Indian Mens Basketball Team's point guard Joginder Singh Saharan speaks to us about his journey and team's rise.

by Sportspreps | Feb 04,2021

Namaste Everyone! I am Rishabh Gupta from SportsPreps and today we have with us basketball player Joginder Singh Saharan, who plays for Services as a Point Guard.

 

Rishabh Gupta: How are you Joginder?

Joginder Singh Saharan: I am very good!

 

Rishabh Gupta: So Joginder tell us about yourself. Where and when were you born? Who is there in your family?

Joginder Singh Saharan: I was born in Bamla Village on 27th May 1988. I belong to Bamla Village in Bhiwani District in Haryana. In my family I have my father, mother, wife, a daughter and my younger brother, his wife and his son. This is my small family. I started playing in July 1999 for my village and then went on to play for Bhiwani. I went to play for SAI, Kurukshetra and then joined Air Force. This is how my journey has been.

 

Rishabh Gupta: So you started in 1999. How this start happened?

Joginder Singh Saharan: In our country, everyone loves cricket and even I used to. A friend used to play basketball. A district coach who used to come to our village, said to start sports in our village and begin with basketball because it is tough to make a career in cricket. Our family was poor at that time as my father didn’t used to earn much. Thats how I got into playing basketball.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Did you have a coach or scout who spotted your talent and thought you could make it to state or national level?

Joginder Singh Saharan: The district coach, Sh. Ved Prakash Lamba, who came to my village selected me as a Point Guard. Height is always important in basketball but a person of smaller height at Point Guard will also do. My height is 5’9”. When I started I didn’t expect to reach that much as my father is not that tall. The coach asked me to be a Point Guard and work on ball handling. So coach must have seen something in me and thats how I started.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Tell us about your normal training routine.

Joginder Singh Saharan: Ok..ok..if we talk about at this level then in camps we practice for three hours which includes gym, rest depends upon coach who may focus on ball handling, shooting, normal ground workout. In evening, it depends upon the coach. So three hour morning and three hour evening practice. Weight training depends upon timing of competiton. If competition is far away then we may focus on weight training otherwise its quite normal.

 

Rishabh Gupta: So you practice seven days a week?

Joginder Singh Saharan: No, Wednesday evening and Saturdays are off.

 

Rishabh Gupta: How is diet of a player?

Joginder Singh Saharan: We follow diet approved by SAI but there is nothing special we take. Its just milk, almonds etc.

 

Rishabh Gupta: What all equipments you use for practicing?

Joginder Singh Saharan: There are nothing much in equipments. There is para band for warm-up then whole focus is on ball.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Who all are there in your support staff?

Joginder Singh Saharan: Even you understand this is India, its not USA or China where everything will be available. Here you will only get a coach, an assistant coach, a physio and a conditioner. There is no dietician. I have never seen one in my career, maybe its there on paper but we have never seen one. Now we have our former coach Mr Satya Sinwar There are two assistant coaches Pradeep Tomar and Mohit Bhandari. And physio and conditioner keeps on changing.

 

Rishabh Gupta: What do you do apart from being a Basketball player?

Joginder Singh Saharan: I am in Air Force and play for them.

 

Rishabh Gupta: If school doesn’t provide Basketball training facility then where can one train?

Joginder Singh Saharan: It depends on where one lives. If there are academies or are coaches in stadium. So every place is different. Like in Ludhiana, Punjab, there is a basketball academy where they look at the talent of a child before including him/her in the practice. And in Bhiwani, district coach allow anyone to come and practice with them. I never went but there is no fees and all expense are borne by the academy as govt. helps them. But selection happens on kid’s ability.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Which authority is responsible for basketball in India?

Joginder Singh Saharan: Basketball Federation of India is the private authority for it though all the sports come under SAI. All the federations come under SAI.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Sports is not seen as a career though things are improving but still mode of earning is unknown. What can govt do for baseball’s promotion in India?

Joginder Singh Saharan: What I have analysed is that things are much better than they were before. Like Khelo India, from where kids are getting help. You can choose any career in such a big country. If you enter field of education you will definitely find competition just like that you will find competition in Sports too. To improve sports culture, government is doing a very good job like starting Khelo India and selecting kids from there and putting them in an academy. The only thing you need to do is hardwork.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Are there any schemes by government for helping basketball players such as any jobs or sponsorships?

Joginder Singh Saharan: There are no sports dedicated schemes by government. Khelo India is the only scheme for all the games. They hold a competition and choose kids from there. They spend Rs 5 lacs per year on their practice and accommodation. And career depends upon a kids hardwork.

 

Rishabh Gupta: So you talk about Khelo India which is for schools but when a player reaches their youth what kind of schemes are there for them?

