Pratima Singh interview: "I am already the top scorer among the national seniors; what else do they want?"

Pratima Singh, centre, flanked by sisters Divya (left) and Akanksha (right)

Pratima Singh may look like a sweet and demure girl but there’s nothing sweet and demure about the way she plays basketball; she knows how to rip apart her opponents on the court alright. Pratima has many achievements to boast of – she has captained the Indian junior team, and under her leadership Delhi has won many medals. But in a shocking turn of events, Pratima’s name has been left out from the National coaching camp, the members of which will be participating in the William Jones Cup. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda correspondent Taruka Srivastav, Pratima speaks out about her omission.

Q. What exactly do you think is the reason you have been left out of the Indian squad?

Pratima: I really don’t know why this has happened. It has come as an absolute shock for me. When I heard about it the first time I actually laughed. But when I realized it wasn’t a joke, tears started rolling out from my eyes. Basketball is my passion. The news came as a shock for my sisters too.

Q. Do you think there were political or other reasons for your exclusion from the team?

Pratima: Political reasons, I don’t know. I just know that if Mr. Harish Sharma (CEO of the Basketball Federation of India who passed away in February this year) would have been in charge this would never have happened.

Q. Is this the first time you have been a victim of discrimination?

Pratima: As I said, such things never happened when Mr. Harish Sharma was around. He had real passion for basketball; he understood the players and their interests.

Q. How do you plan to fight against the injustice that has been meted out to you?

Pratima: My plan? First of all I would prefer to not go for the camp even if I was given a chance to. I will train extremely hard on my own, and I hope they realize that their decision was wrong. But there’s only so much I can do, really. I am already the top scorer among the national seniors. What else do they want?

Q. Have any of your sisters experienced the kind of discrimination that you are currently facing?

Pratima: I don’t really know what to say. I feel that such discrimination might be happening knowingly or even unknowingly. Since all of us sisters are on the team, some people think: why should all these sisters play together on the team? It may look like an advantage for us sisters to play together, but only we know how much trouble we face finding a place on the team because of our familial ties. I just wish people saw us as players and performers and not merely members of a famous family.

Q. From your family of accomplished basketball players, who do you think is the most talented?

Pratima: Well, we play in different positions so it’s hard to give a definitive answer to that. All of us are very good in our respective places. And the most important thing is that everyone is so passionate about playing that the question of talent is a bit irrelevant.

Q. The Indian team failed to qualify for the Olympics this year. Do you think in future there are chances of the Indian team qualifying for the Games?

Pratima: As of now I don’t see that happening any time soon. There is always a hope that we may accomplish that some day but with the kind of system prevailing now I really doubt it.