Bikramjit Gill, cager of Indian origin, scripts history in CWG's debut 3x3 basketball game

3×3 Basketball made its debut at Commonwealth Games 2022, but the T20 version of the sport has no Indian team featuring in the event. Despite no Indian presence in the competition, a person with an Indian connection still made history, by scoring the first basket in the new sport. 3×3 Basketball made its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and after the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham 2022, the sport is all set to make its presence felt at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics.

Bikramjit Gill makes history at CWG 2022

Bikramjit Gill, a Canadian basketball player of Indian origin, made a mark on the history books on Friday by scoring the first basket in the Commonwealth Games’ first ever 3×3 basketball match. The athlete went on to score five points for the team. Canada beat Kenya 15-12 in the opening men’s Pool A match which was played at Smithfield. He is also the only Sikh-Canadian basketball player competing at the professional level.

After the match, Gill said, “It feels good, man. I’ve made a bit of history in my career at times, but this was emotional. It’s in the top-three moments of my life. It felt phenomenal to open up 3×3 at these Games. A lot of people might look past it, but sometimes you’ve just got to be living in the moment."

Speaking about the crowd present inside that venue, he said, “The crowd gave us a lot of love and it was just awesome to be here. Venue-wise, this takes the cake. The whole setup here is amazing. To see 2,500 people in such an enclosed environment — it’s very intimate. It’s just cool to have the people feel like they’re on top of you. And you hear everything," 

About 3×3 basketball event at Birmingham Games 2022

A total of 16 basketball teams – eight men’s and eight women’s – will be battling for glory in the 3×3 basketball event from July 29 to August 2. Coming to the rules of the game, every team should have three players and one substitute, with shots scored from inside the arc-shaped zone resulting in one point and those taken from behind the arc adding two points to the score. The first team to 21 points wins. If no team reaches the score after ten minutes, the team in the lead is declared the winner. Canada entered Birmingham Games 2022 as the highest-ranked country in both the men’s (23) and women’s (16) competitions.