Wednesday, February 10, 2010

November 18, 2009 20:23 PM

Into The Ring Of Fire

JOHOR BAHARU, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- By their own admission the Malaysians know where they stand among the giants of Asian basketball when the 1st Fiba Asia U-16 championship for men gets underway at the City Council Indoor stadium here Thursday.

While Thailand, their opening Group D opponent Wednesday night, remains within reach, the other two -- Chinese Taipei and Iran -- are formidable opponents whose sheer size and height alone are indeed a mountain to climb.

The Iranians with an average height of 1.91m are just about the tallest in the 16-team competition and given their tradition and reputation in the sport, they should remain a hot favourite.

The Chinese Taipei squad are also very well drilled and given their tradition and the popularity of the game back home, they are no pushovers for sure.

Malaysia on the other hand have assembled a squad whose lack of height and size is all too glaring. Only their fighting spirit, as coach Chua Kok Kian puts it, remains intact.

"We definitely are no match for our opponents when it comes to physical comparison. In short we know we are in for some tough times in the tournament.

"So we know we have to rely on our speed, agility and the determination to see us through," he added.

Malaysia is skippered by Sabah's Ang Vui Hang who stands at 1.83m with the two big centres -- the 1.93m Ivan Yeo and Loh Shee Weng at 1.91m -- leading the charge.

"We took part in an invitational tournament here two weeks ago and the results and performances gave us hope. Also we played the Jordanian team who are also in the championship three days ago in Kuala Lumpur and we lost 58-60.

"Of course the Asian meet is different but we are determined to put up a good show," added Chua.

But China, the giant of Asian basketball, remains the favourite to lift the title.

Their squad, which included the talented trio of Gao Shang, Ju Mingxin and Xu Tao, who are all members of their age group National team since three years ago, will provide the backbone of the squad.

The Chinese have Saudi Arabia, Jordan and India for company and should have no problem finishing within the top two for a ticket into the second round.

Kazakstan in Group B are a team packed with the height and size needed to wear down opponents and together with Japan, good enough for a second round berth.

The South Koreans in Group C looks good, and together with Syria, the two of them should edged out Singapore and Kuwait for a ticket into the second round.

-- BERNAMA

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