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Wednesday October 7, 2009

Malaysian cagers up against unknown in opener

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Malaysia will be in uncharted waters when they take on China Zhuhai Duty Free En­­ter­prise Group in their opening match of the second Malaysia In­­ter­national Basketball Cham­pion­ships, which begin today at the Maba Stadium here.

National coach Goh Cheng Huat said that they had no knowledge of their opponents, who are making their debut in the championships.

“Besides that, we only began training about three weeks ago and did not play a single friendly match in preparation for this tournament,’’ he said.

The other teams in the fray for the five-day championships are Chinese Taipei Pure Youth Construction, Hong Kong, the Philippines Pharex and Korea Chosun University.

Cheng Huat, who guided the team to win the inaugural tournament last year, added that without the services of two foreign players, Australia-based American forwards Jamal Brown and Brad Bridgewater, Malaysia would start as the underdogs.

“Maba (Malaysia Basketball Association) have opted for an all-local line-up this time. We will definitely have a difficult tasks in our defence of the title,” he said.

The national team are also without the services of three experienced players – Soo Eng Heng, Tan Kian Hoong and Ooi Ban Sin.

Cheng Huat said that the injured Eng Heng would assist him in training the team while Kian Hoong and Ban Sin were unable to play in the tournament because of work commitments.

“But I am glad to welcome the return of two point-guard players – Chai Chze Hian and B. Guganeswaran,” he said.

This year’s edition will also feature a women’s competition with four teams in the fray – Malaysia, Chinese Taipei Li Hai San Senior Middle High School, China Guangzhou Youth and Singapore Home United.

The women’s competition begins on Friday.

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