By Red Sports reader Yeechien.

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This year’s A Division Basketball Championship look to be more competitive, with more teams stepping up their game and making every match a thriller. The preliminaries ended on April 28 and a total of eight teams qualified for the quarter finals.

In Group X of the A Division Boys, Hwa Chong Institution look set to top their group and advance to the final with ease. Their only competition in the season only seems to be in the form of Temasek Junior College, which boasts a very impressive and skillful team with great on-court communication.

Over at Group Y, it seems to be a case where any team can qualify. The teams in Group Y are more on par in terms of skill as compared to Group X, where HCI and TJC are the clear favourites. It will be decided by their match-day form and they will surely need some help from Lady Luck. My personal favourites are Anderson Junior College and Victoria Junior College to qualify for the semis.

On the girls’ side, Hwa Chong Institution will face stiff competition from Saint Andrew’s Junior College for the top spot in Group A. However, credit should be given to the Temasek JC girls for their effort so far despite having only eight players on their roster.

Qualifying for the first time in their school’s history, the Tampines Junior College girls will face tough opponents like defending champions Victoria JC. Alongside them in the group are Nanyang JC and Raffles JC with little to separate them. Both stand an equal chance of advancing to the top four.

The semi-finals will take place at the Singapore Basketball Center this coming Friday (May 16). Who will progress to the final? Only time can tell.