The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Robinson not to play for India, TN

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Tuesday, Dec 04, 2007
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Robinson not to play for India, TN

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Three years ago, he was the toast of the nation. A one-man scoring machine who helped India stun Asian giant South Korea in the FIBA Stankovic Cup basketball tournament in Taipei and during majors in the last few years, he carried the country’s hopes on his strong shoulders.

Today, S. Robinson, Indian basketball’s biggest star, is a bitter man.

The two-year ban imposed on him by the Tamil Nadu Basketball Association for missing the National championship’s State camp last December, has changed him in a big way.

“I’m not going to play for Tamil Nadu anymore. And I’ve also put a full stop to my international career,” said the 27-year-old former Indian captain who helped Tamil Nadu to five senior National titles.

“I’ve gone through so much in a last one year. Everybody has a saturation point… I’ve crossed that. From now on, I’ll just play for my club and institution,” he said.

Robinson sunk in 36 points — almost half the team’s total — in that Stankovic Cup stunner against South Korea, but he said, “basketball is not a one-man show. And time doesn’t stop for anyone.

“We need to change… when every country is changing, bringing in pro leagues, making the sport glamorous, why not we? We still play on outdoor cement courts and we don’t have a pro league though we’ve been talking about it for years. Ten years from now, I’m sure the situation will be the same. I’ve given up on Indian basketball,” Robinson said.

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