NEW DEHLI (India) - At just 28 years of age, Amjyot Singh is already a true veteran for the India national team. He’s been one of the most familiar faces on the national team over the past decade with four Asia Cup appearances and is looking to add on to that number as a leader on this current young team.

“I used to play cricket before,” said Amjyot during a live interview on Instagram with @FIBAAsiaCup. Cricket is arguably the most popular sport in India, but a turn of events led Amjyot to basketball… and future stardom.

“My father was a basketball player. I was doing rehab because I got injured, so from that I used to go with my father and started playing basketball from there.”

Even though it might have not been the popular choice at the time, Amjyot made the correct decision in hindsight. He quickly made a name for himself in the India basketball circle, listing his first time wearing the India national team jersey in 2006 as one of his favorite basketball moments ever.

Later in 2011, Amjyot played in his first ever FIBA Asia Cup - at just 19 years old.

“It was very exciting,” he said of the moment. “I was very excited from day one because I was cut from the team before and then at the last moment I was told I was in the team. When I was watching the other players play, like the first match was I think against Lebanon, so it was like we can do better, we can do better. It was a very memorable tournament because the coaches took us to all the matches and we used to watch like Yi Jian Lian, Haddadi, and all the great players play and they’re still doing great for such a long time.”

That first appearance led to another and another… and another. After 4 Asia Cups for a total of 24 games with solid averages of 13.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game, Amjyot has firmly placed himself as an important part of the national team.

That was evident once again when he played in the Asia Cup Qualifiers for the first time in the recent bubble. In two competitive games, Amjyot averaged 20.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

For Amjyot, it was just good to be back.

“It’s always a pleasure to play for india and it’s been an honor for me to play for the team for such a long time. I think after coming back from the US and giving my experience to the India was a big thing for me.”

The upcoming window of the Qualifiers is the final opportunity for India to keep their Asia Cup hopes alive. With Lebanon and Bahrain already locking up the top two spots in Group D (and direct Asia Cup 2021 qualification), the big deciding match will be against Iraq.

“I think I’m very confident in myself and my team because we have been working hard for the past month and we’ve been working on the stuff that is missing,” Amjyot and. “Hopefully, our young talent can come up and bring energy and our veterans can give experience. Hopefully, we can win one of the matches and still grab third place.”

“I just want the fans to know that we’re working really hard and giving it our 100% and whatever we have in our team. We are doing great with it and if there are no injuries and all players are healthy, I think we can do wonders in the upcoming games.”

There’s also a lot of hope for the youngsters that got their chance to play for India in the recent games. Amjyot, as a former promising prospect himself, assures that this group is worth checking out.

“The biggest bright spot [from the past window] was that we had a young team,” Amjyot said. “We’re doing great and they were getting a lot of experience because for a long time they couldn’t play basketball and couldn’t even touch a basketball. Our youngsters were getting more chances and we could compete against Lebanon and Bahrain.”

“If we would have won one or two matches, it would have been good for us, but at least the experience counts for the upcoming matches.”

“I think Princepal [Singh] has a great future. Amaan [Sandhu] has a great future, the young guys.”

“With the exposure of FIBA, now the younger players are given chance in the India national team, so I think now they have a very good chance to become a superstar in Asia.”

They can be sure to trust their big brother Amjyot. He’s skyrocketed from being that young kid back in Asia Cup 2011 to being a professional player in different countries from Japan to the US in the G-League. He’s had to adapt to different cultures both on and off the court and it’s helped him grow.

These experiences have become lessons for Amjyot to become a better basketball player and he hopes to pass on those lessons to his younger teammates.

“The main thing is you shouldn’t have to be working on a lot of moves,” he said as advice for the eager young players. “You should have 2-3 moves that you should be perfect at. You shouldn’t be doing a lot of things like changing your game and stuff. You need to have only 2-3 moves which are your perfect moves, your go-to moves.”

“I’ll just [tell them to] keep dreaming and keep working hard, anything is possible. If I can achieve it, you can also achieve it, too.”

Make sure to check out the full talk with Amjyot on Instagram where he also discussed his favorite food, teammate, artists, and basketball skills!