Story by Alan Chiang/Red Sports. Photos by Koh Yizhe and Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.
15 year old Tok Hui Min (Singapore, #7) had trouble getting past China’s Jun Jiabao (China, #7) throughout the match. She was Singapore’s top scorer with seven points. (Photo 1 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Anglican High School, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - Mighty China dominated the court once again in the FIBA 33 Basketball competition at the Asian Youth Games as they took out the Singapore girls team 33-7 in under eight minutes of regulation time.
China were able to score 19 points by the end of the first period, more than half of the 33 points required for victory. The huge contribution allowed China to seal a victory within the next few minutes.
Despite a clear difference in height, Singapore were able to win the tip-off at the start through Hannah Ng (#9). However, they did not take full advantage of the first possession as they chalked up a shot-clock violation while trying to break through China's defence.
The Chinese then immediately took their chances and sprang to an 8-0 run with points coming from everywhere on court. Singapore replied with her first points through two free throws from Tok Hui Min (#7).
Nevertheless, China had a 14-point lead by the end of the first period after several good combination plays between their trio of Shen Yi (#4), Ma Xueya (#5) and Jin Jiabao (#7).
China began the second period smoothly as they extended their lead to 20 points after just 1:11 of play. Hui Min was able to add another two consolation points for Singapore before China broke away with eight more points, mainly through Jiabao who possessed impressive speed and agility, to clinch a victory.
Chiang Chih Ning, the Singapore coach, said, "I am still okay with our performance but it can be better."
With regards to the opponents, she added, "Their (China's) standard is very different as they have professional training."
Yu Long Nyu, Singapore's team manager also spoke up, "China is clearly the hot favourites. But we have prepared the girls with our assistant coach Zhou Lei modifying tactics to play against them."
Singapore's captain, Sharlene Huang (#13), was proud of her team as she said, "It was very intimidating when the scores widened but they are really tall and fast."
She was left out for most of the playing time but when she was asked to comment on that, she replied, "I believe in my coach's choice."
Singapore’s girls will be facing India and Bahrain in their upcoming matches and the team manager is confident that the girls will be ready for the following challenges.
Match Statistics
Scores by period
1st: CHN 19 SIN 5
2nd: CHN 14 SIN 2
*Match ended after China scored 33 points before the end of the 3 regulation periods.
Scorers:
CHN
Shen Yi (#4) - 4 points
Ma Xueya (#5) - 12 points
Jin Jiabao (#7) - 17 points
SIN
Tok Hui Min (#7) - 7 points
Nicole (Singapore, #11) and Sharlene (Singapore, #13) closing in on Jin Jiabao (China, #7). (Photo 2 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Sharlene (Singapore, #13) reaches over to intercept against Shen Yi (China, #4). (Photo 3 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Ma Xueya (China, #5) trying to block Hannah Ng (Singapore, #9). (Photo 4 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Sharlene (Singapore, #13) strips the ball from Shen Yi (China, #4) as Hui Min (Singapore, #7) and Hannah (Singapore, #9) try to block. (Photo 5 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Nicole Lau started the match, but was soon replaced after some mistakes. (Photo 6 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Singapore’s captain Sharlene Huang didn’t play to her usual high standards. (Photo 7 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
The girls were visibly disappointed after the match. (Photo 8 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
I am one of their good friends? Then you must be sharlene coming to such quick conclusions.
Pal who are you how did you know the coach commended well about deanna and qiuhui? You must be one of the team player.
To C:
As a spectator to all of Singapore’s games and almost every other game, I would like to say that to not put Sharlene down to play is actually making hard for the Singapore team itself.
Juggling both studies, school training, and AYG training was tough, and then exams, increased AYG training is a feat itself.
Also, 4 months of this kind of training is insufficient to provide adequate stamina and fitness for 15 minutes of straight movement as there is little time to rest except for freethrows.
Therefore, Singapore would be at a disadvantage to just have 3 players and half a sharlene. So, I believe that it was important to replace sharlene with someone better. It ultimately could have projected them to a better scoreline versus china, defeated India as sharlene was struggling with her men and her teammates were already so worn out, and also provided with someone who could actually add to the scoreline.
To Bee:
It was of course easy to find a replacement. It was the FACT that the coach did not WANT to replace sharlene.
Let me explain the events to you (from what I heard):
12 were selected.
Top 6 were announced in early May, where the AYG girls were announced. The other 2 i believe Deanna and Qiu Hui were the reserves for the AYG girls in case something happened to them.
Early June: Sharlene injured her knee.
Okay, progressively worked harder to recover.
Mid June: Centralised training. There, friendly games were played. It was pretty obvious that sharlene was already not performing up to standard then. Even though Qiu Hui and Deanna were not on the team, merely reserves, they played as though they were and came out the strongest on court. Even the COACH commented that they were the strongest and had the most fighting spirit.
After centralised training, her injury flared up again. There was still sufficient time to replace her. It was one week before AYG.
Furthermore, Deanna and Qiu Hui HAD learnt the plays and already were part of the team throughout the WHOLE process of selection up till 1 week before AYG before they were asked to not come any more. That was when it was clear to everyone that the coach had no intentions of replacing sharlene.
