after partition with himself as its Secretary
and Mr. G.D. Sondhi (the Founder of the Asian Games) as its President.
Despite various handicaps the Association continued to send its teams
to the National Championship held at Lucknow 1948 and Bombay 1950. From
1951 onwards the basketball Federation of India decided to make the Championship
an annual affair. Punjab once again established its superiority and won
the Championship held at Ludhiana that year. As a result of this
Punjab
players, Ranbir Chopra Dharampal Chum, Davinder and Gur Parshad were
selected to represent India in the 1st Asian Games in 1951. Ranbir Chopra
had the distinction to lead the Indian Team. Mr. Ashwani Kumar was elected
President of the Basketball Association in 1952 and Mr. R.D. Sayal Became
its Secretary, taking over from Mr. H.B.S. Richie, who by then had settled
down in Delhi. The Association has since been sending teams
regularly
for participation in National championships. During the period,
Punjab
produced some brilliant players and organisers of national
standard.
in 1953, when an Indian Basketball Team was sent to Pakistan, Narinder
Singh and Om Parkash were selected as its members and Mr. R.D. Sayal,
the Manager. The National Teams of 1954 and 1955 had a good numbers of
players from Punjab.
These were :-
1954 - Manjit Singh, Om Parkash,
Dharam Paul & Rameshwar Lal,
1955 - Manjit Singh, Om Parkash.
The
Secretary ship of the Association changed hands in 1958,
when Mr. Ranbir Chopra was elected in place of Sh. R.D. Sayal. Keen interest
was created in 1958, when Mr. Ashwini Kumar IPS, President of the National Basketball
Assoc., decided to hold the National Basketball Champion-ship at Patiala. The
high standard of organisation set at Patiala has not since been touched at
any other centre. The All star teams f India, selected by the federation in
1956-57 included Om Parkash, Manjit Singh and Surinder Puri, in 1957-58 Manjit
Singh, in 1958-59 Manjit Singh, in 1959-60, Gurdas Ram, Sardari Lal and Surinder
Puri. In 1959, Mr. Ranbir Chopra was elected as Vice-President of the Basketball
Federation of India. In 1960-61, Gurdas Ram of Punjab was selected as a member
of All India Team and in 1961-62, Sardari Lal & Mr. Joginder Singh Jogi
got the distinctions. Mr. Ranbir Chopra was the Coach of the Indian Team, which
participated in the Quadrangular Tournament in Lahore in 1962. Gurdas Ram,
Joginder Jogi, Manmohan Singh and Pritam Singh were also the member of the
Indian Team to the Asian Basketball Championship. Manmohan Singh of Ludhiana
was selected for several other international meets and was honoured with the
Arjuna Award. Miss Gurpreet Bajwa was the Vice-Captain of the India Team, which
participated in the Asian Championship, held at Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Ranbir Chopra
resigned from the Secretary ship in 1963 and Mr. Rajinder Bhanot took over the
charge of Secretary for a number of years, Kapurthala was the nursery of Basketball
players in Punjab. As soon as H. R.D. Trikha took over the charge of Distt.
Basketball Association, Ludhiana, his teams made a history in the Punjab Basketball
Association and he produced a number of International and All Star Players
in Men, Boys as well as in Women Section. Sh. R.D. Sayal and Sh. Amarjit Singh
were two International Referees in Punjab State. Punjab Basketball story of
that period will not be complete without mentioning the names of some enthusiast
lovers of the game. They are Sh. Kishore Lal Khanna, Sh. Milkhi Ram, Rattan,
Mr. D.C. Bhala, Sh. Om Parkash Mehra and Sh. R.D. Trikha. From Rajinder Bhannot,
Sh. Gulab Singh Chaudhary took over the charge as Secretary, for a year. After
bifurcation of Punjab and Haryana, Sh. Gulab Singh Chaudhry handed over the
charge to Sh. Mohinder Singh. After a years time, he left for a foreign country
on coaching assignment. Sh. R.D. Trikha took over the charge of Secretary and
Sh. J.S. Bawa, IPS, Director Vigilance, Punjab as its President. Sh. Bawa left
for higher studies for America after holding the office for two years and had
handed over the charge to Sh. Krishan Kumar, IPS. A fresh election of office
bearers was held and Sh. K.S. Bains, IAS, was elected President and Sh. R.D.
Trikha as Hony. Secretary of Punjab Basketball Association.
