CHENNAI: There’s lots to like about Amritpal Singh. He’s humble, doesn’t talk too much and gets straight to the point. And he loves playing basketball. But when on court, he is a monster. Just like his ONGC teammates, who relish a good fight as an opportunity to put opponents in their place.
The best team in the country thrives on a physical game, and when there’s even a hint of a fightback from opposing teams, they just raise their game that much more to pull away. The team from Dehradun has not played at full pelt throughout their sojourn so far at the ARISE Steel Cup basketball tournament, but have won all their games comfortably.
Amritpal partly blames the heat. “It’s so hot here! After five minutes of a game, I feel worn out. Being sportspersons, we should be used to this, but I struggle at times,” he said. A trendsetter in many ways, thanks to his participation in the BJ Challenge Summer Series and the D League in Japan, the 24-year-old said Land of the Rising Sun was a wonderful experience. “Their courts are state of the art, while there was also heating during winter and cooling during summers inside the stadium. Other facilities and courts are also as good as can get,” he said.
The Amritsar lad, with fellow India international Amjyot Singh, were picked up first by Hyogo Impulse in the BJ Challenge Summer Series, which is Japan’s equivalent of the NBA. The duo impressed enough to be signed up by Tokyo Excellence, a D-League outfit.
Back home, basketball was scrapped at the last moment from the recently concluded South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong, and Amritpal felt it was a missed chance for Indians to play in front of their home fans. “I was not called up for the camp that was held before the event. But it was a missed opportunity for our players to play in front of home fans,” he noted.
At ONGC since 2012, he has been on probation for four years, and come this October, he should get his promotion. Asked about plans for the immediate future, Amritpal said his agent was looking at offers coming their way. “He will be analysing offers. The only way one can improve is by playing more outside India,” he said.
Results: Women: South Central Railways 61 (R Ramya 13, Gayathri 11, Divya 11) bt Arise Rising Star 50 (Avanti Vardhan 17, K Preethi 17); Southern Railways 56 (Raji Priyadarshini 14, P Amitha 10) bt Chhattisgarh 66 (Saranjeet Kaur 21, Riya Verma 21, Poonam Chathurvedi 10). Men: IOB 62 (Vineeth Mathew 14, Harish Korath 12) bt KSEB 51 (Shanshank Roy 15, Tony Mathew 11, Xavier Philip 10); ONGC 59 (Vishesh Briguvanshi 16) bt Income Tax 45 (Raghuram 10, Ramkumar 18); Indian Army 62 (Gopal Ram 19, V Das 10) bt Punjab 58 (Gurvinder Singh 15, Ranvir Singh 10). Central Railways 68 (Rakesh Sanghawan 17, Raj Kolbhar 10) lost to Vijaya Bank 72 (Arvind 20, Karthik 20).