Hard-working Ibrahim Ali hopes to make a mark

Bengaluru, January 9: Hailing from a humble background 14-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Ali has been fighting hard to make a mark in the world of basketball. He lives in a fleeting small house Kolkata. His father Barkat Ali has a fast food shop beside his house. He runs a family of four.

Along with his wife he has two more daughters and Ibrahim. The 38-year old Barkat was once a cricket player. He had represented a second division club in the Kolkata league. But he did not want to continue with the game as he was aware of his struggle and also realised that time that he would have earn anyway to create his own footings.

That is why Barkat initially felt anxious when he saw his son Ibrahim’s desire to rush towards basketball court immediately after returning from school or when he returned late from school after having played basketball with his friends.

Barkat also wanted his son to establish his career through studies like other normal kids. But Ibrahim had a different objective. He became so passionate with the game that one evening he impressed all the viewers including his father through an excellent performance in one of his local clubs. Then he did not have look back.

Barkat gave all his time and money for the promotion of his son by getting him admitted in two centres simultaneously. One was in Sports Authority of India (SAI) under Tirthesh Guha and the other place was Chatra Samity Club. Ibrahim had a gruelling session for two years where he maintained training and study together and his session began at 5 in the morning and ended at 9.30 at night!

Speaking about his son Barkal said on Tuesday, “It has been a dream for all of us that Ibrahim got a chance in NBA academy in Greater Noida. The selection trial took place in May last year. Out of 21 boys selected from all over the country Ibrahim was only one from Bengal to have ensured a place there. I am optimistic that one day Ibrahim will be taking part in NBA Premier League in USA and our struggle will come to end.”

The player who was in Kolkata for a couple of days said on Tuesday, “Last July NBA superstar Kevin Durant had visited our academy. We all were overwhelmed after meeting him. We shook hands with him. He had given us the belief that we also will be able to play in the NBA Premier League in USA if we do hard work.”