Dr. Subramanian (centre) served Indian basketball for more than four decades
The Integrated Basketball Players Association, in association with the Indian BasketBall Fans, on Saturday, organised a 'Coaches Conclave' in memory of former Indian basketball coach, coach late Dr. Subramanian.
Dr. Subramanian served Indian basketball for more than four decades. After competing in the National Championship between 1964 to 1967, he coached the Air Force team between 1968 to 1973 and later coached the Services to a gold medal glory in 1969 and 1970. Overall, he has coached 27 players to the international level, 12 of whom have even represented India at the international level. In fact, the Asian Championship team of 2011 which had travelled to Wuhan had six players - Jaideep Singh, Yadwinder Singh, Talwinderjit Singh, Amritpal Singh, Amjot Singh and Satnam Singh - who were trained by Dr. Subramanian.
The 'Coaches Conclave' had panelists Francisco Garcia, an International coach from Spain, former Indian Women's team Coach, JD Walsh, a renowned Basketball coach from the USA, Ramesh Kelley, former Indian team coach and chief coach of Basketball, NIS, Bhasker, coach of the Indian Basketball team and Vidya Ramanarayan, International Basketball player and coach.
The conclave began with Arjuna Awardee and President of IBPA Sajjan Singh Cheema and Dr. Indira Bali, daughter of Dr. Subramanian, paying tribute to the veteran athlete before opining that he should be conferred with the Dronacharya Award.
"I believe my father did deserve a Dronacharya Award for his contribution," said Dr. Indira and added, "I am proud daughter of a proud father and one of his greatest achievements was developing the Ludhiana Basketball academy. To my father, the players' success mattered more than any award."
