6 days ago
Playing in WNBA is the bigger goal
Harsimran Kaur (WNBA)
Having just signed for Greek basketball club Esperides Kallitheas, Harsimran 'Honey' Kaur Dhami is set to become the first Indian female to play professional basketball in Europe.
In a sport where statistics make for hot discussion, she must like the sound of that stat.
'I mean, who wouldn't?' she replies with a chuckle in a telephonic chat with TOI . 'Like, it's definitely great to hear. I always wanted to do that. But at the same time, it's a lot of pressure to kind of carry because you're really just representing your whole country. I wouldn't want anyone else to have that pressure but me, I think that's definitely just all the work that I put in.'
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Pressure, however, is something the 22-year-old Honey has learnt to accept over the years. It's something she was trained, and trained hard to endure by a father, who, in her own words, didn't treat her 'like a daughter', right from her introduction to basketball as a 7-year-old.
'Growing up in the small town Kapurthala in Punjab, there was not really a woman's team anywhere. So it's just watching my dad every day, because he used to play basketball.
So he would go to practice every day and I would just go with him, stand by the pool and just watch him play.'
Considering it to be a 'weird game' at first, curiosity got the better of the innocent 7-year-old girl and she soon prodded her father, and asked if she could join him and his group. It was not exactly an ideal beginning. 'I'm playing with these 40-yearold, 35-year old dudes and they're like beating me up and I'm thinking, 'this is not for me, what is this? what am I doing'? And my dad would go, 'just put the ball in the hoop'.
Poll
Do you believe that representation of women in sports is important?
Absolutely!
Somewhat important.
Not really.
It was simply the first of many sporting lessons Sukhdev Singh Dhami would go on to teach his daughter.
Excited as she is about starting a new chapter of this inspiring story in Greece, Honey remains in pursuit of a bigger goal.
'The job is not done yet. Like, I haven't touched the WNBA yet. I know it's a big deal to be Europe's first Indian female player, but I think it would be an even, even, even, even bigger deal if I became the first Indian to ever play WNBA.'
Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
