Rajopadhyay: Plastic ball to national team
Part of a series on the lives of sports personalities in Nepal by Arko network, this is basketball star Subrat Rajopadhyay.
As far as challenges go, there isn’t much bigger than taking up sport in a country as politically unstable and economically on the fringes as Nepal.
But there are many who defy all these and gamble into the world of sport hoping to make it big. Subrat Rajopadhyay is one of the many in this country who has followed this path.
Growing up in Kathmandu, basketball wasn’t his first choice of sport but when locals built a basketball court near his house in Indrachowk it was irresistable for a young boy not to have go.
Subrat Rajopadhyay playing at the SABA Championships 2014
He probably never thought at the time that having a bit of fun with friends with a plastic ball would one day lead him to represent his country in the game of basketball.
Rajopadhyay says, “that is where I learnt the first rule of basketball – one dribble two steps.”
However his real education in basketball began once he enrolled into Prime College.
“Football was my first choice of sport but I never got the opportunity”, he adds.”Once I joined Prime College, only availble option was basketball.”
What ever reason he had for choosing basketball, he did make it to the national team in 2005.
Injuries kept him out for a while but he made it back into the team this year, appearing at the SABA championships in Kathmandu.
He will be playing at the Morgan Cup which started on June 25, this time round with team Pentagon.
For all the achievements in the domestic games and making it all the way to the national team though, his biggest challenge has always been convincing his parents, that he made the right choice.
Rajopadhyay says, “my parents would still rather see me put on a suit and take up 9 to 5 job.”
