Harsimran Kaur: NBA Academy prospect aims to fulfil father’s dream

Basketball in India is slowly and steadily making progress, thanks to the NBA Academy in the country which is helping some young talent to achieve their dream. Talking about young talent, Punjab teenager Harsimran Kaur was recently chosen for the NBA Global Academy at Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence in Canberra. She will be the first women from the NBA Academies Women's Programme to achieve the feat. 

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Harsimran Kaur thoughts on getting selected

“This is the biggest opportunity for me since I am the first girl selected for the tryout. I would also like to thank the academy for seeing the potential in me and this opportunity gives me a chance to learn new things,” the youngster told Republic in a telephonic interview.

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Back home in Kapurthala in Punjab, the 16-year-old has been practising with her father on cement courts, but the experience of playing on the wooden court has been completely different for the young girl. Talking about the difference in playing on different types of courts, Harsimran said:

"Playing on the wooden court is better compared to doing that on cement courts. I feel safer and also get a good grip on court, but while playing on cement courts, I have to be always careful to avoid injury concerns".

Coming from a sports background, the love for the game and the pressure to do well is evident. She was only 12 when she started playing the sport after watching her father play basketball and soon took it as a passion. 

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Harsimran Kaur on fulfilling fathers dream

Harsimran's father, Sukhdev Singh had a good start to his basketball career but an ACL injury brought his promising surge to an early end. Talking about the injury, the young hoopster gave an insight into her father's injury that stopped his basketball career.

“While playing the All-India University tournament, he rose for a dunk, but as soon as he landed he knew that there as a problem in his knee. Our family did not have money for the operation at that time. My dad doesn't want my career to stop due to knee injury so whenever I go back home, the focus remains on strengthening my knee. My main objective is to fulfil my father's dream".

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Having represented India at multiple events, including the 3x3 Asian Championships held in Jakarta in August this year, the youngster had a great experience while playing with senior players. "Being the youngest in team India, I find it a little difficult to play with experience girls in the team but I have managed to match up with them.

The WNBA is the ultimate goal for any professional player playing across the world and Harsimran has also set her sights on making it to the big league.

"In two years, I want to get a scholarship in university-based in the USA and play NCAA tournament. I have got offers from New Orleans, New York and California but my aim is to play for colleges which are highly ranked in NCAA,” she concluded.