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Before India matches the European Standards of basketball they have to become competitive in Asia, says former NBA star Vlade Divac

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Nita Ambani, Chairman of Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation flanked by NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver and NBA legend Vlade Divac pose for a photo with school children during a youth program organised by NBA in Mumbai on Tuesday.
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Former NBA talent and European power house, basketballer Vlade Divac stands intimidating at 7 ft 1 inch is in India and is in Mumbai to be a part of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program, a grassroots-level clinic  believed to have impacted 8,00,000 youths across 1000 schools in India.

NBA legends Bruce Bowen and Muggsy Bogues have visited Ludhiana, Kochi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata to conduct basketball clinincs for players and coaches.

The Serbian who has played over 1000 games in NBA features in the list of six players to record 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. Divac was also inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play at international events.

The at ease 'gentle giant' says it was not very easy for him to adapt and adjust from European style of basketball to the NBA (in America).

He says "it was difficult but I was lucky to have peopple around me. Guys like Magic Johnson helped me adjust. I had to be much stronger and faster after moving here in 1989."

Quality of and investment in sporting talent and a disinterested attitude towards developing sports is a question that long lies unanswered. This lackadaisical attitude will stunt the growth of children wanting to play sports at an international level.

"Having spent sometime here with the Indian kids I feel that it is very difficult to compare. Not just in basketball, but the most important thing in any sport is the method. In basketball it is shooting, passing, dribbling. It depends on how much you work on ur game to develop it. It does not matter whether you are in India and Uited States" says the Prijepolje-born basketballer when asked if  the Indian talent can match European basketball standards.

Divac only reiterated what retired Indian sportsmen and visitng international sports stars have been doing: suggesting inculcative culture of sports at an early age. 

"You don't have basketball in India from an early age. In basketball you have to begin at an early age,  maybe 11 years. It is very important to start between 11 and 13 years. It was very important for me because I was a football player and having been athletic or played another sport it helped. You are good with the hands (hand-eye coordination) and your footwork is fast", explains the 1988 Seoul Olympic games silver-medalist.

He was appointed as the head of operations at Real Madrid basketball club and took up the job only because of his friend who worked as Sporting Director with the Spanish giants.

His experience on being associated with Real Madrid and on how it was to introduce basketball in Real Madrid the optimistic, former LA Lakers player says "Football is huge in Spain. My friend is a director with Real Madrid and he rang me up to ask me to work with the basketball team. It was altogether a different experience for me as this was the first time that I was on the administrative side and not on the floor (playing)."

As him a timeframe on India reaching European standards of basketball and he sharply says "before they reach elsewhere they have to become competitive in Asia. If you see China, Japan and Lebanon and other gulf countries have gotten better in the last 5-10 years."

"Basketball starts in school. You can play basketball anywhere, just like soccer. It doesn't demand much" he convincingly says. 

He does not shy away from admitting that former Spanish striker and Real Madrid captain Raul was pretty good at basketball.

He is grateful for the opportunities he got to play basketball as it got him recognition while playing in school and some international scouts saw him only to be picked to play at club level. This only got better as he represented the national team.

The road only got better for him as NBA followed, but not before he played Olympic Games. He says "Olympic Games helped him as it made everybody sit and take notice, which helped me earn my chance at NBA" says the Serbian. "I played for the national team for 17 years and we have always won a medal" he says with a smile and a sense of pride.

European player is likely to be noticed more if he performs with his national side as it gives an opportunity to display ur talent. If team India does well within Asia many people will sit up and take notice, he believes. 

Indians lack the physical prowess or are not genetically superior. Do we lack the stamina and endurance when it comes down to competitive sports?

Divac does not think the same. "Indians and Serbians have a lot of similarities. The lifestyle and most of them are middle class. However it is very important to have an institute where you trust the kids and let them decide which sport they want to take up."

When you ask him about many Serbians playing competitive sports he cheekily says "We just love sports. We dont need fancy arenas, we can just go out and play on the streets."

The most played sport and also the national sport in Serbia is basketball and this does not really come as a surprise. The Serbia national basketball team won silver at Olympic Games in 1996, gold in 1998, 2002, Silver in 2014 at the FIBA World Cup.

 

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