19/11/1997
THE Malaysia Basketball Association (MABA) have issued a "tall" order to
the 23 teams who will feature in their Under-16 Youth Championships on Dec
3-13 at the new Paroi hall in Seremban.
There are 12 teams in the boys competition and one penalty point will be
deducted from teams that fail to produce an average height of 180cm. It is
166cm for the girls team.
And for a team failing to include a tall talent player in the team, the
team will have a quarter point deducted from their total points scored.
These deductions are only for the preliminary round.
"We have decided to try out the new rules in line with our Tall Talent
programme," said Maba secretary-general Yeoh Choo Hock in Kuala Lumpur
yesterday.
"There might be some problems initially, but if we don't make an attempt
we would never know. This a bold step to make sure that there is a steady
pool of tall and able reserves for the national team."
Maba's Tall Talent programme which was launched in December 1995 is a
all-year round effort to get tall youngsters to play basketball. Those
selected to this programme are trained daily at Maba House in Kuala Lumpur
under Maba expense.
All State BAs were actively encouraged to find talent under this
programme.
The programme has produced players like Ng Joo Lay, 19, who captained
the national team to the Asian Basketball Confederation Youth
Championships in Johor Baru last year and Masri Redza Iskandar, 18, a
national trainee.
Maba will organise a clinic for coaches and officials one day before the
championships to familiarise them with the introduction of the new rules.
Some of the States have experimented with this rule and Yeoh said that
most know what is required. "But the clinic will make sure that there is
minimum confusion on tournament day," said Yeoh.
Last year, the youth championships were held in Kuching and Kedah
finished tops in the boys' division while Johor were the runners-up. In
the girls' competition, Selangor won the title when they beat Kuala Lumpur
in the final.
Yesterday, Milo handed over RM100,000 in cash and RM20,000 in kind to
help organise the championships for the sixth year.
Boys Group A: Kedah, Perak, Kuala Lumpur, Perlis; Group B: Johor,
Pahang, Sabah, Penang; Group C: Sarawak, Selangor, Malacca, Negri
Sembilan.
Girls Group A: Selangor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan; Group B: Kuala Lumpur,
Pahang, Perak, Sabah; Group C: Sarawak, Johor, Penang, Kedah.
(END)
