There were no Indian teams competing in 3×3 basketball as the T20 version of the sport made its Commonwealth Games debut on Friday. However, someone linked to India still made history, scoring the first basket in the new sport which has been getting a lot of attention lately and has even been included in the Tokyo Olympics.
Bikramjit Gill, a Canadian of Indian descent, etched his name in the history books on Friday by scoring the first basket in the first-ever Commonwealth Games 3×3 basketball game. Canada beat Kenya 15-12 in the men’s first Pool A match at Smithfield on Friday.
“It feels good, man. I’ve written a bit of history at times in my career, but it was moving. This is in the three best moments of my life. It was phenomenal to open 3×3 at these Games. A lot of people can look past it, but sometimes you just have to live in the moment,” Gill said after the game.
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Gill said the atmosphere at the site was great despite it being played for the first time.
“The crowd gave us a lot of love and it was just great to be here. As far as location goes, it takes the cake. The whole setup here is amazing. Seeing 2,500 people in such an enclosed environment is very intimate. It’s just cool to feel like people are above you. And you hear everything,” he said.
Gill had recently grown out her hair as a symbol of her Sikh faith after cutting it for many years to mingle with the local crowd in Malton, Ontario. He is now the only Sikh-Canadian basketball player to compete at the professional level.
He comes from a basketball family as his father played for the Indian national team while his elder brother played college basketball in a college back home.
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