By Ian Chew
Dallas, Texas, Friday, August 8, 2008 – At the same time that Team Singapore embarked on their quest for honours at the Olympics, two Singaporeans set out to prove themselves at the adidas Nations basketball camp in the United States.
After having led their Hwa Chong Institution basketball team to an easy victory in this year’s A Division Championship, Singaporeans Lin Shengyu and Calvin Chia were faced with a different proposition altogether at the camp. They were pitted against some of the best U18 talent from around the globe at an adidas sponsored basketball showdown from August 8th to 11th in Dallas, Texas.
Thrust straight into action despite barely recovering from jet-lag, they were part of Team Asia (Blue) in a match against Team Canada on day one. Calvin was trusted with the responsibility of starting as point guard for the team.
It was a mismatch from the start. With their bigger bulk and superior athletic abilities, Team Canada pummelled Team Asia Blue (consisting of players from Asia excluding China) with a 24-6 scoreline after the first quarter. It did not help that the team from Asia, with representatives from Taiwan, South Korea, Phillippines, Hong Kong, Australian and New Zealand, hardly had time to gel and were struggling to communicate with a common language.
The second half though, saw a much improved performance from the team. Led by Taiwan’s Sung Yu-Hsuan from Ping Chung Senior High School who scored all of his 18 points in the second half, Team Asia rallied from a massive 30-point deficit with a better team defense, accurate shooting and fast breaks. They eventually managed to finish the game with a respectable 48-64 loss to the Canadian team.
Asia’s coach Larry Krystkowaik lamented the disastrous first-half performance though.
“Our players were too nervous in the first half and gave the ball away easily. It hardly helped that the match was the first full game we had as a team while Canada has been playing together for the last few years,” he said.
Guard Dion Prewster from New Zealand agreed with his coach’s assessment of the game.
“There were just too many turnovers in the first half. We need to improve our game to match up against the stronger opponents we will face in the coming days,” he said.
The team will be facing Team USA 2010, featuring the best young talents 15-17 years of age in the next game. There are altogether 8 teams in the competition.
Pool A
Asia – Red (China)
Europe
Latin America
USA 2009
Pool B
Africa
Asia – Blue
Canada
USA 2010
See also video footage of NCAA college players at the adidas Camp vying for the attention of NBA scouts. These are some of the key players targeted for the NBA draft 2009.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq8WkZVJqhM
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