Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
BRUNEI-Muara A are aiming to at least make it into the knockout rounds of the inaugural National Basketball League.
They will open their campaign against Kuala Belait when the competition tips off today at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.
Head coach of Brunei-Muara A Pong Bing Chau is targeting a last-four berth in the six-team League, which replaces the Inter-District tournament which they won last year.
“The first step would be to make it into the semi-finals and after that we can only talk about the final,” said Pong in an interview with BruSports News earlier in the week.
“This time it is different compared to the previous year since it is contested in a league format.
“It is a challenge for me as well as the team since I have never led in team in this format before. I hope that we can still reach our target,” he added.
The Brunei Basketball Association had organised a three-day trial to select players and eventually splitting them up into three teams - Brunei-Muara A, Brunei-Muara B and Temburong.
It resulted in his side retaining only eight players from last year.
“We all wanted to give a chance to all the players to be able to represent the Brunei team,” explained Pong.
“We had a three-day try out to select the players and the BBA decided to have a team (Brunei-Muara B) consisting mostly of under 20 players with a few senior players.
"As for the Temburong team, there are a lot of new faces who have never had the chance to play in previous inter-district tournaments. We felt that it is a time to give them that opportunity,” he added.
When asked about the current lineup, Pong replied: “This year there are a lot of new faces in the Brunei-Muara A team coupled with some of the experienced national players such as Mizi, Wei Ming, Gideon and Ming Kwang.
“They will be the ones to guide the junior players like Tan Kun Hor, Benjamin Lim and Leong Hon Nyee,” he added.
Pong also picked out the Kuala Belait team as the favourites in the competition.
“Kuala Belait are still the team to watch out for as they have big men like Jan Ting and national team captain Ben Sim, who is a very good and experienced player,” he said.
“They also have Lim Liang Wei, who is a strong offensive player in Brunei basketball,” concluded Pong.
The League will tip off with Seria taking on Brunei-Muara B at 6pm followed by a matchup between Temburong and Tutong.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for 8.30pm with the clash between Brunei-Muara A and Kuala Belait to follow right after.
