‘Top-4 finish at Asian Games is our goal, we're going to fight and put on a show’: Indian basketball star Sanjana Ramesh

Indian sports consumers’ relationship with basketball is a very interesting one. There’s no doubt whatsoever that most people who like to watch live sports – whether at the stadiums/arenas or on TV, like to see fast-paced action. True that there is a large community of say golf TV watchers, but they will still be a minority.

Such is the appetite for speed in sports, that many sports have been tailored now to cater to that demand. T20 cricket is a golden example of just that. Consider also – shorter shift lengths in the NHL, faster ball speeds in soccer, and quicker play in basketball. Younger fans, in particular, crave instant gratification.

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And in that context, the fact that basketball is not really a sport that is consumed much by Indian audiences is peculiar. True that we don’t get to see too much of Indian basketball on TV and a lot of people watch NBA and WNBA matches (the NBA engagement clocked over 100 million unique viewers in the 2022-23 season), but basketball still just isn’t an extremely popular sport in India for the audiences.

And of course, there are multiple reasons for that – our national teams are yet to make a big splash, bare minimum media coverage, lack of a sustainable high-profile professional league, infrastructure hurdles etc. But talk to someone who is in the thick of things in Indian basketball, and chances are they will be very excited about what lies ahead for the sport in the country. And one very big reason for that is the Indian Basketball League that is scheduled to start this year.

The IBL will be India’s premier professional franchise league, supported by a new High-Performance Centre and played in both the 5x5 and 3x3 formats. India is tagged as one of the key markets for the 3x3 format of basketball and all the stakeholders of Indian basketball will be drawing up strategies to strengthen India’s 3x3 game, After all, it’s a format that features in both the Olympics and the Asian Games and will be part of LA 2028 as well as the upcoming Asian Games in Japan later this year.

The League will bring with it foreign coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, coaches from the USA etc. And all this has got the Indian players, especially those who represent the country regularly and are itching to become better, stronger and more attractive basketball players, very excited. Just ask Sanjana Ramesh, who captained the Indian team at the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2025 Division B in China last year.

According to Sanjana, "when the league comes in…that’s when things are going to change."

Unfortunately, COVID-19 had a very bad impact on Indian basketball, especially the women’s game. Morale was hit hard as the women players were denied a chance to play for three years. According to Sanjana, they were all “pretty demotivated”.

But hope lives on and optimism goes a very long way. The next edition of the Asian Games is coming up later this year and all Indian basketball players are very excited about the chance to go and play in Japan. Hopefully, both the men’s and women’s Indian teams will get to play there and do very well too. According to the 6-foot-tall Sanjana, who was part of the Indian team which won the 2025 South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Championship in New Delhi last year, the aim is a “top-four finish”.

Her message for all the stakeholders of Indian basketball – from the sponsors to the media etc is simple – "don't just invest in a sport, but invest in the journey of an athlete."

In part two of an exclusive interview, Sanjana talks about the upcoming Asian Games, how things could change for the better in Indian basketball, her idols and how they have kept changing over the years, her message for sponsors and the Indian media, the excitement that surrounds the upcoming Indian Basketball League, which promises to revolutionise the sport in India, her immediate targets and much more.

Excerpts…

Firstpost: Sanjana, if you had to shortlist two to three things, just off the top of your head that you would like to see incorporated in Indian basketball to make it healthier and stronger going forward, and more of a force to be reckoned with in Asia, what would that list? What would that list contain?

Sanjana Ramesh: To have a great system. We needed a foreign coach, because they understand the sport much better. And we have that now. So having a really good system, strength and conditioning is really, really, really important. Sometimes there's a stigma with women doing strength and conditioning – that we might become slower or we might become too bulky or some people might not be as comfortable with it. But strength and conditioning – that’s really important.

Sanjana Ramesh backs the upcoming Indian Basketball League to revolutionise basketball in India for the men's as well as women's game. Image credit: Sanjana Ramesh

And I think with the league (Indian Basketball League) coming in, and us getting to play consistently with a lot of foreign players can help improve our own game. Because our women's schedule, at least, is very unpredictable. We only have like one tournament a year. And the FIBA Asia Cup is once in two years. So, we don't get as much exposure as the men do. The men get to play in at least three, four windows a year. So, they get a lot of camp experience, they get a lot of foreign coaches coming to help as well. They get a lot of rotation in.

(The) women's (game) is always once in two years. We don't know what the (exact) timeline might be. And there's no consistency in the schedule. So, when the league comes in and we get foreign coaches, when we have nutrition and strength and conditioning coaches, I think like that's when things are going to change.

