Friday September 21, 2012

345 teams turn out for AND1 3-on-3 basketball challenge

By FAZLEENA AZIZ
fazleena@thestar.com.my Photos by ART CHEN and M. AZHAR ARIFF

THE grand final of the AND1 Streetball Challenge saw one of the biggest turnouts with 345 teams participating at the Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.

It had five categories — boys’ Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18, men’s Under-25 and girls’ Under-18. The competition is sanctioned by Malaysia Basketball Association (MABA) and supported by the Kuala Lumpur Basketball Association (KLBA).

About 70 games were played with over 1,000 participants taking part in the AND1 3 on 3 Streetball Challenge.

The organisers of the event is Ossia World of Golf. Its executive director Saw Swee Leong said they were pleased with the response from the youngsters.

Fast-paced: The boys’ Under-18 category was exciting and nerve-wracking.

“We have been promoting this sport for the last nine years, so after investing many years, it didn’t go to waste. With the support of the association, we can make it bigger.

“It is great to see such an overwhelming participation this year but we have only five courts. We even had participants wanting to join in the last minute, however we can’t run so many games,” he said, adding it was a successful and encouraging event.

Meanwhile, event coordinator Susan Cheong attributed the use of Spalding ball as the key to bigger number of participants.

“We only targeted some 200 teams but we had a lot in the Under-14 and Under-15 categories. It could also be the fact the UPSR exam is over that we have more participants. “As a result of this huge turnout, about 70 games were played and the event had to be extended till night, otherwise we would have finished by 6pm,” she said.

Go for it: Players involved in a tussle for the ball during a game.

Winners of the boys’ Under-14 were Keelip BTC while Rapid came out tops in the Under-16 category.

In the girls’ Under-18 Survival were the champions followed by Trio, Height and Peanut Butter Jelly. PU were the champions in the boys’ Under-18, followed by T.C.N Players, Survival G and Freezz.

All the winners received AND1 products as well as cash prizes worth RM399 (champions), RM289 (runners-up) and RM239 for the second runners-up.

Meanwhile, StarMetro In Search of the Most Promising Player award went to Aaron Jared Ng and Garry Pang from the boys’ Under-14 category.

The In Search of Streetballer competition winners were Muhamad Mazlan, Lin Wai Kit and Mohd Taha Jelani, who got a one-year sponsorship with AND1.

During the grand final, Get Fit with Milo and lucky draw events were also held.

The sponsors were Milo (official beverage), Star-Metro (official media); Spalding (official ball); One FM (official radio) and Berjaya Times Square (official venue).

ROLL OF HONOUR

Boys’ Under-14

Champion: Keelip BTC

Runners-up: Slam Dunkers

Third placing: TLK

Fourth placing: Davidson Black

Boy’s Under-16

Champion: Rapid

Runners-up: DNA

Third placing: En Fuego

Fourth placing: H Red

Boys’ Under-18