So to say that “new” people had to be found, is a understatement itself. There were already reserves in store.
Since you all talk like sgpore really needs one replacement, why not say who are those girls who are capable of doing well instead of putting sharlene down??
yup. cant deny that sharlene has injury but its not gona be that easy to get a replacement outta nowhere. rather i should say, the timing which sharlene got injured was somehow the main factor that they can hardly replace her.
As they had trained quite sometime together?how can they just replace someone who’s new to the team?Basketball is a sports with team work dont you agree? yea, who doesnt want to make spore proud? if you’re talking about “making spore proud” i guess it is just your point of view. Different people has different kind of view dont you agree? im on neutral side. not to pin point on wat you’ve said but also spare a thought for the coaches?
i strongly believe that what singapore wants here is to choose the best athletes in the respective sports to represent the nation, not to choose those who put in the most hard work to represent the nation. afterall, singapore is a meritocratic society.
Yes, sharlene huang injured her knee. We all credit the hard work, determination, and the will to pull through this injury and not let it affect her performance on court. But the real, hard truth is that it did let her performance on court suffer. We all don’t want to get injured before a major tournament, but i believe that she should consider the repercussions of her decision not to pull out from the team when she was injured. She could have let a player better than herself represent the nation, who could offer more to the team.
What I am trying to convey here is not adding insult to injury, but merely trying to say that a person not afflicted by injury could have replaced sharlene. Although she may have the size, the build, but still, it is hard to ignore the fact that she is injury ridden.
We want Singapore to win, not showcase the athletes who are able to stand tall throughout injury. We are meritocratic.
I also believe it is partly the coach’s fault. She is merely blinded by height and size, rather than skill and speed.
Take the Philippines team for example. 2 of their players are 150+. However, they possess speed, agility, and great skill. They may be vertically challenged, but they have much to offer and contribute to their team. Furthermore, they were able to pull their team up. Those 2 are the 2 best players in the team, whom the team rely on.
Bottom line: Coach should have reconsidered her decision, of course there are other players out there not judging by size.
Or, Sharlene should have pulled out. It is not for her best interests, but for the nation’s best interests.
No offense intended, it is merely a personal opinion.
those girls from China are amazons!
please read the match against india and judge yourself whether shalene did use her injury as an excuse, this is really not against her but i felt that she could really have done much better, let’s not talk about skills, but what about sportsmanship and attitude on court? im sure her supporters wont want to see her doing all the dirty stunts on the opponent like pulling her top when she couldnt catch up with the india player who was obviously shaking her off far apart. They will be much happier to see her still trying to fight hard and give her best on court. Even when sinagpore lost, there shdnt be such a distinct change in expression as shown in the india game post. She shd be glad that her teammates did really well against india. Moreover, taking into consideration she’s the captain representing the nation in the AYG and us being the host.
Choices like?? There are not many players like sharlene and it’s clear we need players like sharlene in the team strong build and tall. Please do not put her down like that. Just imagine if you are in her position. Before the tournament starts you injure your knee. It worsens, but you never knew it’ll get more serious so you didn’t care much about it. You train so hard but just to injure your knee and affect your performance on court which you took a long time to train and prepare yourself to play at a high level against other countries. Imagine. She didn’t want this to happen, duh. There are people who say you do not use your injuries as an excuse to not play well, she didn’t really use it as an excuse but rather it’s a fact it’s a serious injury that cannot be afforded to neglect. Just give her a chance to prove you wrong.
If Sharlene is injured, why put her in the team in the first place? I’m sure they have much much more choices.
Well, after all, the choice was made by the coach to chose her. And there’s no way you can judge a player on a match’s performance. With Sharlene’s injury, it is hard on her too, have you ever considered what a player needs most at the very point in time where you are discouraged. hmm.i guess you might have to think before you speak and i think what the AYG players need is encouragement, not words that put them down.
@ Cherie
To be fair to Sharlene, she has an injuried knee. Well, honestly, how would you feel if you have been training super hard for months and have friends and family staring at you at such a high level? I am sure it was just nerves. Not exactly the easiest of task to deal with this kinda pressure.
i was there to catch the action live and was really touched by huimin’s performance despite her disadvantage in height. She made used of her speed and got the most number of attempts as compared to other singapore players. However, i was really disappointed with the other teammates esp Captain Shalene. I only came to know that she was the captain after i read this article and was really shocked and puzzled about the choice. Not only did shalene give up the game with no body control against the opponent and lazy feet when she was on court for that few minutes, she didnt encourage her teammates which was really impt with such intimidating opponents. Im not really familar with the younger youth girls basketballers but arent there better players in Singapore at this age group. What we want is good spirit and good basketball like what the Singapore guys showed in the earlier match against China. I hope Shalene read this and wont take it personally. It’s only the first game and this is definitely not the way a Captain should behave and act. As for the rest, keep up the good work and keep going to do Singapore proud.
i SUPPORT the writer of this article and the many he has written and those he is going to write. GO ALAN CHIANG !! ((:
JIAYOU HUIMIN!!! C: YOU ROCK!
WOOO!!! HUIMIN u rock SOCKS!
JYJY!GO TEAM SINGAPORE!(: