Towering Princepal dreams of NBA days

BENGALURU:

Princepal Singh

's rise can be best described as meteoric. In about three years, the lanky hoopster has gone from 'not speaking the language of basketball' to earning his senior national team call up for the

Super Kung Sheung Cup

international basketball invitation championship in Hong Kong.


And the 17-year-old, currently at the national camp on here till December 9, is quite speechless at what has come to be. "I'm very happy with this call up," he says. "I never thought that I would play for the national team and now that time has come, it's surreal. I will give my 100 per cent, that's for sure," he added.

His happiness is palpable but despite his humble words, his journey had the words 'national team prospect' written all over it. It was more a matter of when than if.

After getting selected through trials at

Ludhiana Basketball Academy

back in 2015, when he came in as a towering 14-year-old who knew little to nothing about the sport, he fell in love with basketball during his early days there. He credits the shift in attitude to his coaches who nurtured his interest and also former Long Island Nets star Palpreet Singh who is an inspiration to the 6'10'' star.

From there it was onto the

NBA Academy India

where he became more well rounded and incorporated gym work as a quintessential part of training. But seeing his talent, he was moved onto the

NBA

Global Academy in Canberra where he trains now. Princepal, whose favourite player Pelicans' Anthony Davis, also represented India in the FIBA U-16 and U-18 Asian Championship this year.

"There are only top players there (in Canberra), only 12 from across the world. So we get a lot of attention there. I play centre but I will be playing forward from now on. So I've been concentrating mainly on the jumps and gym work. I am also working on my ball skills and rebounding," revealed the Cleveland Cavaliers fan who harbours the dream of playing in the NBA.