Exclusive | 'Came to Japan for basketball, now can't go back': The harsh reality of being an Indian hoopster

NEW DELHI: Being away from home never gets easier. Every day, you stand in front of the mirror, wondering what your family is doing. The pain doesn’t fade, it quietly settles in. Your mother’s warmth becomes a few seconds of buffering on a video call, and your father? He watches silently from the sidelines.

No one leaves home because it is easy. They leave because it is necessary. For better opportunities, better facilities, and a better chance at chasing a dream that refuses to let go. As Tony Stark says in "Iron Man", "Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."



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For Indian basketball player Arvinder Singh, it doesn't stop at running; it’s about dribbling, defending, diving for every rebound, and keeping his balance not just on the court, but in life. And right now, he’s doing that not in India, but in Japan, thousands of kilometres away from his home in Barnala, Punjab.

“Akela toh feel hota hai (I feel alone sometimes),” he tells TimesofIndia.com from Yamaguchi, his home away from home. “But I train every day, listen to music, go to the gym. That keeps me occupied.”

It has been only a few weeks since he landed at Yamaguchi in Japan. Playing for Yamaguchi Patsfive in the Japanese B3 League, the Punjabi boy is leading a life that is simple, but lonely.

“I cook for myself. Since I’m a vegetarian, it’s difficult to find veg food here. So I watch YouTube, try to make roti and sabzi myself. Sometimes my mom guides me on call,” he says, with a small laugh, somewhat suggesting that scoring a three-pointer is much easier than making a perfectly round roti.

But this is what chasing dreams looks like when your home country doesn’t offer you one. India, despite producing players of immense potential, still doesn’t have a stable basketball league.

“It’s tough. Leagues start in India but don’t continue regularly,” Arvinder says. “If we had regular matches and exposure trips, we would all be better players. That’s how we improve. Since that’s not happening in India right now, I accepted this offer from Japan to play here and develop my game further.”

His comments, though, are not an epitome of frustration but merely a representation of muted disappointment, the kind that comes from knowing what could have been.

Arvinder, now 23, has always been one of India’s most promising players.

A product of Ludhiana Basketball Academy (LBA) in Ludhiana, which has been a cradle for budding Indian cagers. Growing up, he was a shotputter untill he turned 13 and a LBA coach Rajinder Singh, spotted him and requested his father, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in Punjab police to thrust the boy in basketball. And within a year, Arvinder was drafted in NBA academy in Greater Noida.

The 23-year-old was also part of the Indian team that beat Kazakhstan, India's first in 27 years, in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers last year. But the team couldn’t sustain the momentum in the main tournament as they finished winless in the Asia Cup earlier this year.

“We lacked experience,” he explains. “All their players play in professional leagues regularly. Playing consistently against tough opponents gives them exposure. Their game vision and court awareness improve naturally.”

It’s this understanding that brought him to Japan.

But it’s not easy to fit in.

“I’ve been here for weeks,” he admits. “Coaches and players mostly speak Japanese. But we have a translator who helps. A few Japanese players also speak English, so they help too. You also learn a lot from body language, and we use signs and gestures on court to communicate plays.”

He laughs, but there’s a trace of fatigue under his smile. Loneliness is a quiet companion here.

What hurts more, though, is the possibility that he might miss representing India this time in the World Cup qualifiers in November as a result of playing basketball in Japan. His Japanese club is against the idea of releasing him.

“There’s a chance I’ll miss it,” he admits softly. “Our league runs for seven months, and the Japanese staff are very strict. Even if I want to go, I’d need to leave a month early for the national camp. The selection happens after the camp. If we skip it, we lose our spot. Going to India isn't possible right now.”

Then, after a pause, he adds, “Thoda afsos hai (It hurts a little). Playing for India is always special.”

Still, he doesn’t sound defeated: “If you perform well abroad, you’ll always get your chance in the national team. I believe in that. I believe in myself.”


For Indian basketball, nevertheless, some hope is left. The Basketball Federation of India, along with ACG Sports, has announced the country’s first-ever professional basketball league, set to begin in 2026.

When Arvinder talks about it, his voice suddenly picks up hope: “That’s a big step. It’ll help players a lot. It’ll help the game grow. We’ve waited for this for so long.”

And then, when asked what basketball means to him, he smiles. You can hear it in his tone.

“Basketball has given me everything. Exposure, a job, a purpose. My parents are happy that through basketball, I’ve found my path and that I’m making the country proud,” adds Arvinder, who represents Railways in nationals.

Somewhere between the bouncing of the ball and the silence of an empty apartment in Japan, Arvinder Singh is learning what it really means to "run before you can walk".

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