Date:12/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/12/stories/2006111218510400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Globetrotters meet their fans

Staff Reporter

YOUNG ADMIRERS: Members of the Harlem Globetrotters Basketball Team being mobbed for autographs by fans at Landmark, The Forum, in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: Meeting international sports heroes, with the exception of ubiquitous cricketers, is a rare occurrence. It came as no surprise then that some fans such as student Nikhil P. couldn't really believe that they would actually get to meet the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Globetrotters did come, and despite a paucity of space at the Landmark bookstore in The Forum they obligingly put up a short performance of ball-handling wizardry. Dwayne Simpson, Anthony Rice, Les Norman, Lawrence Wright and coach Clyde Sinclair performed a variety of quick, exciting sequences. According to Jeff Munn, executive vice-president of the Harlem Globetrotters, their appearance in Bangalore is only one of the over 250 shows that this unit of the Globetrotters does each year. The team has in the past few weeks been to Greece, Serbia and Turkey, with their last show garnering a 15,000-strong audience. In the coming months, another unit of the team will be travelling to Dubai, Djibouti and even doing a special show in Baghdad, Mr. Munn said.