Toronto Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia promotes Canada's Olympic basketball hopes

If you saw any of the Toronto Raptors' National Basketball Association championship run last summer, you would have seen Nav Bhatia along for every moment. 

Bhatia, a Toronto-based businessman who immigrated to Canada from India in 1984, became an informal Raptors ambassador after attending every single home game in the team's quarter-century existence. The team returned the love when he became the first fan in NBA history to be gifted a championship ring from team president Masai Ujiri.

Now Bhatia has taken on a new role helping promote Team Canada during the International Basketball Federation's (FIBA) Olympic Qualifying Tournament which will take place in Victoria this June. 

He spoke with host Gloria Macarenko on CBC's On The Coast about Canada's Olympic chances, wearing the ring and the death of Kobe Byrant.

You went to your first Raptors game in 1995. What was it about that game that drew you in?

The first few years [as an immigrant], you take time to acclimatize and the first thing is you want to buy a home and make sure there's a roof on you. So after I did that in '95, I was very comfortable and then the Raptors arrived so I decided to try and experiment with two tickets.

I went on the first day — and it is the best game on this earth. Two and a half hours. You're in a different zone. You don't even remember your wife or anybody else, [or] all the stress. 

This was my love at first sight.

Tell me about that ring you're wearing, Nav.

So this ring is an expensive ring, but it's not what the value of the ring is — which is $65,000 — it is the emotions and what it represents. I told them I'm accepting this ring on behalf of all the Raptors fans.

The players got 13 rings and all their rings are in the safe. My ring is the only ring which is outside. So I want to make sure that I share with as many fans as I can because it belongs to them as much as it belongs to me.

What went through your mind when you heard the death of Kobe Bryant?

This is a big loss for the world because he was a legend. The sad part is he was retired but his second half of his journey in life, he would have taken to a different legacy.

The last game he came to Toronto on December 11th, 2015, and played a game in Toronto. He acknowledged me before the game [and afterwards] he comes and hugs me and he says 'Superfan, thank you for what you have done for the game of basketball [for] diversity. You brought so many different cultures into the game.'

So here you are in Vancouver helping to promote Team Canada during the upcoming Olympic qualifying basketball tournaments in Victoria in June.  What are your thoughts on this year's team?

For the last 20 years we have never qualified for an Olympic [Games]. This is our opportunity, as everybody knows that there are over 15 NBA players from Canada.

We have the country behind this. We have the province behind it. We have the city of Victoria behind it. We have Coach [Nick] Nurse, the championship coach, going to be coaching it. We have the commitment from the players.

We have already been World Champions with the Raptors. Now my dream is to win a medal for Canada Basketball.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.