Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Basketball in Bombay: Muslim girls netting the ball for NBA


Afsana Mansuri, lives in a slum, works as domestic help in houses where she washes utensils, studies and still gets time for her passion--basketball.

She is the source of strength for five other ambitious Muslim girls who leapt into the basketball court where they practice for hours under the floodlights, reports Shailendra Awasthi in the Indian Express.

Apart from her, there are other girls too. Zarin Rangwala, Nurunnisa Khan, Sumaiya Sheikh, Afreen and Rehana, are all members of the NBA.

Of course, this NBA stands for Nagpada Basketball Association. that startled Mumbai's fancy club teams to reach the semis of the district level tournament on debut recently.

No hi-fi shoes but just basic gear and grit, writes Awasthi. The coach Abdul Rashid says that just to ensure no Maulana objects to girls playing, we told them to wear track pants.

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