NBA stars George Gervin, Katie Smith to visit India

Mumbai: NBA Hall of Famer George `The Iceman` Gervin and two-time WNBA Champion Katie Smith will visit Mumbai and New Delhi from February 22 to March 2.

The duo will conduct basketball clinics with Indian youth, meet with university students and participate in local community events. Gervin, a former San Antonio Spur, is a three-time NBA champion and was voted to the NBA`s 50 greatest players list in 1996. Smith is a six-time WNBA All-Star for the Washington Mystics.Their visit is part of the US Department of State`s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the National Basketball Association`s (NBA) 2011 sports envoy programme. In addition to participating in events with the US Department of State, Gervin and Smith will attend the finals of the Mahindra NBA Challenge, the multicity basketball league which the NBA conducts in collaboration with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), a press release said here on Wednesday.Current and former NBA and WNBA players will lead programmes in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Jordan, Congo, Uzbekistan and Venezuela during the 2011 sports envoy season. The full line-up of players will be released at a later date, it said. PTI