Shooting for 2032 Olympics

Koh Koon Teck has gone from being a competitive basketballer in his youth to holding several roles in the Basketball Association of Singapore (BAS) since 2003, including stints as the team manager at the 2013 and 2015 SEA Games, where Singapore finished third.

Now, Koh, who was elected the BAS' president in May, has even bigger plans for the sport as he eyes a place for Singapore at the 2032 Olympics in 3x3 basketball.

The 54-year-old believes that the inclusion of 3x3 basketball at the Tokyo Olympics could be a game changer.

He noted that the nature of the format would allow Singapore to be more competitive. It is less physical and so Asian players, who are of a smaller stature than many of their Western counterparts, are at less of a disadvantage.

He pointed out that China and Japan, who were third and fifth respectively in the women's competition at the Tokyo Games, are examples of Asian countries that have achieved success in the game.

He also explained that its relative novelty also makes the format more of a level playing field than the 5v5 format.

He said: "People see 3x3 as a street game, not a traditional sport. But now it's an Olympic discipline. A lot of traditional powerhouses are not necessarily top because the requirements of this game are very different from 5v5.

"If you look at the statistics and how the game is structured, I think we stand a better chance than 5v5 in high performance."

With 3x3 basketball stressing more on individual skills, the format is more suited for Singaporeans, as it requires fewer players and would help develop players' technical skills.

"The 3x3 discipline will help to solve a lot of local problems. If you don't have individual skills, you can't win games," said Koh, who is head of the National Institute of Education's Physical Education & Sports Science department.

The aim now is to grow the pool of 3x3 basketballers, especially those in primary schools. Starting early would help players develop strong fundamentals and this foundation will help with the transition to the 5v5 format later.

Currently, the National School Games' junior division competition is played in a 3v3 format and Koh hopes to use that as a platform to generate interest among youth.

The plan to get Singapore to the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane includes hitting milestones such as qualifying for the Fiba 3x3 Under-17 Asia Cup by 2024, the Fiba 3x3 U-18 World Cup by 2027 and Fiba 3x3 World Cup by 2029, as well as winning medals at the Fiba 3x3 Asia Cup by 2028.

Another area that Koh will be focusing on during his two-year term will be getting the national teams ready for the SEA Games in Hanoi next May. But with the disruptions to full-team training caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said a realistic target would be a fourth or fifth-place finish given that Singapore's neighbours have had several more months of full-team training.

However, he is targeting a podium finish for the men's team at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

Beyond the SEA Games, he hopes to see both the men's and women's teams returning to the Fiba Asia Cup, the continent's top competition. The men's team last qualified in 2015, while the women's team last played in the Fiba Asia Cup Division B - the second tier - in 2017.

Koh said: "Only if you work towards and compete at that level, will your standard of play improve. For me, SEA Games is just one competition, we don't just want to set our vision there. We want to create more competition exposure."

Creating more competition opportunities for players is another key area that he is looking at and he hopes to achieve this through initiatives such as lengthening the National Basketball League season, as well as introducing a semi-professional league with foreign players.

The association is also launching the 1st BAS National Skills Challenge next month at the Singapore Basketball Centre. The event, which will follow the current safe management measures that limit sports activities to groups of two, will see participants completing at stations that test their various basketball skills.

Koh said: "We need to rethink the way we organise competitions. In the past it was all five-a-side, but the safe management measures mean we need to change people's mindsets that when we are talking about competitive basketball right now, we could be talking about 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4.

"If we just wait for 3v3, we can't organise anything. There won't be competitions and there's no motivation for the players either."