HOOPSTER IN A ‘FOUL’ MOOD
Team Hamamatsu communicates in Punjabi on the court to give it ‘a little advantage’
Team Saskatoon’s Steve Sir is fouled by team Ljubljana’s Blaz Cresnar in front of the crowd gathered for the final game of the 3x3 FIBA World Tour Masters basketball tournament in the city on Sunday. The hometown team fell 21-14 to Ljubljana.
On the team list for the FIBA World Tour Masters that took place this weekend in Saskatoon, there are players representing leagues and countries from around the world.
But it’s Team Hamamatsu out of Japan that catches one’s eye as particularly unique.
The four players listed on the sheet for Hamamatsu come from around the world, but all have roots in the same country. And it’s not Japan.
“One of our team owners, he’s Indian, but he works with a lot of Japanese companies,” Hamamatsu player Inderbir Singh Gill said. “We kind of wanted to have the idea of Indian-origin players on our team, so that’s what we decided to do.”
The roster paints an interesting picture for the Japan-based team. Bikramjit Gill and Inderbir Gill are brothers from Toronto with heritage from India. Inderbir Singh Gill is from Washington, but has Indian roots. And Palpreet Singh Brar is an Indian national.
“It’s definitely different, but it’s kind of unique and cool at the same time,” Bikramjit Gill said. “I get to represent Canada, and India as well.”
Team Hamamatsu first gained success winning the 3x3 Premier League in Japan in 2016, and they are ranked ninth in the world according to a FIBA press release. It was that success which propelled them onto the world stage at last year’s World Tour Final, knocking out the reigning champions on the way to a second overall finish.
Most basketball players grew up learning the “standard” five-onfive game played in college and the NBA. But it’s not a simple transition from five-on-five to three-onthree for most players.
“This game is so much more physical ... those 10 minutes are the longest 10 minutes of your life,” Inderbir Singh said after Hamamatsu’s first game, a tough loss. “This is actually a man’s game, compared to the five-on-five,”
But the team is adamant they can do better. Or as Inderbir Singh Gill put it, “our goal wasn’t to get second.”
The team hasn’t been together long, either. Assembling for the first time last year, they’ve all become fast friends both on and off the court.
“The friendship and the brotherhood we’re building off the court is something we will have for the rest of our lives,” Inderbir Singh Gill said.
If you need proof, just look to their player profiles for the FIBA tournament. While most other teams list facts like the number of tournaments they’ve been in or an opposing player they think is toughest to guard, each Team Hamamatsu player is listed with their favourite song and a nickname.
It’s just one more way they have some fun together, even if they don’t often use the nicknames when they’re playing.
“When we’re on the court, we’re speaking Punjabi,” Bikramjit Gill said. “It’s kind of good for us because no one else knows what we’re saying, and it kind of gives us a little advantage.”
But all joking aside, the team is out here to compete and to win. There’s a little extra incentive for all the players involved in this game now, since 3x3 basketball was recently announced as a new event for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
And while the team might have their eyes on the Tokyo prize, being from different nationalities means they’d probably be opponents on an Olympic court if they get there. That’s one of the few unfortunate consequences of their unique team, they all agreed that playing against each other would not stop them from going out for the Olympics.
But after winning the Premier League in Japan, they’d be bound to have fans out to see them in Tokyo — and they’d get to compete in the country that gave them their start as big players in the 3x3 basketball world.
“(Japan) is kind of like our second home,” Inderbir Singh Gill said. “It would be very cool, if that would happen.”