The 70s saw the emergence of Anil Punj and Hari Singh Sidhu,
both of whom played for India in the ABC as well as other internationals. Anil
Punj brought more honour to Punjab when he was awarded the Arjuna Award. In
1978, Sh. Avinash Maini was elected the Secretary of the Punjab Basketball
Association. His tenure saw the emergence of a group of highly talented women
player Suman Sharma, Sumati Dhawan, Suman Sood, Sarita Shamra, Ashi Sharma,
Gurimran Laddi, Kiranjit Bittu, Kulwinder Kang, Kawaljit Baath, Rajinder Kaur
and Rimpy Dhillon. They swept Punjab to 6 consecutive triumphs in the Nationals
from 1978 to 1983 The team was runner-up in 1984 and winner again in 1987.
All the above mentioned represented India in the Asian Basketball Championships
and 6 of them played in the Asian Games too. Suman Sharma and Kawaljit Baath
were the most outstanding Indian women players of the 1980s and Suman Sharma
became the first woman to be honoured with Arjuna Award. Among the men, Paramdeep
Singh Teja, Baldev Singh, Mandar Singh, Sajjan Singh Cheema, Kuldeep Singh
Cheema, Sham Lal, Ajit Kumar and Amritpal Singh were the outstanding players
of the 80s. Paramdeep and Baldev were members of the first Indian Team to play
in the Olympics in 1980 at Moscow. Mandar Singh Participated in the 1982 Asian
Games and all the rest in various ABC and international test matches. The Men's
team won the National Title in 1984 at Cuttack. Another first was achieved
by Sh. Joginder Jogi who was appointed as the coach of the Indian women's team.
He had that position for several years. During those years the junior boys
and girls also made a mark on the national scene. In 1981, there were fresh
election to the State Association and Sh. Rajdeep Singh Gill, IPS took over
as President with Sh. Teja Singh Dhaliwal as the Secretary. Since then the
game has been spread out all over the state specially in the rural areas. The
old nurseries of Kapurthala, Ludhiana and Kot Kapura for Men and Amritsar and Jalandhar for women continue to hold good but new centres have sprung up in
Ropar, Patiala, Bathinda etc. The Association is more demotivated and every
official and coach are contributing their best. The Men's teams has improved
in a big way. The team won the National Title in 1994 at Ludhiana, 1995 at
Jamshedpur and were second in 1996 at Calcutta. They again emerged Champions
in 1997 at Jaipur and also annexed the National Games Title at Bangalore and
Ludhiana in 2001. Parminder (Sr.), Parminder Singh (Jr.), Vipan Kumar, Gagnesh
Kumar and Tejinderjit Singh are regular members of the National Team for ABCs
as well as internationals. Parminder Singh (Sr.) is the current national captain.
The women have not done as well as in the 80s but still figured
in 5 finals in the nationals, losing each time to the railways. Sadly due to
non-availability of employment in the state for women, the talent is regularly
being picked up by the Railways thus weakening the state team. Harpreet Matta,
Rajwant Kaur, Parminder jit Kaur and Prabhjot Kaur Gill have been the Punjab
women in the national teams of the 1990s. The Juniors and Sub-Junior teams
have improved their position and won immensely national titles in the 1990s.
Sh. Jaswinder Singh, IPS, Sh. Yurinder Singh, PPS, Sh. Dinkar Gupta, IPS, Sh.
Satish Sharma, IPS, Manpreet Singh Badal and Sh. Sajjan Singh Cheema have been
the main promoters and developers of the game. Sh. Yashvir Walia and Sh. Buta
Ram of Kapurthala are international umpires of repute and thus a pride for
Punjab. The outstanding organisers of the state in the last decade have been
Sh. Teja Singh, Sh. Yashvir Walia, Sh. Darshan Singh Sandhu, Sh. P.S. Noorpuri,
Sh. Gurjant Singh, Sh. B.M. Bali, Sh. R.D. Singh and Sh. Balkar Singh Brar.
The coaches who have been played a major role in the preparation of Punjab
teams have been Sh. Joginder Jogi, Sh. Paramdeep Singh Teja, Sh. Anil Punj,
Sh. Satish Kumar, Sh. R.D. Singh, Sh. Manjit Singh, Sh. Gurdas Ram, Sh. Davinder
Singh, Sh. Mandeep Singh, Sh. Kanwarjit Singh, Sh. Ramesh Kailley and Dr.
Subramanian. Punjab
Basketball started from mud courts in the 1930, got its first brick court at
Kapurthala and Ludhiana in the 1950s and got it first cemented court in 1969
in Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, constructed its first exclusive Basketball
Stadium (3 courts-all flood lit with fiber glass boards) in G.N. Sports Complex
in 1982 and finally got its own Indoor Basketball Stadium at Ludhiana in 2001.
Punjab has great talent while the physique and temperament of its people is
ideal for Basketball. What is required for the future is sponsorship, employment
for women and more indoor stadiums to put Punjab on the Asian Map.
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