Four stars of the Indian Men’s Basketball team invited to Australian league tryouts

  • Indian basketball players Amritpal Singh, Amjyot Singh, Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi have been invited to Melbourne by the National Basketball League (NBL) to participate in their draft combine for the upcoming 2017-18 season.
  • The combine is set to take place on the 17th and 18th of April, 2017 in the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
  • The invitation and participation in the NBL Draft Combine was facilitated by basketball management company Pursuit India.

 

Bengaluru/Melbourne, 15th April, 2017: Four senior members of the Indian national basketball team – Amjyot Singh Gill, Amritpal Singh, Yadwinder Singh, and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, have been invited by the National Basketball League (NBL) – the professional basketball league of Australia, to participate in the NBL Draft combine for the upcoming season 2017-18.

The combine is set to take place on the 17th and 18th of April at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. A total of 80 players are expected to participate in the combine. These will include returning US college players, South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) players, Australian state league players, and members of Australia’s national U18 and U20’s teams. It is an opportunity for coaches and scouts of different NBL teams to gauge the talent at hand and sign the players they believe could help their team.

As standard practice, players participating in the NBL Draft Combine must pay an entry fee of AUD $250. However, this fee has been waived off for all the invited Indian players. The waiver of fees for the Indian contingent by the NBL is just another sign that the NBL has serious intentions to enter the Indian market. Last year, the NBL signed a historic deal with VEQTA to stream NBL games live in India.

Under the new rules of the NBL, the players belonging to the countries of the FIBA Asia zone would be given a separate spot that would not take up any of the three spots reserved for the foreign players. This move has been made to attract the top Asian talents and ensure that they consider the NBL as a serious destination to ply their trade.

The Indian players’ participation in the NBL Draft Combine was made possible by Pursuit India and its Australian partner Danny Kordahi. Pursuit, which had previously worked with Kordahi and arranged the visit of Australian coach Damian Cotter to the national men’s camp, has been working behind-the-scenes for months to identify suitable playing opportunities across the globe.

“It’s the biggest platform our players have had so far to showcase their talent. The NBL is a highly competitive international league and it’s a fantastic opportunity for our top Indian players to gauge their skill levels. Whatever the outcome, they will benefit a great deal from the experience itself,” says Mr. Vishnu Ravi Shankar, head of Pursuit India.

About the National Basketball League

(Sourced verbatim from the official NBL page. The link: http://www.nbl.com.au/history/)

The National Basketball League is regarded as one of the premier basketball leagues in the world, and after a humble beginning, is today home to some of the world’s best players.

In 1978, New South Wales Basketball president John Raschke sat with 10 interested parties in an unused aircraft hangar at Sydney Airport to discuss the formation of a national competition that would help the development of the sport throughout Australia.

A national competition was also seen as a way of improving the standard of players who would compete for Australia at events such as the Olympic Games and World Championships.

Since that day, the NBL has grown from a fledgling competition with games played in front of just a few hundred people to a league that attracts more than 750,000 spectators each season, as well as prime-time television audiences for games broadcast nationally.

While games were initially played in small suburban stadiums, clubs now perform at major Australian arenas, including Perth Arena which can seat 14,000+ spectators.

Basketball also has one of the highest participation rates of any team sport in Australia, with numbers continuing to grow each year.

Between 1979 and 1997, the NBL season was played between April and September, but in 1998 the league moved its season to the summer place, with games played between October and April.

Eight teams currently compete in the NBL – the Adelaide 36ers, Cairns Taipans, Melbourne United, New Zealand Breakers, Perth Wildcats, Sydney Kings, Brisbane Bullets and Illawarra Hawks.

About the NBL Draft Combine

Date: 17th-18th April

Location: Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre

 

Information

  • Patrick Hunt (Basketball Without Borders World Camp Director) will be the director of the camp.
  • All participants will be provided the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of every NBL club with all clubs ensuring to have coaching staff present each day.
  • All participants will be provided with 2 reversible training singlets, 1 pair of training shorts, 1 T-Shirt.
  • Lunch will be provided for all participants each day.
  • Ice baths will be provided for all participants at the conclusion of each day.
  • Doctors and Physiotherapists will be provided each day (for ankle taping and treatment).