Singapore Cagers blow away Taiwanese opposition in training tour

Story by Ian Chew/Red Sports

A stern Taiwanese test awaits the Cagers team before the Cagers Asia Basketball Challenge.

The Cagers basketball team prepared for their upcoming competition in the best possible way – maintaining a near-perfect record in their Taiwan training tour match-ups.

Organised by their team manager, the one-week training stint involved all the members of the team, including the entire coaching staff, packing off to Taiwan on 19 June. The trip is to prepare them before their first major test when they face three other teams – Segamat Rimba Timor, Malaysian Junior Mens team and Indonesia’s Cahaya Lestari Surabaya (CLS) – in the Cagers Asia Basketball Challenge. The event is scheduled for June 27-29 at the Jurong East Sports Complex.

The Cagers’ six-wins-and-one-draw record was all the more astounding when considering the opposition: four top-8 senior high school teams and two matches against a professional Taiwanese league team. All these came on top of a gruelling two-match per day schedule which aimed to maximise the players’ exposure to as many high quality matches as possible.

Of the four wins, the most gratifying one must be the double victory against the Taiwanese professional outfit Taiwan Beer, the current basketball league champions in Taiwan.

Said Oh Thian Soon, assistant head coach of the Cagers about the 93-89 and 114-98 wins on Saturday and Sunday evenings respectively against Taiwan Beer:

“This must be one of exceptionally rare times that any Singaporean team has faced off with a team of such quality and come away with a double win!”

“Although Taiwan Beer’s Wu Dai Hao and Ha Xiao Yuan turned out for us, the rest of our Singapore youngsters performed heroics in standing toe-to-toe with the Taiwanese giants. This can only bode well for the future of our team!”

The Cagers training tour had enjoyed a dream start when they beat Neng Ren Jia Shang 98-88, one of the premier basketball Senior High school teams in Taiwan. Subsequent victories came against Jun Yi Senior High (75-58), Min Xin University (82-52) and a draw against Song Shan Senior High (87-87).

They then wrapped up their tour with an 82-65 win over Nan Shan Senior High School (who came in second in this year’s Senior High competition) before returning to Singapore on 23 June.

Mighty impressive stuff, for a training tour.

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The Cagers were given a rousing welcome at Jun Yi Senior High, where the players were treated like stars. Some girls even requested hugs from the strapping youths. Here Han Bin is seen making a fan’s day!

The Cagers also took some time out for other charitable activities.

Wu Zhi Wei (in blue) and Zeng Wen Ding, both from Yulong basketball club. They are two of the imposing Taiwanese centres with Cagers head coach Ng Choon Hong.