Women’s team captain Bong Yik Kee receives the incentives from contingent leader Simon Wong (fifth left) as the team members and coach Ong Seng Huat (left) look on.
Men’s team captain Iversen Tu Chu Soon (fourth right) presents the champion’s trophy to Richard Wee (fourth left) while Sarawak Basketball Association president Michael Teo (third left), KDBA honorary president Wong Tiong Hock (third right), KDBA officials and players look on.
KUCHING: Kuching cagers have done the Kuching Division Basketball Association (KDBA) proud with their excellent run in this year’s Sarawak Inter-Division Men’s and Women’s Open Basketball Championship and the Sarawak Youth U17 Basketball Championship.
The men’s and women’s teams emerged champions in the Sarawak Inter-Division Men’s and Women’s Open in Bintulu (Nov 6-8) while the boys finished first runners-up and the girls were third in the Sarawak Youth U17 in Sibu (Aug 29-31).
KDBA president Richard Wee said the association was very pleased with the results of the players.
“We are proud of the achievements by our players in both inter-division meets but one thing I found odd was that the organisers of the Sarawak Inter-Division Men’s and Women’s Open have not stuck to the Sarawak Basketball Association (SBA) Constitution and spelt out the definition of the inter-division championship,” said Wee.
“Each division should be fielding a team from the division itself but at this year’s championship, there were some players from Miri playing for the Bintulu team. This should not be the case and SBA should look into this matter seriously,” he added.
“Although we lost to the Bintulu-Miri combined team by a few points, we are still happy with the outcome of the final result,” he said.
On the U17 teams, Wee said they had also done very well and that they will be continuously be groomed as they will form the backbone of the senior team one day.
KDBA chairman Voon Soon Liong also expressed his satisfaction with the players, especially the men who brought home the Men’s Open champion trophy.
“Some of the men cagers have certainly benefited from playing in the recent Yuwang EBL Basketball League and they overcame all odds to be crowned champions,” he said.
According to him, the women cagers stamped their dominance in the league competition by beating their opponents in each game by more than 20 points.
At the dinner, KDBA also presented incentives to the men’s and women’s teams.