Press Release: The Indian Basketball Players Association (IBPA) was officially launched today with its first meeting held at the conference hall in the Indian Medical Association building in New Delhi.
The star studded meeting was attended by well known basketball legends of India that included Arjuna and Dhyan Chand awardees, an Asian All-star player, former Indian captains and many international and national players.
The members nominated Sajjan Singh, Arjuna Awardee as President of IBPA, Jayasankar Menon, Asian All-Star basketballer as General Secretary and Ashok Sharma, National Player and FIBA Commissioner as the Treasurer. Arjuna Awardees Abbas Moontasir was nominated Chairman and Manmohan Singh and Suman Sharma were nominated Vice Chairpersons.
The official launch of the IBPA commenced with a cake cutting ceremony where all the founder members joined in this historic moment for Indian basketball.
The following attendees made their views heard:
Sajjan Singh welcomed this noble initiative to promote basketball but cautioned all the members of IBPA not to avoid politicking of any kind.
Jonathan Rego, certified FIBA agent, said that it is the need of the hour to expose young Indian players to the contributions of past legends and make them realise that basketball can lead to stable and lucrative corporate careers.
Shiba Maggon, the former Indian Captain, suggested that the IBPA should bring the legends to coaching centres to showcase their signature moves that will help kids improve the fundamentals of the game. It will also increase the interest of the kids to follow the game more.
Prasanna Jayasankar, former Indian Captain, opined that the players are always looking for this kind of platform to air their views.
Tarika Roy, IRAS, Director – ECU, Ministry of External affairs and also a former national basketball player, congratulated this initiative and conveyed that it should not be confined to the territory of Delhi. She emphasised that IBPA should branch it out to every state of the country which will help everyone who is associated with the game.
Mr Rajpal Singh, Director – Sports, FICCI, elaborated on the legislative responsibilities of such fora, and the impact this could have on the development of the game.
Jayasankar Menon – the Asian All Star and former Indian Captain reiterated that the IBPA will be by the players and for the players, and thanked everyone who rendered support to this initiative. He also urged for complete commitment to achieve the objectives of IBPA.
Ashok Sharma, the Treasurer of IBPA extended the vote of thanks.
The IBPA is proposed to be incorporated as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The draft bye-laws of the proposed society were circulated in the meeting for views from the attendees and are to be finalised.
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