Indian-American leads charge against racist team owner

Mumbai-born Vivek Ranadive, the first and only Indian-American owner of a US National Basketball Association (NBA) team, is leading the charge against fellow team owner Donald Sterling accused of making racist comments.

Sacramento Kings owner Ranadive expects his fellow NBA owners will vote unanimously to force Sterling, who has been banned by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for life and fined $2.5 million, to sell the Los Angeles Clippers, ESPN reported.

Ranadive said Tuesday in a phone interview with ESPN.com that he thought Silver’s discipline against Sterling “sent a very clear, unequivocal and decisive message that we will have zero tolerance” for racist behaviour in the NBA.

After banning Sterling, Silver said he will press the other teams to force NBA’s longest-tenured owner to sell Los Angeles Clippers as part of the sanctions brought against him in response to his racist comments.