Return of the prodigal son

It all started in this city for Robin — at the St Xavier’s school at Athwa Lanes — not too far from where the 59th senior nationals are currently underway. Then a 13-year-old, he couldn’t get into his school football team because his shoe size was an uncommon 11. Raju Balawala, a basketball coach with the South Gujarat university, suggested the boy to try out his sport. 15 years later, Indian shoe-making franchises connected to cagers fall over themselves to stitch the perfect shoe fit for India’s famous size 14 and Surtis are thronging the stadium to watch one of their local boys strut his stuff.

“It’s good to be back in action because this is where I belong,” Robin says, speaking both of his return to active play and of his first national-level tourney in hometown Surat, where his family continues to reside.

“The place that nurtures you is bigger than the region you belong to based on language. So, Surat is obviously special. Plus, I like the lifestyle — khaao, piyo, aish karo, it’s full of jolly people,” the 28-year-old adds.

Keen to turn the tide

It is where he exhales deeply and breathes easy, Robin says, and he is keen that the tide of his fortunes turns with these nationals. Constructor of some of India’s best international wins in the last decade, Robinson frittered away a starry career, owing to intransigent attitude — of officials and his own. He drifted towards a mucky stint with Chennai’s private club — Writer’s, fought legal battles, but more hurtingly, lost two precious years of his career.

“That pains me the most, but I’ve learnt my lessons, and the time spent away helped me take a long, hard look at what I wanted. Now I’m back with Indian Overseas Bank, and though I lost my seniority, I feel at home,” he says.

Robin also figures in national coach Alexander Bucan’s scheme of things, and worked on regaining peak fitness at the India camp last year. More comfortable in defence and blocks, the responsibility after being appointed TN captain has made him even more selfless on the court.

Besides the dunking Shaq O’Neill engraved on his left arm, another tattoo has come up on the right calf — that of a dragon. The galleries might rise to his showman dunking, but Robin’s real power lies in the rare upper-lower limb coordination, which makes him rather speedy for someone that big.

And in a city known for its diamond-cutters, Robin is keen to polish all the rough edges that made his basketball career a start-stop affair.

Results:

Men: Level I: ‘B’: TN 81 (Vineeth Revi Mathew 14, CV Dinesh 14, S Robinson 12) bt UP 59 (Arjun Singh 24, Rajneesh Singh 18, Santhosh Kumar 13); ‘A’: Uttarakhand 86 (Trideep Rai 26, Riazuddin 21, M. Anup 17) bt Kerala 61 (R Manoj 21, V Vivek 10, Bobit Mathew 10).

Level II: Delhi 78 (Sunil Kumar 22, Pramod Kumar 12, Aditya Biswas 15, Navdeep Yadav 10) bt Gujarat 71 (Rikin Pethani 24, Dishant Shah 17, Swapnil Thakur 17); Chhatisgarh 69 (Kiranpal Singh 26, Pratham Singh 22) bt Assam 48 (Kapil Punia 17, Satpal Singh 16).