THE 6th AND1 Streetball Challenge held under the new format attracted a record participation of 250 teams.
The number of entries surpassed the organiser’s, Ossia World of Golf, expectation by almost double as they were expecting only 150 teams to take part in the challenge held at AEON (Jusco) Bukit Tinggi in Klang on Sunday.
Ossia World executive director Saw Swee Leong said the new two-baskets format was introduced for the first time.
Keen competition: The introduction of the full court format this year has made the tournament more competitive.
In the past, he said, there was only one basket and half a court for both teams to play.
“Under the new format, the teams will attack the opponents’ goal and it requires the players to be more competitive and fitter since they have to do more running,’’ he said.
Due to the lack of space since the new format required a full court for every match, the number of courts was increased from four to five.
Saw was happy that the competition had attracted a good number of non-Chinese players.
He said this showed that AND1 had made a great impact among the students regardless of race.
“We are happy that we have been able to promote basketball among the youngsters through the streetball challenge,’’ he said.
Great show: The winners and sponsors posing for a group photo.
The challenge had four age-groups for boys — Under-13, Under-15, Under-18 and Under-21 — and one for the girls’ Under-18.The champions are The Warriors (Under-13), DNA Fire (Under-15), Pearl A (Under-18) and GVK (Under-21). The girls’ Under-18 tie was won by Jen Yu.
The winners were presented with AND1 products including shoes and basketballs as part of their winning prizes.
The AND1 Streetball Challenge is sanctioned by the Malaysian Basketball Association (Maba). The sponsors are Milo (official beverage), StarMetro (official media) and One FM (official radio).
Following the challenge in Klang, it will be held at Sutera Mall, Johor (May 28); Summit USJ (July 3); Esplanade, Penang (July 24) and the Grand Finals in Times Square, Kuala Lumpur (Sept 11).
