Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
BRUNEI will be sending a young squad to contest at the upcoming 19th Borneo City Basketball Invitational Tournament 2017 (Borneo Cup) in Miri.
Ahmad Termizi Nordeen, Choo Yung Jian, Khoo Chin Kai and Soon Kian Leong, who were part of the Beruang Blazers team last season, together with the duo Benjamin Lim and Lim Aik Hock are the most senior in the team.
Ching Wei Ming, Darren Yap, Gary Goh, Gideon Fong, Glen Chong, Liew Chee Jean, Marcus Lim, Samuel Jong and Yeo Chun Kiat fill up the rest of the spots to complete the 15-man roster for the July 7-9 competition.
The team is led by coach Xavier Fong and have been training together for more than month in preparations for the annual tournament.
“We are trying to set up the national team but a lot of the seniors have job commitments and we cannot force them to join us,” said Fong in an interview with BruSports after a training session on Wednesday night.
“For this tournament we have selected quite a young team. We will try to push them up to another level.
“We want them to gain exposure and to have a chance to see how others teams outside play. Once we come back we will continue to work and train,” added Fong at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.
When asked about the training sessions, Fong replied: “We are pushing more on shooting and working on our stamina as much as possible.”
Brunei finished at the end of the standings of the four-team competition a losing all their matches last year.
Their best showing was in 2011 when they won the tournament to end their 13-year wait to lift the challenge trophy.
