SINGAPORE – The new year has brought new opportunities for top local basketballers, whose future had been cast into uncertainty after last November’s announcement that the Singapore Slingers and the Asean Basketball League (ABL) would go into dormancy, following Fiba Asia’s withdrawal of recognition.
Five players from the 2023 Slingers squad – Delvin Goh, Lavin Raj, Kelvin Lim, Tay Ding Loon and Xu Duanyang – have joined the national 3x3 set-up.
Lim, Tay and Xu were among the Singaporean players who competed in the inaugural Jumpshot 3x3 International Tournament which featured Asian sides at Bukit Panjang Plaza on Jan 6 and 7. The high-tempo action drew a crowd of at least 300 fans on the final day of action.
The 3x3 format, a compact and quicker version of basketball, has gained momentum in Singapore and around the world.
It was part of the Olympic programme at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.
The Basketball Association of Singapore (BAS) sent three men’s teams and two women’s sides to compete in the Jumpshot tournament, which saw Thai professional outfit CT Tigers sweeping both categories and clinching the respective top prizes of US$10,000 (S$13,300) and US$5,000.
CT Tigers beat Malaysia Rising Star 21-15 in the men’s final and claimed the women’s title with a 20-15 victory over Japan’s Yokohama Gflow.
Lim, who had been with the Slingers since 2016, was in the BAS Men A team who finished third out of 12 sides.
The 1.93m Lim, who was playing in his first 3x3 tournament, felt “more suited” to this format because of his speed and height.
While the 27-year-old said that he is “still learning”, he shared that the key difference between the 5x5 and 3x3 is that one simple mistake can decide the game’s outcome in the smaller format.
“While there are still some bad habits from 5x5 that I need to cut out, I have really enjoyed 3x3 so far,” he added.
Both the national men’s and women’s 3x3 sides will spend the first part of the year gearing up for the Fiba 3x3 Asia Cup at the Singapore Sports Hub from March 27 to 31.
Singapore basketball chief Leon Neo, who took up his post last November, said his team are hoping to raise the popularity of 3x3 basketball in Singapore and build up the national 3x3 side.
While former president Koh Koon Teck had said that Singapore should target a place at the 2032 Olympics in 3x3 basketball, Neo opted to look at shorter-term targets, such as posting an improvement at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand and winning the 2029 edition on home soil.
At the Cambodia Games in 2023, both the men and women’s sides finished seventh out of eight teams.
To help grow the game, Neo is looking at working with the Ministry of Education to include 3x3 in the National School Games. He is also hoping to secure funding to strengthen the national teams.
The former Slingers’ inclusion in the national 3x3 set-up is a boost, said Neo, adding that the BAS teams had exceeded expectations at the Jumpshot tournament, where they came up against professional players.
The BAS Men B team also reached the semi-finals.
Neo also highlighted the importance of companies like Jumpshot Singapore, which organised the eponymous tournament, and hopes to work with more of them to stage high-level competitions, which allow locals to have opportunities to play against tough opponents.
Women’s national basketballer Tan Kang Yi, 23, said such tournaments “can only help us get better”.
Describing the Jumpshot tournament as an “eye-opener”, she said: “The opponents are of a really high level and brought a lot of aggression to their play as well.”
Jumpshot Singapore chief executive Esther Quek hopes to make the tournament a yearly affair, saying that everyone needs to play a part to continue to organise international tournaments and help the sport grow.