Joginder Singh Saharan: Basketball player have jobs everywhere in army, airforce, navy. In south, you have jobs in banks…. Bank of Baroda, IOB and Income Tax. There are plenty of job offers in basketball. So if you are playing at a good level such as playing Nationals at Junior level or doing a camp then…you won’t face problem finding a job.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Do these jobs help sportspersons.

Joginder Singh Saharan: Yes, totally. Whichever job you are going in they have selected you for playing and they pay you for it.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Could you tell us how much a player gets paid for playing?

Joginder Singh Saharan: That is different for different jobs whatever their pay band is. If you see the range in Air Force, it starts from Rs 38 thousand and goes up depending upon on how many ranks you can take by improving your performance in sports.

 

Rishabh Gupta: How can schools contribute in helping kids become a basketball player?

Joginder Singh Saharan: School should be selective about choosing a basketball coach because as I see in Delhi there are many coaches who played basketball for small duration and they became coach. If they don’t have the experience then how will they help the kids with basketball. So this is the first thing then they should keep academies (sports) in the evening because kids need special dedicated time (for practice).

 

Rishabh Gupta: Please tell us in your 10-20 year career what kind of problems did you face?

Joginder Singh Saharan: There are plenty of problems such as selection problem used to come in early days when I used to play for Haryana because it is known in India that you should have an approach/connection. I didn’t have the approach but I understood one thing that I have to become such a player that they have to select me and my selection becomes their need. There are many kids who face same problem so I tell them the same thing that not to make excuses but prove yourself and become their need. So I have faced the same problems which every player has faced.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Who is your inspiration or role model?

Joginder Singh Saharan: I have never thought about a role model. My aim has always been to be best in the game. I have always thought of securing a job to help out my family.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Your most memorable win?

Joginder Singh Saharan: The most memorable win was when we beat China because China was Asia’s No.1 team in Asia Cup 2015 held in Wuhan, China during the league matches by six points. I believe that to be all my teammates most memorable win as it will be for anyone beating the best team. And for Indian Basketball team which doesn’t stand anywhere. So my most memorable moment is that.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Your most memorable loss and what you learnt from it?

Joginder Singh Saharan: See we went through two losses against the same team. One was in 2013 and other is just now in 2020 and both were against Bahrain. We lost by one point and recently in 2020 we had a qualifiers match against them for Asia Cup where we lost by one point from them.These two losses always pain me. I learnt that whatever small mistakes we make in a game they always come to affect us in the end.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Tell us about India’s performance in the recently held Asia cup?

Joginder Singh Saharan: This team is rebuilding. During the four years from 2015-19, this team was down but now the former coach has returned the team is taking a nice start. We lost by one point from Bahrain in their home ground but we played well. Then we went to Iraq where we beat that team by 19 points which was a first. So team is doing well and lets see what happens in the future.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Tell us after this where can we see you and the Indian team play next?

Joginder Singh Saharan: Asia Cup Qualifies are still left and if Corona situation resolves then we will have matches in November. The dates are not yet finalised but the matches may happen in Bangalore.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Your Favourite shot?

Joginder Singh Saharan: My favourite shot is Pick-n-roll Three Pointer which in India everyone knows is my best shot. With the help of post, through mis-match I throw a three pointer.

 

Rishabh Gupta: What would you have been if not a basketball player?

Joginder Singh Saharan: If not a basketball player, I would have been a cricket and if not a cricketer I would have been a boxer. But I certainly would have been a sportsman.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Do you have any other talents apart from playing Basketball?

Joginder Singh Saharan: I can drive well. (Laughs)

 

Rishabh Gupta: Your favourite sports movie?

Joginder Singh Saharan: There is not one sports film. Paan Singh Tomar is not regarded as a sports movie but it was related to it showing what all things a sportsman has to go through. Then there was Dangal. There is Coach Carter. I like all these movies.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Whats your future plan? How long you want to continue playing Baksetball and what you want to do after that?

Joginder Singh Saharan: If I feel Federation wants me to play and I keep proving my worth I will keep playing. And if Federation feels that I can’t help the team I will leave the team and it should be like that. But I can continue to play till I am a plus point for my team. After that I will try for NIS, where they provide a one year diploma for coaching. So after getting a diploma, I will go into coaching.

 

Rishabh Gupta: There are many school students who are good at Basketball and want to be a Basketball player. What will be your words of encouragement for them?

Joginder Singh Saharan: If you do a job by heart then nobody can stop you from being successful. I always tell kids that whether you are in education or sports if you do it half heartedly you can’t be a success. So you should do it whole heartedly and give your time & hard work and you can become a good basketball player.

 

Rishabh Gupta: Thank you Joginder! We loved talking to you. Thanks for your valuable time!

Joginder Singh Saharan: Thank you!