Khushi Ram

Khushi Ram (born 7 August 1936 – 29 December 2013) widely acknowledged as The Scoring Machine of Asia was a basketball player from India who represented India at many international competitions. He was awarded the country's highest sporting honour the Arjuna award in 1967. He is regarded as one of the all time greats of Basketball in Asia. He captained the Indian National Basketball Team in the year 1965 which made its first appearance in Asian Basketball Championship. He represented the Indian team from 1964 to 1972. He is father of former Indian Team captain and Dhyan Chand Award winner Ram Kumar.

Early life and background

Born in Jhamri village in the Jhajjar district of Haryana, Khushi Ram spent his childhood in village and completed his education there. He joined Delhi based Army unit the Rajputana Rifles in 1950 as a Boy Recruit. Here began his interest for the game, looking at his 6' 4" height and good physical built the Basketball coaches in Rajputana Rifles advised him to take up the game. Khushi Ram was mentored by basketball coach Subedar Moolchand in the early stage of his career . He believed that Khushi Ram could be one of the bright prospect for the Indian Basketball Team, within a short span of time Khushi Ram became aware of the basics and technical aspect of basketball. As a result, he made his debut in National Basketball Championship in 1952 where he played for Services basketball team, there on started his journey of success.

Sporting career

Khushi Ram was the first ever Indian player who started the trend of Basketball in India. He began by playing for Armed Forces in initial stages of his career, just because of his excellent sense of the game and amazing shooting skills, he turned out be an asset for his team and kept participating in all National level and other major tournaments in India. From 1958 to 1968, the time he was associated with Army, the Armed Force basketball team won the National title continuously for 10 years in which he was judged as the best player many times. Khushi Ram quickly gained popularity and became a star player in India. After taking retirement from Army in the year 1969 he moved to Kota in Rajasthan and joined Shri Ram Rayons, then he represented Rajasthan team for 5 years in National Basketball Championships. In 1964 Khushi Ram was selected in the Indian National Basketball Team for the 4th Quardrangular tournament in Colombo. It was his international debut, his performance was appreciated by his coach and the selectors of team. He secured his position and became a key player of the Indian team. The very next year in 1965 he was named as the captain of Indian team for Asian Basketball Championship which was held in Kuala Lumpur, though India's position was 7th in the tournament, Khushi Ram stood as the highest scorer of the tournament . He almost had an average score of 30 – 35 points in each game played by him against big Asian super powers like South Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei . In those days India relied on shoulders of Khushi Ram for scoring baskets at pivot point as there was lack of efficient ball handling skills in players . Then he continued to maintain the position as the 2nd highest scorer in 1967 ABC Championship in Seoul where India secured 6th position . In a match played between India and Philippines, India faced a defeat by a big margin but Khushi Ram solely netted 40 points out of 63 points scored by the Indian team, his basket conversion percentage used to be 85% in all major international tournaments . During 1969 ABC Championship in Bangkok he once again topped the scoring charts in Asia, in this tour he along with captain Gulam Abbas Moontasir and other players outplayed every team except Philippines and South Korea . India progressed a level and stood 5th in the tournament . It is an unbreakable record that he still holds as an Indian and no other basketball player from India has ever registered himself as the highest scorer in the Asian Basketball Championship . He became a well known figure in Basketball circuit leaving behind the other greats of Asia and with this was declared as the best shooter and the most prestigious player in Asia. Khushi Ram at 6feet 4inch was not amongst the tallest of Asian giants but could manage to stop 7feet tall players from scoring and had the ability to score against them because of his superb shooting techniques . Impressed by his talent Philippines and South Korea offered him to play in their professional leagues. The year 1970 was the best year in Khushi Ram's career when he participated in 10th Anniversary Celebrations Championship in Manila. At this stage he became immensely popular in Asian continent by his spectacular performance and in this tournament he had a wonderful average of 196 points in 7 games played by him. The unstoppable Khushi Ram scored 43 points against the then powerhorse of Asia and the home team Philippines, which is the highest individual score by any Indian player. Seeing his outstanding performance the organisers in Philippines awarded him the 3 honours: 1. The most valuable player of Asia 2. The most consistent shooter in Asia 3. The best centre player of the meet

At the end of the invitational tournament in Manila, former legend of Philippines Basketball Lauro Mumar who insisted Khushi Ram to leave India and play for Philippines said, "Khushi Ram has defined how Basketball is played, just unstoppable never saw a player of such a calibre and kind of mental and physical toughness he has in the entire Asia . I would just say that Give us Khushi Ram and we will conquer the entire world . He can rule the world of Basketball .

Khushi Ram is the only Basketball player from India to be honoured by these 3 prestigious trophies in his days of stardom. In the same year he was again selected to captain the Indian team for 6th Asian Games at Bangkok, but due to a severe eye injury at the training camp in NIS Patiala he could not participate in the Asian Games. In 1970 itself, the University of Illinois Springfield basketball team of United States of America came to India to play exhibition matches against the Indian team, Springfield team was recognised as the best team of that time in US and NBA D League . Americans are known for their wonderful athletic capabilities as compared to Indian athletes because of which they were comfortably winning matches against India but the strong and speedy Americans were unable to stop Khushi Ram from scoring baskets at pivot point . As reported by a newspaper reporter ((Khushi Ram is an outstanding player, Americans had a tough time while defending him and were unable to figure out on how to stop him from scoring, what a remarkable game sense he has, it's amazing to watch him in action))

Many newspapers and magazines in country published articles on him named The Magician of Basketball as he became the best ranked player of Asia. He became an inspiration for all youngsters who were keen to take up the game.

During an interview in Mumbai in 2011 where Khushi Ram came as Guest of Honour in Savio Cup All India Tournament, a press reporter from The Hindustan Times interviewed him . The journalist asked him that Sir what keeps you glued to Basketball even in your 70's ? He smiles and says Basketball is my bread and butter , whatever I am today it's just because of this game , I love training kids and will continue to do it till my last breath . I am happy that my sons Ram Kumar and Ashok took the legacy forward and they respected the game in the same spirit as I did

Khushi Ram with his son Ram kumar during a felicitation programme at Taj in Mumbai

Coaching

Khushi Ram also contributed his services for the game as a coach. After announcing his retirement he took over as the coach of Shri Ram Rayons Basketball team in 1976 and also coached Rajasthan Basketball team for many years. Under his coaching Shri Ram Rayons was the best team in India and won many All India tournaments. Olympians Ajmer Singh, Hanuman Singh are his best gifts to the Indian Basketball, he also coached his son, Ram Kumar, and Ashok Kumar, who was also a former India captain. He was deeply associated with the game till his last breath.

He died on 29 December 2013 when he felt chest pain while giving away the prizes in a local function at his home town. On that day he was very happy and was proud on the achievement of his followers/trainees. After his death the Haryana Government has decided to build a stadium in his village Jhamri as a tribute to him because Khushi Ram's vision was development of children through sports and education.^[1]

References

• Archived 14 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine