Righting the Future of Indian Basketball

“I’m so happy for these players. And I’m so happy for the country of India. I’ve coached for 32 years in the USA, and the only reason I came here – win or lose – was to make a difference in the lives of these players.” -Scott Flemming, former coach of the Indian national team, after "the young cagers" historic victory over China. Flemming was recently forced to depart due to instability in Indian Basketball.

The ambitions of Indian basketball thwarted once again.

Basketball has a long history in India dating back to the 1930's with the inception of the first national team; however In the past 10 years, the sport has seen an exponential rise in popularity, fueled in part by the NBA's increasing involvement and interest in the country as an emerging market.

But thus far India has been slow in managing the surge, at times outright hindering its progress. To facilitate the growth and development of the sport, the Indian government created the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) in 1950 with the hope of bringing India to the world stage. But as is the case so often in Indian politics, power and greed soon became the priority and basketball was left on the back burner. The BFI, now split between two factions vying for control of the organization has been ordered to cease all official activity and abstain from international play As the sport finds itself in the midst of yet another "hold", I think it's time we ask: who are these sanctions actually hurting?

The answer is quite simply- all of us. Everyone who calls themselves an Indian is held at a loss, for when we hold back our nation's best, the nation as a whole suffers. When the Indian national cricket team bested Sri Lanka in 2011, it wasn't a victory for the BCCI. It was a victory for India. The country gleamed so vibrantly, its shine was visible from my home in the US, and as much I had tried my whole life to be "American", on April 2, 2011 I had never been more proud to be Indian.

The World cup victory stands as a testament to the triumph of the un-impeded Indian spirit and our emergence as a world force in the arena of international sports and beyond. But what if the BCCI had "frozen" cricket activity for their own internal conflicts? What if our cricket team was told they could not participate in any competitions until the politicians sorted their differences? What if the pride of an entire nation was robbed for the actions of a few?

This is the unfortunate reality of Indian basketball at present. Countering their very purpose, the BFI has halted basketball and its progress across the board indefinitely and has kept our national athletes from competing and representing all of us in international competition. As they mettle in affairs they have little interest in, it is time for the BFI to realize that they are controlling forces greater than themselves.

The hold on Indian basketball is affecting the sport, the nation and its future.

The actions of the BFI are not only stunting the development of a nation, but they are directly opposing the very idea of sport. An idea that says regardless of where you come from, who your connections are, what your position is, if you have the drive and motivation to succeed, you will. This is ideal seems to have pervaded the BFI and is one that India needs now more than ever; to rob our citizens and youth of this hope is nothing less than a crime.

The time for change has come, and it has never been more apparent. It is time for the BFI and India as a whole to recognize and seek the positive contributions that sports bring to a society. It's time for those interested in sports and its progression to head our national initiatives, and it's time we leave the politics in its realm. The time for Indian basketball is now.

As India's expansion and growth continues to take us into a new age, it's important that we move in the right direction, for it will be our decisions that determine the quality of India's future. It is OUR responsibility as citizens of the world's largest democracy to make sure our government is working in our interest, and when it is not, it is OUR responsibility to hold them accountable. How long will we choose to let this go on?