Tuesday, December 4, 2007

6th SEABA Women Championship Phuket Thailand





6TH SEABA CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN
14 – 20 OCTOBER 2007 PHUKET CITY THAILAND


1. GENERAL

1.1 Originally, this major SEABA Women championship was supposed to be hosted by Singapore from 4 – 9 September 2007. Due to unforeseen circumstances best known to themselves, BAS (Basketball Association Singapore) declined the hosting.

1.2 In the search for the new host, Thailand come to the rescue and kindly accepted to take over the baby without condition. Phuket, the world renowned holiday resort was chosen to pitch the championship. This event also coincided with the Phuket widely celebrated. “Vegetarian Festival”.

1.3 Fine sunny October weather with occasional rain, greeted the Officials and participating teams. It was indeed a pleasure to be greeted warmly to the beautiful Phuket Island.

1.4 The exclusion of basketball from the competition sports menu in the last Sea Games hosted by Philippines disappointed the SEABA Members. Therefore, this championship was truly significant. It provided a testing site for the members to gauge their strength in preparation for the coming SEA Games in Thailand from 6 – 15 December 2007.

2. PARTICIPATION

2.1 The championship was held from 14 – 20 October 2007. At the close of entry, 5 teams confirmed participation from the 10 members of SEABA. Vietnam decided to drop out at the last minute. The teams were as follows:-

2.1.1 Indonesia

2.1.2 Malaysia

2.1.3 Philippines

2.1.4 Singapore

2.1.5 Thailand

3. COMPETITION VENUE

3.1 All the games were pitched at the Phuket City Municipal gymnasium and Phuket Girl High School was provisioned for the training.

3.2 The competition gymnasium located closed to the sea, has a seating capacity of about 1000. The spectators seating is cement rendered. It is non-airconditioned and stand fans were provided for better ventilation. The court area has limited floor space, with just about 2 meters of perimeter. Parquet wood was used over the cement based floor. Court linings for volley ball were also drawn on the court.

3.3 There were 4 changing rooms for the teams, but only 2 were presentable for usage, and the referees had to use another room at the Phuket Sport Association Office, located just beside the gymnasium. The roof had a minor leak whenever it rained.

4. TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT

4.1 Only one scoreboard was used and it only has the points score and periods. No other features like player personal foul, team foul, time out etc, were incorporated in it. The scoreboard and the score table equipment were brought in from Bangkok. Only minor problems were encounted.

4.2 The backboard units were mounted on structures extended from the side-walls. This is the only alternative with limited floor space of about 2 meters from the end line to the wall.

4.3 The 24 second clocks were mounted on both sides of the walls below the backboard.

5. COMPETITION SYSTEM

5.1 The competition was played in accordance to FIBA Rules and Regulations. Instead of a round robin among the 5 teams, the system catered for the Semi-Finals and Final as follows:-

5.1.1. 1st Place vs 4th Place
2nd Place vs 3rd Place

5.1.2. Loser vs Loser
Winner vs Winner

5.2. Competition Schedule was prepared accordingly and distributed to all parties concerned. Details as per the Annex attached.

6. TEAM MANAGERS MEETING

6.1. The meeting was held on 13 October at 1600 hours at the Phuket Merlin Hotel Conference Room. It was represented by the managers from all the participating teams. The Technical Director Col Lee Kak Kuan the representative of Dato’ Yeoh Choo Hock, chaired the meeting to coordinate the events of the championship as per the agenda provided.


6.2. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

(a) President : Dato’ Yeoh Choo Hock (Sec-Gen, FIBA Asia)

(b) Member (Host) : Dr. Pratoom (Asst. Sec Gen BAT)

(c) Co-opted : Col. Lee Kak Kuan (Technical Director, FIBA Asia)

6.3 JURY OF APPEAL

(a) President : Mr. Suthep Benjobhoki
Members - Alternates
(b) Thailand - Philippines
(c) Indonesia - Malaysia / Singapore

6.4 COMMISSIONERS - FIBA Asia

(a) Col. Lee Kak Kuan

6.5 COMMISSIONER - HOST COUNTRY

(a) Dr. Pratoom Muongmee
(b) Mr. Pichet Sunsanapitayakron ( Table Supervisor )

6.6 FIBA internal Regulations Governing the status of players and basketball nationality was highlighted. The agenda also included the duties of participating teams and penalty for refusing to play etc.

6.7 Confirmed team lists as per the Annex attached.

7. TECHNICAL OFFICIALS AND REFEREES MEETING

7.1 The meeting was held immediately after the Teams Managers meeting at the same venue at 1700 hours. Col. Lee Kak Kuan Chaired the meeting and matters were discussed as per the agenda.

7.2 By SEABA ruling, all teams must have an accompanied FIBA Referees. It was well responded and all teams provided the referees. The total referees for the championship was 7 including 2 Indonesia and referees from the host. The list of referees and the record of assignments are as per the Annex attached.

8. ACCOMODATION FOOD AND TRANSPORT

8.1 Phuket Merlin Hotel served as the game village. All the participating teams, Officials including the Referees were housed here. A reasonable good hotel, situated about 15 minutes drive to the competition venue.

8.2 The hotel provided full facilities and food in changing varieties were served. There was no complaint reported.

8.3 Buses and MPV were provided to ferry the participating teams and officials for the duration of the competition. The system adopted was good without problem.

9. DINNER RECEPTIONS

9.1 Two reception dinners for welcoming all the participants and the farewell occasion were held in Merlin Hotel on 13th October and 19th October respectively. Impromptu presentations from the teams were very entertaining. The highlight of the program was the Miss SEABA contest and ten basketball beauties graced the occasion in poise and confidence. Miss Jasmine Ang donning the No. 12 jersey of Singapore was crowned Miss SEABA 2007. Miss Friendship also went to Singapore Miss Cheryl Ng Pei Ling. It was indeed a night to remember, to unwind oneself from the competition.

10. RESULT OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP

10.1 From the play-off the competition was plain-sailing throughout the schedule. All the games were closely contested to the excitement and thrills of the fully packed stadium. After 6 days of keen competition Philippines and Thailand were berthed for the final.

10.2 In the final show-down Thailand playing with good team works and sharp shootings defeated Philippines with the score of 66 against 49. The final standing of the teams is as given below with the detail results as per the Annex attached:-

10.2.1 First : Thailand

10.2.2 Second : Philippines

10.2.3 Third : Malaysia

10.2.4 Forth : Indonesia

10.2.5 Fifth : Singapore

11. OBSERVATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

11.1 Thailand Basketball Association (BAT) has the capability to achieve a bigger success if the following observations are rectified.

11.2 Ventilation Competition Venue. Heat and high humidity in the stadium made the players sweated a lot and tired easily. Mounting big wall fans around the walls of the gymnasium if installed would increase the air flow for better ventilation. The ball was always wet during the game with the sweat of the players and interrupted the smooth flow of the competition.

11.3 There was a leak from the roof when it rained and often interrupted the game. This weakness should be looked into for future championships.

12. CONCLUSION

12.1 The championship concluded in success, with the emphasis that the observations raised need be arrested for major future championships. On behalf of SEABA, I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the Chairman and every member of the organizing Committee for their sacrifices to achieve success.

12.2 The opening and closing ceremonies were certainly unique. The performances of ballroom dancing by junior dancers captured the hearts of the spectators. The colorful display by youth dancers was amazing to the full delights of the packed stadium.

12.3 Finally, congratulations to Thailand for having captured the Crown of the Championship. Not forgetting to thank the generous host, sponsors, Tv and the mass media for their contributions to the success of the championship.


Thank you “Peace Through Basketball”



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