Maba still out hunting for young talent

25/12/1998

THE Malaysia Amateur Basketball Association (Maba) are eyeing two golds at
the 2001 Sea Games, and with it will ride the future of basketball in
Malaysia.
"That will be the starting point for basketball in Malaysia, after that
we will target for medals at the 2006 Asian Games which Malaysia are
bidding," said a confident Maba president, Datuk Loke Yuen Yow.
As for 1998, basketball was among the "almost there" sport and is best
forgotten.
Although faced with a dearth of new talent, the women cagers were one
step ahead of their male counterparts.
At the Jakarta Sea Games, the women ended a 10-year drought by beating
defending champions Thailand in a close encounter. So close that for the
watching VIPs, Sports Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin and chef-de-mission
Datuk Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob, the match was a nail-biting affair.
On the other hand, the Malaysian men, who clawed their way to the final,
found it hard to contain the superior Filipinos and settled for silver.
That was as good as the year went for the national cagers.
Malaysia are currently not among the Asian basketball powers and did not
even qualify for the Bangkok Asian Games, but Maba feel there is still
hope.
The introduction of the Malaysian Basketball League for women was one of
the steps towards the realisation of the association's objectives.
Three women's teams joined the five men's in this year's edition of the
MBL but at the end of the day, it was noted that there is much work to be
done if the women want to win medals at a higher level.
For a start, Maba did not even have enough women cagers to form three
teams. They had to source players from the junior ranks to field decent
sides.
Loke has single-mindedly pursued the objective of finding tall cagers in
Malaysia for the past five years; never mind the lukewarm response his
earlier programmes have received.
"We will go to the States and villages again and again until we have a
big pool of tall players. Lodging and scholarships will be provided for
those selected and they will be taught the basics of basketball," said
Loke.
To achieve their target and get a wider coverage, Maba organised a
State-wide three-on-three on a multiracial basis and teams could only
compete if they had two non-Chinese cagers in their side.
But all these lofty plans came to naught.
Malaysia were ranked fourth in Asia back in 1977 but it has been
downhill since. Back then the mistake was placing too much emphasis on the
national team with no plans for a back-up pool - and that is still the
problem today.
(END)