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On a fruitful mission
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Amenities in twin cities are not in any way less than those in many Asian nations
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PHOTO: G. KRIHSHNASWAMY
HATS OFF Brooks Meek and Mark Aranson.
They were here on a mission, to check out the prospects for basketball, the world's most popular sport perhaps after football. The duo of Mark Aronson and Brooks Meek touched down at Hyderabad one morning and left by the evening, but not before they made many notes on the Twin Cities, its environs and their suitability for the game of hoops and backboards.
Aronson is vice-president, Events and Attractions for the United States-based National Basketball Association (NBA) Entertainment stationed in New Jersey, while Meek is the NBA's Director for International Operations, posted in the Big Apple. Meek has played professional league basketball in Germany and Hong Kong.
Accompanied by Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) Commissioner Norman Swaroop Isaac, they first visited the Swarnandhra Indoor stadium at Gachibowli, which had hosted the senior national basketball championships a couple of years before. Later in the day, they had a long look at the Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy indoor stadium at Yousufguda.
"Two indoor stadia in a city shows a commitment to sports," said Aronson, who seemed quite impressed by what he saw. On how they compare with facilities back home, he said it would be more relevant to draw parallels with conditions in Asia. Amenities here were not in any way less than those in many other nations, Aronson said.
Most of the equipment they saw had been imported for the Afro Asian Games, including the Canadian Maple inter-locking wood flooring at both arenas. So were the balls and back-boards brought down from Europe.
Of cricket dominating the sports popularity charts, the duo seemed unperturbed. "We are not unaccustomed to vying with half a dozen popular sports in various countries and continents," said Aronson, implying perhaps there was only cricket to contend with for a place at the top. Their confidence was backed by the wide acceptance of the sport, not just in the Americas, but in Europe and Asia as well.
Meek felt India was middle of the pack among Asian teams, after examining TV footage of Indian teams and players, while being optimistic about their progress. He'd also watched Talwinder Singh and Jagdeep Singh in a `Basketball without Borders' programme in Beijing.
India was unique and had many things going in its favour. A governing body, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), was already in place as were pockets of interest prevalent in colleges, clubs and among youth. The equal percentage of men and women playing the game here was another plus as against other sports, where a skewed ratio had a deleterious effect.
On a fortnight's visit to India, the duo said the NBA was exploring a long-term strategy for development of the sport along with the BFI. As much as India was emerging as a huge market, so was there scope for the game's growth, they said.
A. JOSEPH ANTONY
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