Page 24 - The Indian EYE 072922

NORTH AMERICAN Newsline JULY 29, 2022 | The Indian Eye 24

12 Indian Basketball Players Make History as

they Compete for $1 million on ESPN Friday

OUR BUREAU
New York, NY
or the FIRST TIME in inter-
national sports history, 12 Indi-
Fan-origin athletes from around
the globe will compete in the highest
stakes basketball tournament in the
world.
India Rising is fondly nicknamed
“The Avengers of Brown Basket-
ball” by co-founder, former assis-
tant coach of the NBA’s Sacramento
Kings and current Egyptian nation-
al team head coach Roy Rana. The
team will be one of 64 competing in
The Basketball Tournament (TBT),
a single-elimination, eight-region
competition that tips off on Friday,
June 22 at 7 p.m. EST in Syracuse,
NY, on ESPN, who will award the
2022 champion $1 million.
“I spent most of my life pray-
ing, waiting, hoping, dreaming to see
people who looked like me on these
sports channels, and I’m done wait-
ing,” said Gautam Kapur, co-founder
and general manager of India Rising Varun Ram (left) and teammate Inderbir Gill at India Rising training camp (Photo credit India Rising)
and former strategy manager at the
NBA. “Growing up, I was always tall
and naturally gravitated to basket-
ball, but didn’t really have any role
models who looked like me. Now,
there are more than 60 profession-
al, Indian-origin ballers worldwide,
and nobody knows they exist. India
Rising, the new home for brown ath-
letes, aims to change that.”
“There are a lot of talented guys
on this team, and this is only the be-
ginning,” said Josh Sharma, India
Rising’s seven-foot forward and for-
mer Stanford University Cardinal.
“So, I think this is going to be that
stepping stone for not only every-
body on the team but the next gen-
eration of Indian ballers, so that the
world recognizes the talent coming
out of our community.”
This historic All-Star roster rep-
resents a diverse pool of talent from
all corners of the world, including Baljyot Judge of Brampton, Canada, looks on for India Rising (Photo credit India Rising)
the NBA, G League, NBL (England,
Australia), USports (Canada), 3x3
Leagues and multiple FIBA national India Rising COO. “We’re creating feat stereotypes, but it helps the nar- India Rising is currently fund-
teams. a brotherhood and that goes beyond rative tremendously. We want to start raising to shoot a documentary series
“Winning games is our main pri- the game of basketball. Our third, a cultural movement that if you’re about their journey at the TBT, as
ority right now, and secondly, it’s cre- and most important, goal is defeating Indian and looking to move into ath- well as the larger story of brown ath-
ating a sense of community for (Indi- cultural stereotypes. You don’t even letics, there’s a home for you to play letes in the international basketball
an) athletes,” said Navin Ramharak, need to necessarily win games to de- and a community for you to belong.” ecosystem.

www.TheIndianEYE.com