By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports

Singapore’s top youth basketballers begin their quest for glory today at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) FIBA 33 tournament at *scape Youth Park, but they will have their work cut out for them when they face the United States of America (USA) twice.

Singapore and the USA are the only teams to have representatives in both genders, and both are grouped together in the first round. Singapore, as Games hosts, were allowed to send a boys and girls team, while the USA have the top four sides in both genders in the FIBA World Rankings.

In this version of the FIBA 33, teams of four (three on court and one substitute) attempt to be the first to accumulate 33 points within two periods of five minutes each. If no team is able to reach 33 points in 10 minutes of play, the team with more points wins.

The match is played on one half of a regular court and teams have to bring the ball beyond the three-point arc before attempting to score within the 10 second shot-clock.

The 20 teams have been split up to four groups and only the top two teams from each group progress to the second round.

Grouped with some of the powerhouses of basketball, Singapore’s boys and girls squads will have to be at their very best in order to advance.

In the girls’ competition, the Singapore quartet of Hannah Ng, Tok Hui Min, Zoe Eng and Alanna Lim are in Group B against favourites USA, Germany, Angola and Belarus.

Hannah and Hui Min both have experience in a major FIBA 33 tournament, having represented Singapore in the Asian Youth Games (AYG) last year. However, they were only able to finish third in a group of four, crashing out at the group stages.

In the boys’ tournament, Singapore are represented by Jabez Su, Russel Low, Larry Liew and Tan Jun Wei. They are grouped with USA, Turkey, Israel and Central Africa Republic.

All four players enjoyed success at the recent National Schools Games. Jabez and Russel, both from Hwa Chong Institution, played crucial roles in their school’s victory in the A Division championship, while Larry almost single-handedly led North Vista Secondary to the B Division final. Anglican High School’s Jun Wei helped his school reach the final four of the B Division tournament.

Of this squad of four, three have competed in the AYG, when they did Singapore proud by finishing in the top eight. The trio of Jabez, Russel and Larry described that achievement as a “dream come true”.

This year, they will be looking to go even further against international opponents.

Red Sports wishes Singapore’s basketballers all the best at the Youth Olympic Games!