Tuesday August 19, 2008 By NG WEI LOON
THE brief appearance of visiting streetballers from the Ball Star Indonesia added extra excitement to the fifth and final leg of the AND1 Streetball Challenge at the Berjaya Times Square on Sunday.
From Left-Gobel a.k.a Trickz and Center-Okto a.k.a Total Package right Bayu Radityo a.k.a Lunatic, Although the trio of Bayu Radityo a.k.a Lunatic, Gobel a.k.a Trickz and Okto a.k.a Total Package missed their opening match in the open (non-Chinese) category, they had the chance to thrill the crowd in an exhibition match against the previous winners of the In Search of Freestylists on the main court set up with a special surface for the occasion.
The 29-year-old Bayu said they failed to show up in time to feature in the main competition because they had too much fun at a show a day earlier.
Lucky draw: (From left) Newly-appointed Malaysia Amateur Basketball Association (MABA) secretary-general Tan See Wah and Saw presenting a collector’s shoe from an AND1 MixTape icon to the X-Flier trio of Yap Shee Khee, Chin Lin Ying and Cham Poo Wee.“We came to attend a show. So, we thought it was a good idea to join the challenge. We heard so much about it and we wanted to have a feel of the event. The whole concept is something similar to the MixTape,” said Bayu, who has been an AND1 sponsored player for more than three years. During the lunch break, the Malaysian line up of Nabil Ra’uf Harun, Anirudh Aravind and Samuel Amoh Junior found more competent opponents and were pushed to step up their tempo as both sides attempted to outdo each other in the healthy exchange.
“They definitely tried to match us and gave us a good fight. We had fun playing against them,”said Okto, 24.
Before the organisers started with the Milo In Search of Freestylists and the In Search of Talent contests, last season’s National Basketball League (NBL) Most Valuable Player Chris Kuete from Cameroon also showed up to thrill the crowd with his finesse in executing the slam dunk.
It was also a tight contest in the introduction round of the freestyle competition with 11 of the 12 finalists vying for the six spots to advance to the final one-on-one round.
All smiles: Aeria (standing, fourth from right) with winners of the AND1 Beat box, MC rapper,Break Dance.Champion & runner-up.
Gobel, who was one of the three judges, said most of the finalists had a good understanding of the freestyle concept.
“Juggling is a basic skill in freestyle and most of them could do it quite well,” added Gobel, 24.
In the final round, three seasoned campaigners — Lam Wei Ken, Sheikh Muhammad Afnan and Mohd Ismadi Hamadi — were judged as the top three performers of the season and earned the AND1 products sponsorship worth RM3,000 each.
After failing to clear the final hurdle for the past two years, the 22-year-old Sheikh had a memorable outing.
“Initially, I was quite nervous because it was my last shot to prove myself in the competition.
“After the bitter disappointment of missing out on a top three finish for two consecutive years, I felt very satisfied because I have gone all the way this time,” Sheikh said.
Full house: The event drew hordes of participants and spectators.
Multimedia and graphic design student Lam, 22, and SM Pandan Jaya student Ismadi, 16, were also among the finalists last year.
“I trained regularly to prepare for the final showdown. Today, the best move was spinning the ball with the chopstick. I tried the same move last year. But, I perfected my ball-handling skills,” said Lam.
In addition, the finalists of the In Search of Talent side event that included rapping, beat boxing and break dancing also drew the spectators’ attention with their showmanship.
Penangites Ma Chun Hoey and Leroy Lee edged two other contenders in their sections to emerge champions in break dancing and beat boxing respectively.
Meanwhile, Nigerian Abdus Salam Muyibi subdued the challenge from Ghanaian Joshua Samuel in a head-on battle for the top spot in the rapping competition.
The champion and runner-up of each segment in the In Search of Talent were rewarded with a Sony PSP and an i-Pod respectively.
Easy does it: A participant having some fun with a basketball on court.
Star Publications (M) Bhd chief operating officer (multimedia) Michael Aeria and Milo sports marketing manager Ng Ping Loong gave away the prizes to the winners of the side events conducted in conjunction with the challenge.
The grand finale to the fifth season drew 420 teams in six categories — boys’ under-14, boys’ under-16, boys’ under-18, boys’ under-21, girls’ under-18 and open (non-Chinese).
Ossia World of Golf executive director Saw Swee Leong said the staunch support from the streetball followers and partners gave them the extra strength to push forward to host the three-on-three basketball event.
“We have dedicated a lot of effort to organise the event for the youngsters to nurture their interest in the game. But, it has always been a joy to see them having so much fun at the challenge,” he added.
