7-foot hoopster wins games and hearts

Interestingly, this is the third time the 22-year-old has won the award despite fighting brain tumour over the last four years. In the league matches, she scored 18, 41 and 44 points, against Southern Railway, Punjab and Telangana, respectively, and 57 points against West Bengal in the semi-finals, followed by 28 points in the final against Southern Railway, to help her team bag the championship. The lanky Poonam uses her height to good measure and leaves her rivals frustrated, for they know that one she gets ball possession, she is sure to convert it into points. She was the cynosure for the local crowd that came to root for their respective favourite teams. 

“I first saw the girl from Uttar Pradesh at the National Games at Rajnang in Chhattisgarh in 2010. She was 16 and six feet and five inches tall. She had the potential to excel with some expert coaching. It took three months for me to convince her father to send her to my sports hostel as it was in Chhattisgarh,” her coach Rajesh Patel told DTNext. 

Of the close to 20 girls staying in the basketball hostel, Poonam was the only vegetarian. “We prepared vegetarian food for her. Since then she has represented India four times. She played twice for the youth team and once each for Junior India and Senior India. She captained the Junior India team once. She has so far 11 gold medals in the last six years,” the proud coach added.

“She was at the Indian selection camp in Ahmedabad in 2013 when she suffered a severe bout of headache. An MRI scan revealed a brain tumour. Frequency and severity of headaches forced her to take a break from the game in 2013-14. In due course, her father decided to go for Ayurveda and acupressure treatment. She participates only in national level tournaments since she needs rest between her assignments and her Ayurveda sessions. “I am hopeful of completely recovering in two years. The India women’s team is in the fifth spot in Asia and 42nd internationally. I want to play for the country and take it to the top spot,” she concluded.