Basketball is such a game in India that is not that much popular or even not very much well known to the general people as well. In fact, the game has not got a very strong position in the total scenario of Indian sports that has been dominated by some very much well known sports like the Athletics, Hockey, Cricket, Football etc. However, it is strange that though the position of this very sport is not that well, it became very much successful in producing a good number of "Arjuna Award" winning players. As far as the number of the winners concerned, the game of Basketball will remain amongst the top sports of India.

The journey of the game in the winners` list of the prestigious "Arjuna Award" started in 1961 when Sarbjit Singh won it. After him, Khushi Ram won the award in 1967 and Naib Sub. Gurdial Singh, Hav. Hari Dutt, Gulam Abbas Moontasir and Pilot Officer Man Mohan Singh followed him very successfully to win the award in the years of 1968 to 1971 respectively. Then after a year`s gap, the award was announced in the name of S.K. Kataria in the year of 1973 and again A.K. Punj and Hanuman Singh followed him to win the award in the years of 1974 and 1975 respectively.

After Hanuman Singh`s win, there was a gap of 2 years and in 1977-78, T. Vijayaraghawan claimed the award. Om Prakash won it in the very next year in 1979-80 and in 1982, the award was named after Ajmer Singh. After having a huge gap in the winners` list for the Basketball players, there was a double win for them in the year of 1991 when both Radhey Shyam and Ms. S Sharma received the award. Then there was again a big gap of about 8 years and in 1999, the award went to Sajjan Singh Cheema. Parminder Singh became the last winner of the "Arjuna Award" so far for the Badminton players when he won the award in the year of 2001.

From the discussion above, one thing is clear that in spite of not having a very strong position in the Indian sport scenario, the game of Basketball was quite successful in various regional and international competitions and it is also aiming to get a stronger and more popular place in the hearts of the Indian people.