By Ben Okazawa | CBC Sports | Canada |
In 2015, Bikramjit Singh Gill looked a bit different than he does now. His broad 6-foot-7 frame still stands out in a crowd, but today the 30-year-old Malton, Ontario native has a bushy beard and long hair to match his size. After years of cutting his hair and trimming his beard in order to fit in with his peers, Gill decided to embrace his Sikh heritage and grow them out.
As one of the only Sikh-Canadian basketball players competing at the professional level, Gill has long been a role model in his community. He always welcomed that responsibility, but in 2015 he decided it was time to look the part as well. Gill wearing his hair long and leaving his beard untouched while playing professional basketball illuminated a path for young Sikh athletes to pay homage to their culture and pursue their sports dreams at the same time. He became the living example that you don’t have to sacrifice tradition and blend in with the crowd in order to do what you love.
To a pre-teen Gill, doing what he loved didn’t have anything to do with basketball. Family has always been the most important thing in his life, and with a father who played for the Indian national team and an older brother who played varsity basketball at Georgian College, his participation in the sport was more of an obligation than a passion.
After his father passed away when he was 13, Gill’s relationship with basketball blossomed into a relationship with his dad.
“There’s definitely an emotional connection with [basketball],” he said. “I wear my dad’s number … it’s like a promise. It keeps me going.”
He says he feels his father in every dribble, every squeak of his shoe against the hardwood, every swish of leather and mesh colliding as he sinks a basket. His bond with his brother, Inderbir, evolved as well. The elder Gill was thrust into a new role, acting as a father figure and coach to Gill.
Armed with a newfound love for the game and the support of his brother, Gill started taking basketball more seriously heading into his high school years. The basketball gym at the Malton Community Centre where Inderbir worked became his second home.
Rohit Bakshi, an entrepreneur who once played 3×3 basketball in Japan, helped Gill find his footing in Japanese professional basketball before starting a 3×3 league in India, known as the 3BL.
“3BL is the only basketball league in India,” Bakshi said. “It is like [the] NBA for Indian ballers.”
Gill joined the 3BL’s Gurugram Masters, who compete internationally as one of the best 3×3 teams in the world. He shone in 3×3 play overseas, becoming one of the top 150 players in the world. Team Canada took notice, calling him to compete in International Basketball Federation (FIBA) play.
Despite becoming accustomed to 3×3 basketball, Gill still excels in 5-on-5 play as well. In fact, he’s joining the first ever all-Indian team, India Rising, in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), which begins July 22 in eight regions around the U.S. The elimination-style tournament features 64 teams, awarding $1M US to the winning squad. Since Indians with dual citizenship are barred from competing with the Indian national team, Gill feels as though India Rising can do something special with their participation in the TBT.
Read the full story. ‘How family and culture propelled Bikramjit Singh Gill to basketball success’ (CBC, 20June 2022), here.
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