Basketball player Ulhas Satyanarayan a step closer to his NBA dream, Serbia’s Novi Pazar a much-needed pitstop

In India, we often associate basketball with the USA and NBA only. But there’d not be a bigger mistake than this — since the sporting giants were nearly beaten at these Paris Olympics by Serbia in the semis. In fact, for that matter, the European nation Serbia also isn’t just famous for tennis star Novak Djokovic, who has 24 Grand Slams to his name.

Ulhas Satyanarayan to Play in Serbia Cup

The Serbian men’s basketball team has won at least a bronze medal at every Olympics since 2016, and have been the USA’s greatest rivals for some time now. The players are one of the strongest in the world, who possess the greatest of skillset too. And now, an Indian hoopster will play with those players soon. Ulhas Satyanarayan, the Delhi boy is all set to play in the Serbian Cup for team Novi Pazar.

I have signed a professional basketball contract for 2024-25 season with Novi Pazar Salamander team in a Division 1 Serbian basketball league called Kosarkaske Lige Srbije (KLS) in Serbia, Europe. Making it my third year in Europe
Thank you to all for all the support 🙏 pic.twitter.com/Ru70L0IqvI

— K.S Ulhas (@ks_ulhas) August 12, 2024

Speaking exclusively to InsideSport, Ulhas revealed that the call from the club came nothing short as a surprise, but will go a long way in making his NBA dream come true. In fact, he went out of the way to train in Serbia, to know the team, coaches, players, culture and even get acclimatized to the cold and harsh weather there.

“Yes, I’ll be the first one from India to play in Serbia, in the top division. And that is huge, considering not many from our country get this opportunity. TBH, that also happened because I was playing in Moldova, and then moved to England to play for the University of Westminster. There I played till 2019.

Novi Pazar Signs India Basketball Player

“See, if I was playing in Delhi or anywhere in India, there was a high chance that this move wouldn’t have happened. But because I was already playing in Europe, for Gloria, and in Malta for Valletta Fighters, I was there in the market. All my stats were for everyone to see and were available on web. So I think I fit the bill with Novi Pazar in Serbia,” an ecstatic Ulhas said.

But this isn’t the first time any Indian basketball player has headed abroad to play. But somehow, they haven’t been at their best, and haven’t stayed there for long periods of time. We all have heard names of Satnam Singh, Sim Bhullar, and Princepal Singh, who were initially selected in the NBA, but couldn’t quite make it big. The 26-year-old has his own theory to this.

“Just like every other kid who plays basketball in India, I want to play in the NBA too. But then there is a journey I need to complete, before I reach there. There were others too, who made it to the USA, but then got lost, after some time. I want to be ready for the NBA, and my eight-month contract will help me get there,” Ulhas added.

Mind you, Ulhas might be only 6’1, and one of the shortest players in the Serbian League, but then he has proved himself enough already, that he belongs. In Moldova, playing for Gloria, he emerged as the second highest points scorer for his team, while they finished third overall. He was the skipper for his University of Westminster team too, and was named international player of the year. Of course, he made it to the Indian team couple of years back, for the FIBA Asia World Cup Qualifiers.