Date:01/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/01/stories/2008070152912000.htm

Sport - Basketball

NBA legend Wilkins excited

NEW DELHI: India may not be a big force in basketball, but a kid of Indian origin is getting nurtured by none other than NBA legend Dominique Wilkins who thinks the 12-year-old has the potential to make a mark in the game.

Ramesh, who was adopted four years ago by Wilkins’s sister Wanda Ousley and her husband John, is now being coached by Wilkins and his brother and looks promising.

“He is the only player of Indian origin I know and he looks good," Wilkins said during a teleconference from New York on Monday. Wilkins, who will visit India during the NBA’s ‘Basketball Without Borders’ programme here, said inculcating fundamentals of the game in young Indian players would be the focus at the camp.

“I don’t know much about Indian basketball....We have to start with education of the game, teaching the fundamentals at the grassroots level. We would be sharing the expertise on which they can build on,” he said. — Sports Reporter