Basketball player Amjyot Singh’s parents Nirmaljit Kaur and Mohinder Singh Gill in Chandigarh on Friday. (File)
Two days after Chandigarh basketball player Amjyot Singh along with Punjab player Palpreet Brar was handed a one-year ban by Basketball Federation of India for ‘gross discipline’, Amjyot’s parents Mohinder Gill and Nirmaljit Kaur termed the ban as harsh and accused BFI of negligence and acting in a dictatorship way.
26-year-old Amjyot Singh, who is currently in USA for playing in Summer League, was handed the ban after being charged of slapping and abusing team-mate Arshpreet Singh Bhullar during the Commonwealth Games held in Australia in April apart from being held guilty of misbehaving with national coach Rajinder Singh.
“The BFI has not given Amjyot any chance to explain his point of view in this case. They are acting in a unprofessional way. Amjyot is one of the emerging players from India and if there are any issues between any players, they are resolved after having talks with the players. Earlier also, there were fights between Indian team players but those were solved by BFI. Arshpreet Singh’s father Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar, SSP, Punjab Police have also said that such things happen between players and are solved. BFI did not contact Amjyot about this issue and handed out the ban,” said 55-year-old Mohinder Singh Gill, who is a ASI with Chandigarh Police.
Amjyot, a six-feet and eight inches tall forward, was drafted by OKC Blue team during the NBA G-League Draft last year and was also part of the Indian basketball team for Commonwealth Games. The youngster, who was training with David Wagner for OKC Blue team, was released for FIBA World Cup qualifiers and Commonwealth Games and the youngster came to India for the camp.
According to Nirmaljit Kaur, Amjyot wrote mails to BFI about reimbursements of US 2059 dollars apart from trying to meet BFI secretary Chandramukhi Sharma. “Amjyot’s passion has been basketball and for achieving his dream, he even had to sacrifice his turban for playing in Asian Games in 2014.
Other players are giving exemption of playing in NBA leagues but Amjyot has been made to suffer. He was called from the NBA G league camp for playing in FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and CWG and BFI has not reimbursed him the travel expenses. When he got to know about the ban last month, he waited at Chandramukhi Sharma’s home for a full day but he did not meet him. Neither did they called him for any disciplinary meeting about the ban,” shared Kaur.