Indian national team centre Amritpal Singh, who has been included on the roster of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) team Sydney Kings, is the latest among a bunch of players from the country who have grabbed the opportunity to improve their skills by playing abroad.
Gursimran 'Sim' Bhullar was the first player of Indian origin to play for an NBA team, when he appeared for the Sacramento Kings in a few pre-season matches in 2014. The 7'5" centre's appearances have since been restricted to the Development League and he played professionally in Taiwan in 2016. Besides, Bhullar is a Canadian citizen and represents their national team.
The following six players have blazed a trail for India by venturing abroad and setting new benchmarks for their compatriots in the process.
Kavita Akula (point guard)
Kavita went from Chhattisgarh to the IMG Academy in Florida in 2010 at the age of 14. She now turns out for the NCAA's Grand Canyon Antelopes team in the Western Athletic Conference, based out of Phoenix, Arizona. In doing so, she became the first Indian woman to be a part of the NCAA, which has been a feeder for some of the best athletes across all of American sports.
Kavita has also been a regular with the national team in recent years, and at 21 has the potential to carry Indian hopes for the next decade in the sport. She was India's third-highest assist-provider during their victorious Division B campaign in the FIBA Asia Cup recently in Bengaluru.
Satnam Singh (centre)
Satnam enrolled at a basketball academy in Ludhiana, Punjab when he was 10 years old. He later joined Kavita at the IMG Academy in the 2010 batch, and was the 52nd pick the 2015 NBA draft for the Dallas Mavericks.
Still just 19, Satnam joined his team for the 2015 NBA Summer League and has since been playing in the D-League for the Texas Legends. He has also been an India team regular since 2011, having first turned out for the Under-16 team in 2009.
Barkha Sonkar (point guard)
Twenty-year-old Barkha turned out for the Indian senior team in a major FIBA event for the first time at the recent Asia Cup, and her numbers were better in terms of assists (4.5 per game) than anybody else in her team and the second-best overall.
Barkha, who plays for the Hawks at the Hillsborough County, Florida, participates in the lower divisions of college basketball within the United States, but her impressive performances for India at the Under-16, Under-18 and now the senior level suggest bigger things in years to come for the 5'2" powerhouse.
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (shooting guard)
Varanasi-born Bhriguvanshi was one of the youngest to turn out for the Indian senior men's team when he was picked for the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship in China. His consistent performances for India aside, his first big break came during his time with the Bengaluru Beast in the United Basketball Alliance, particularly a match in the 2017 season where he scored 57 points and 11 assists against Hyderabad.
Before Amritpal's association with the NBL, the Adelaide 36ers had sought to bring Bhriguvanshi on board in July this year. But the India international has only been part of the training roster as yet.
Anmolpreet Kaur (centre)
Seventeen-year-old Anmolpreet was one of the reasons the Indian team at the recent FIBA women's Asia Cup had an average age of just 23.
The 6'1" Anmolpreet studies at and turns out for the Togakuen High School in Japan. She was used sparingly by the Indian management during the Asia Cup in Bengaluru -- 14 of the 32 minutes that she played cumulatively coming in a group match against Sri Lanka. Anmolpreet's pace and strength helped her score 14 points, half of them off rebounds.
Amjyot Singh (forward)
Amjyot, 25, was born in Chandigarh with sports in his genes -- his mother having been an athlete and his father a basketball player -- and aspired to be a cricketer in his younger days.
But an injury sustained in high school saw Amjyot miss out on cricket for three months. Basketball was the sport he then turned to, ending in selection to the state and national Under-16 teams in 2008. In 2015-16, the 6'8" Amjyot turned out for Tokyo Excellence in the Japanese league, and in 2016 he become the first Indian to be selected for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour finals.