FP: I want to continue this conversation about the health of Indian basketball - where it stands and where it's headed. One thing that has made basketball in India stronger, that I have heard of, is the Basketball Federation of India's attempts to get the national teams to play in larger, more major Asian tournaments. And the women's national team, of course, has delivered good results. Historically, there have been multiple highlights, right from the Asian Indoor Games silver in 2009, all the way down to the FIBA Asia Cup the Division B title win in 2017. So, what is the honest emotion amongst the players of the women's national team for India, in terms of where their game stands right now, what the level is and how you feel as players?

SR: It's going be tough listening to this, but most of the players are pretty demotivated, because with COVID-19 hitting us, we couldn't play basketball for three years. And there weren't a lot of tournaments available. And there were a lot of federation changes as well and a lot of teams couldn't get registered for tournaments. So, the national team couldn't go participate in FIBA Asia 2023. And there was a huge gap for quite some time.

So, players currently feel maybe a little demotivated, but because the league (Indian Basketball League) is coming in and we're getting a lot more funding into it, and now top 15 players in the country get paid a salary as well. So, it's like a real turning point, I would say. Getting a foreign coach now who I've been training with for the past three months, you know, I love her. Her name is Sarah Gayler (former junior NBA coach and International Director in India and China). She has really changed the morale of the team. We were pretty demotivated before, but once she came in, and with the league coming in, the funds are coming in, the morale is getting better. And we are really excited to work harder and get better.

FP: That's good to hear - that there are positive things to look forward to. And in terms of things that one needs to look ahead to, the next edition of the Asian Games is coming up in Japan this year, in September-October. Basketball, of course, will be played in both the 3x3 and the 5x5 formats, right? In the Asian Games?

SR: Yes. Both formats. Currently, right now, I think we should be able to (go for the Asian Games), but there's no information about it yet. We are training for it, though. I think IOA (Indian Olympic Association) still has to let us know if they will send us or not. But we're still not sure.

FP: Right. So, is that a call on whether or not to send teams for both formats or whether to send an Indian team at all or not?

SR: Both formats and maybe at all. We're not sure. I think there's like a system in place that I'm not really well aware of. But I think we have a funding for certain sports and how well we are doing in world rankings. And then they make their decisions based on that. So, yeah, so there's a chance. We're really hoping that they send us, because I think our team this year is going to be really good and we're going to perform really well. If we get that opportunity, I think this (edition of the) Asian Games is going to be very different.

FP: Right. I really do hope that you guys can go and compete and participate there. And as players, have you had any conversations about the Asian Games, in camps, maybe, or when you've been playing in tournaments of late? Have the players been talking about it?

SR: Yeah, yeah, we have. We really, really, really want to go to Japan because we love Japan. Especially one of our teammates, she's from Japan. And she talks a lot about the culture and more. And she actually studied and did her high school, under-graduation, everything (in Japan). So, she's talked a lot about it as well. I think we're really excited to see that culture and play in that environment. Japan loves basketball just as much as China. So, we're really training hard for it. We've been training for three-four months. Not sure if the tournament will happen (for us) or not, but we're still training like there is (going to be one).

FP: So, historically, the Indian women's basketball team have done decently well at the Asian Games. I think they've played five times from 1982 to the last edition in 2023. And in 1982, which was, of course, a long time ago, they finished fifth. And in 2023, the women’s team reached the quarter-finals. So, if I were to ask you, as things stand right now, in terms of what we've been discussing – what the Indian national women's team's level is currently, looking ahead to the Asian Games, and hoping that you obviously do get to go to Japan to play. If I were to ask you what your honest, individual expectations or targets are for the Games this time in Japan if you do get to go, what would your answer be?

SR: They are really high. But the way we've been training and the way the system is being put into place, our game style, our basketball style, it's going to change. We have some really great players also coming in, from the US as well. So, I really think top four (at the 2026 Asian Games) is our goal. And we want to be the best. And we're going to fight even against teams that are really good. We're really going to fight and put on a show.

FP: Right. That's really fantastic. And also, if I could ask you this from the perspective of Indian basketball overall, not just the men’s or women’s games. Indian basketball overall doesn't really get the kind of media coverage and visibility that a lot of other sports get. I am not even going to compare it with cricket because obviously, there’s a huge gulf there. But there are other sports as well, which are covered more or other athletes who are covered more, you know, as compared to basketball. Now, as somebody who is playing competitively and at the highest level, representing the country, has played in the Asian Games, what would your message be for the stakeholders of basketball in terms of both financial backing - and I'm talking about the sponsors coming in - and also the media? What would your message be for both these parties?

SR: I mean, yeah, you're right. There's not a lot of visibility. But like athletes in basketball now have realised they can create their own visibility. So, we have got into a lot of content creation, social media campaigns and stuff. So, that has really put basketball on the map. And even the Federation (Basketball Federation of India) right now realises that pushing us, not just like the sport, but like personalities of the team, really makes the sport more fun to watch. And we have some really fun personalities in our sport.

