14-year-old Patna boy gets selected in NBA academy

A 14-year-old Patna boy has been selected for undergoing training at the soon-to-open National Basketball Association (NBA) academy, a break that holds out the promise of a lucrative career in a game in which there is a lot of money in the United States and some other countries.

Robin Banerjee, all of six feet and three inches tall and a student of class 9 at a school at Varanasi (UP), got through the two-tier combative selection trials held at Kolkata and Noida, respectively, to be part of a list of 21 players chosen for the NBA Academy India, to be launched in April this year.

The NBA and the ACG Worldwide Group recently announced the names of these top 21 players from this year’s ACG-NBA Jump National Finals. Three more players will be selected in the months prior to the opening of the NBA Academy.

The final list of 24 selected players will constitute the first batch to receive scholarships and training at NBA Academy India.

The NBA-ACG had conducted tryouts in six regions, namely, Mumbai, Delhi, Ludhiana, Kochi, Chennai and Kolkata, in the past three months and final selection of 21 players was made from the top 45 prospects, at the Jaypee Greens at Noida (February 11- 13).

The NBA Academy India, which is coming up in the National Capital Region (NCR), is the NBA’s fifth elite training centre globally and the first of its kind in the country. It will be fully funded by the NBA, the predominant men’s professional basketball league in North America.

“I am extremely happy for making the grade. Now, I’m looking forward to my training stint alongside my studies”, an elated Robin Banerjee told

Source: Pradeep Modak, Hindustan Times

Quote of the day:“Five percent of the people think; 
ten percent of the people think they think; 
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” 
― Thomas A. Edison