BENGALURU: Anitha Paul Durai, in her 16-year career, has seen basketball fighting for existence in India. She is now captain of the senior Indian women’s team and has fought every battle India have had in those long years.
The recent was India’s bid to clinch Division A promotion in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup. Despite surrounded by teammates who were at least nine years younger to her, she stood out averaging 16.4 points and four assists in the campaign.
At the dusk of her career, she still fights on. This time in a new role — as assistant coach of the India U-16 girls’ team in the FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship. The objective is similar —to lead the girls to a Division A promotion.
Anitha believes guiding a team to success from the sidelines is way more challenging than playing on the court. It’s no slam dunk. “When you actually play, you can inspire your teammates by the way you play. They can adapt to your speed or skills while you run for the basket.
“But when you’re a coach, you cannot do everything on your own. You have to have patience, especially when you are working with an U-16 team. They are not matured enough,” Anitha said. “This is my first assignment and I’m working with a great coach in Zoran Visic. I’m learning a lot.”
Head coach Visic feels Anitha’s presence in the team is a big motivation for the girls. “Anitha is a very talented coach. I believe no coach can teach you better than the best player in the team. She certainly is the best player India got and her experience is a big boost for the girls. She can motivate them like no other,” the Serb said.On her first assignment, she has a tough task to win the Division B title.
India will face the likes of Malaysia and Kazakhstan, who could play spoilsport in Anitha’s dream coaching debut.
On Sunday, India faced Nepal in a Division B (Group A) match at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here. And Anitha’s inspiring presence really did matter. She shouted instructions from the coaching box as India thumped Nepal 106-37.
On a personal front, the Tamil Nadu and Railways shooting guard is yet to retire, though. She said, “I haven’t retired and I’m not going to so soon. My plan is to play in the Commonwealth Games next year. After that, I will think about retiring. For now, this is a one-time assignment which I am taking very seriously.”
Results: Division A: Group A: Australia 61 (Shyla Heal 10) bt New Zealand 43 (Charlisse Leger-Walker 13); South Korea 90 (Geumbi Na 14) bt Chinese Taipei 68 (Chia-Jung Lin 18). Group B: Japan 115 (Maika Mura 20) bt Thailand 37 (Yada Sriharaksa 14). China 141 (Wan Jiyuan 22) bt Hong Kong 32 (Nga Wing Law 11).
Division B: Group A: India 106 (Varsha Yadav 23) bt Nepal 37 (P Magar 11). Group B: Malaysia 130 (L Tan 15) bt Maldives 14.