Australia’s Sydney Kings has made history today, signing the first Indian player Amritpal Singh, to play professional basketball in the National Basketball League (NBL).
Amritpal Singh born on Jan 5 1991, in ‘Ganna Pind’ of Jalandhar district in Punjab, grew up by helping his father plough rice fields in a small village ‘Fattuwal’, in Amritsar district.
Being a Punjabi, Amritpal started with playing ‘Kabaddi’- a sport popular in rural India, at an early age, which combines elements of wrestling and rugby.
Soon after growing into a robust frame of 6’11” (Standing Reach 9’2”) and weighing 116kgs, Amritpal switched over to basketball and never looked back. He played in the Japanese Development League for the Tokyo Excellence, playing a key role in a championship in his first year at the club, in 2016.
Amritpal Singh with the member of Sydney's Punjabi community. Source: SBS Punjabi/MP Singh
Amritpal, represented India at the ‘2016 Asia Challenge’ in Tehran and averaged 17.8 points and 10.4 rebounds. Now he is invited by Australian Sydney Kings to join their team for the Atlas Challenge 2017, basketball tournament to be held in China.
Amritpal was formally inducted into the Sydney Kings team today by holding a special function at Sydney’s famous tourist spot ‘Mrs Macquarie’s chair’ where team’s managing director Jeff Van Groningen spoke about high hopes that they have in Amritpal. He said, “today is a tremendously exciting day to have Amritpal who has won his place in the team’s 11 by his sheer performance. This demonstrates that basketball is a global sport. We take it very seriously when it comes to engaging Indian, Punjabi community from both here and abroad".
Source: Sydney Kings
The head coach Andrew Gaze was all excited to have the opportunity to coach someone taller than him. Andrew said, “Amritpal is very energetic, fit and mobile. I believe he can add a lot to our team to help us win at NBL title’.
Amritpal himself spoke about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he is grabbing with both hands. Amritpal said, “I played Kabaddi till 2009 when my uncle introduced me to basketball and since then I have been representing India both in domestic and international tournaments. This is the first time an Indian player has come all the way from India to play with Sydney Kings, hence I appeal all Indians in Australia to come forward and support us".
Sydney Kings National Basketball League signing Amritpal Singh (right) and Sydney Kings coach Andrew Gaze pose for photographs Source: AAP
Sydney’s Punjabi and Indian community members attended the event and congratulated Sydney Kings for this unique initiative of inviting players from wider multicultural communities. Dr Surinder Singh told SBS world news, “Amritpal is going to be a role model for all young ones who think of cricket and hockey only these days. We as the community fully support SydneyKings initiative and will be there during rest of the season".
Flashback to the interview of Amritpal with SBS Punjabi when he came to Melbourne for trials:
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