Kuboya wins Panasonic Open after playoff
Veteran Kenichi Kuboya defeated Katumasa Miyamoto in a sudden-death playoff to lift his first title for five years at the Panasonic Open Japan on Sunday.
The pair were locked at 11 under par after both registered birdie fours at the 72nd hole of the Asian Tour event. But Kuboya kept his cool to shoot a final day 64 to win the 150 million yen event.
are the days when an Indian basketball player’s aim would be limited to playing in minor pro-leagues in the Gulf. They now dream of strutting their stuff in the National Basketball Association no less.
While two Indian players, Satnam Singh Bhamara and Palpreet Singh Brar, have been drafted into NBA D-league, Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh have played in Japan’s top league. Recently, four Indians were invited to be a part of Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) draft.
With Indian players getting noticed, NBA has decided to help them by setting up a world-class training programme for them.
The first NBA Academy India will open in the second week of May in Delhi NCR. The fully-residential academy, fully sponsored by NBA, aims to impart world-class training to 24 Indian players in 16-18 age group.
“The academy will provide studies, impart life skills, and of course basketball training by top-class development experts. It will have a technical director, strength and conditioning trainers, nutritionists and the entire works for development (of players),” Yannick Colaco, MD of NBA India, told HT.
The academy, said Colaco, is part of NBA’S plan to establish a proper ecosystem for basketball in the country catering to the needs of players from grassroots to top level.
“There are three elements in our strategy. At the very base we have the Junior NBA pro gramme in partnership with Reliance Foundation. This year the Junior NBA programme is in 19 cities and reaches about 40 lakh kids through over 4000 schools. The idea is to get kids to play basketball, have fun with the ball, and pick up basic skills
“The layer above that is the NBA Basketball Schools, which we recently launched. It is an advanced training programme for those more serious about bas ketball. NBA Basketball Schools will have advanced curriculum with training being provided by international coaches. At the top of the pyramid is the elite acad emy, a fully-residential acad emy,” said Colaco.