Over the years, the National Basketball Association of the United States of America has played an instrumental role in helping India to find some really good talent by organising camps across the country.

Grishma Niranjan is one such NBA find who came out as a real basketball star in the recently concluded four-day camp. Titled the Most Valuable Player of the camp, Grishma has already represented the country in the U-16 team and hopes to join the senior team in the coming years.

In a recent chat with Hindustan Times, she talked about her journey with basketball, the NBA camp, and future plans. Here are the excerpts:

On how it all started

“I started playing when I was in the 6th grade. I just went to play the game one day and then after putting in the work, I realised that I was good at it. I have been training under coach Daniel Satish Babu from day 1. He was my PA teacher in the school at that time.”

On getting selected for the NBA camp

“I was called for an NBA camp along with the 20-25 players, who were selected for the U-16 India camp. I was selected from there. I was selected for the final U-16 India squad as well.”

On the skills that she worked on during the camp

“I worked a lot on my shooting in this camp. Coach Jennifer, an Olympic gold medallist, helped me a lot. She used to work on my shooting before and after practice. The growth from the previous camp to this camp is a really good thing for me. After seeing my game improve, it motivates me to get better now.”

On her future goals

“I’ll be leaving for Charlotte on 12th February for the Basketball Without Borders camp. I want to perform well there. I want to go and learn how much ever I can and come back and work on it. Then, I would like to get a scholarship at a university in the US.”

“Right now I am aiming to get into a college in the US and then play division 1 basketball there. I dream of playing in the WNBA, but then I would like to come back and play for India as well. In the next one and a half or two years, I would like to make it to the team.”

H/T: Hindustan Times