Also Read | ‘I am really excited about the next two years to see where Indian basketball is going to go’: Sanjana Ramesh

We have some people who are crazy angry all the time. We have some people who are really funny, and seeing those personalities live and not just as a sport will connect more with an audience. And I think for stakeholders and people investing in leagues and stuff, they're going to see that as well. IBL (Indian Basketball League) is investing a lot on pushing stories. So, it's not just about the sport, but about the athletes. And yes, don't just invest in a sport, but invest in the journey of an athlete - is what I would say to stakeholders.

FP: Right. That's a very important point that you made that when you manage to establish a connect with an audience, regardless of how you're doing it, that can really propel the sport forward. And of course, individual athletes too, a long way. That is something I'm glad to hear that that is being done. As someone again, who's been playing for a while, and because you started playing very early in school, you know, all of us have sort of idols or people we look up to for various different things. I'm assuming it's the same for you from the time you started playing basketball and started taking it very seriously. Growing up, did you have one or two fixed sort of idols? Or did you rather have sort of a team overall in mind that, you know – ‘I wish someday we can play like these guys?’ What was it like for you?

SR: So, I mean, my idols were constantly, I shouldn't say changing, but someone I kept looking up to at the next level. So, when I was young there was a senior (in school) who was 15 years old, who was in the place I wanted to be, I would look up to them as an idol. Obviously, my really high goal/idols were WNBA players. But sometimes a WNBA player, I might not be able to connect with as much because they were so advanced compared to where I was, when I was 13 or 14. So, my idols kept changing, you could say.

Right ow, like I look up to Napheesa Collier (power forward for the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, five-time WNBA All-Star) from the WNBA. I used to look up to Candace (Nicole) Parker (former American professional basketball player, widely regarded as one of the greatest WNBA players of all time (three-time WNBA champion, two-time WNBA MVP, seven-time WNBA All-Star), I still do. So, there are a lot of people I keep looking up to, based on where I am in my career. I guess Napheesa Collier right now is who I want to be (like).

FP: So, Nafeesa is your biggest idol currently?

SR: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

FP: That's very practical. And I have to say a very wise way of looking at things as well, because most people have like this one idol from when they are kids to when they grow up. And that can sometimes actually be counterproductive, because if you fall short of certain expectations or if you have grown up 10 years down the line after your idol was at his/her peak – you'll say ‘still there's such a huge gulf between me and this person.’

SR: Yeah, it can be counterproductive. There are a lot of people who love Steph (Stephen Curry, regarded as the greatest shooter in basketball history, current point guard for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA, four-time NBA Champion, two-time NBA MVP, 12-time NBA All-Star) and I love him as well. But there'll be players who are like 6 feet 7 (inches tall). And then they're like – ‘I want to be a shooter’, but you should keep evolving and having other idols based on where you are in your life.

FP: That's a very mature way of looking at things. Now, we are, you could say, at the beginning of 2026, the whole year ahead of us. So, what next for you? What next for Sanjana Ramesh? What are the immediate big targets that you are focusing on?

SR: Currently, I'm just trying to get like really healthy. I've had a lot of really bad situations, with injuries, personal life etc. So, my goal right now is just to get very healthy - mentally, physically, emotionally. And once I get there, I really want to be – and this is pretty daring and might sound very condescending as well - but I want to be the face of the league that's coming up for the Women's League. I want to make sure I do my part in making sure that league is big. That I can promote it in my way.

Getting healthy is the number one priority for Indian basketball ace Sanjana Ramesh at present. Image credit: Sanjana Ramesh

I also want to play overseas, if I possibly can. But again, my first and most immediate priority is to just get healthy. I've also had shoulder injuries and (other) stuff recently. So, I want to make sure that I become 100 per cent healthy, then I look for how can I be a good media presence in a way. And also, the face of the league, playing overseas. So those are the steps for me.

FP: Right. You talked about the league that's coming up, and I can see how excited you are about that. So, and I'm assuming this is the emotion that everyone shared once the news was announced, that this league is coming to India, that it's going to be a franchise-based league. We have seen what that model has done for other sports, and how much it has improved other sports. So, it must have been the same for all of you.

SR: Yes, exactly. To be honest, for maybe a year or two, we were like – ‘this is too good to be true.’ But when we see it coming, we're like – ‘okay, it still feels too good to be true, but I just think there's a good chance it's going to happen.’ And it's going to change the sport in India. I mean, I'm not trash talking cricket, but it is a little slow sport. Basketball is really high-paced, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of excitement. And people just, you know, have to watch the sport. And when they see it in these leagues, it's really going to get a lot of attention. Like, you can watch giants play, Indians who are seven feet tall – where do you get to see that?