Norman Isaac becomes first Indian to be FIBA’s Technical Delegate

FIBA recently confirmed the appointment after Isaac, along with a select few aspirants from across the globe, successfully cleared a series of tests in Doha.

HYDERABAD ---11-07-2009 --* FOR : SPORTSTAR / REPORT: A. JOSEPH ANTONY - Norman Issac --PHOTO : P_V_SIVAKUMAR

Norman Isaac has become the first Indian ever to be promoted by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) as Technical Delegate (TD). The sport's worldwide governing body recently confirmed the appointment after Isaac, along with a select few aspirants from across the globe, successfully cleared a series of tests in Doha, Qatar.

In the official letter affirming his new status, he has been tasked with preparing for the preliminary rounds of matches in the qualifiers to kick off in November this year towards the first ever FIBA World Cup in China in 2019. The sport's mega quadrennial event has been modelled on the FIFA World Cup, with due care taken not to clash with the world's biggest spectacle or others such as the Olympics.

As a TD, he will be assigned to any country except his own and will be responsible for conduct of an entire event, ranging from actual competition management to every related aspect, from media arrangements to logistics.

As a FIBA Commissioner, conferred with the title at Muscat, Oman in 2006, his earliest assignments were in 2009 for the FIBA Asia girls Under-16 tournament in Pune and the FIBA Asia women's championship in Chennai. His last outing in that capacity was for the FIBA Asia Challenge Cup for men in Tehran, Iran in September last year.

As a ball-handler, he played his first senior Nationals in Ludhiana, Punjab in 1981 and represented Andhra Pradesh till 1992. Even if he didn't figure in the starting five, Isaac enjoyed great chemistry with former Indian captains Mohd. Rizwan and Harikrishna Prasad, who were colleagues and team-mates in the State Bank of India squad.

Post-playing days, he became a 'whistle-blower', joining the B panel of the Basketball Federation of India in 1993, graduating to the 'A' level as the only one of 13 to pass the exams in Guwahati in 1996. In 2001, he became a FIBA referee and officiated in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2002 and the FIBA Asia championship in Singapore in 2004.

In 2015, the BFI appointed him as its Chairman, Technical Commission.