Whites to start training for adidas Nations basketball league this Saturday

By Les Tan

Last Saturday saw 68 hopefuls turn up at the trial to make the second round draft of the adidas Nations League. 18 players made the cut and at the end of the session, the coaches picked their players, with some last-minute trading going on as the coaches tried to balance off their squads.

The Whites team, coached by Koh Meng Koon and Han Li Jun (Home United head coach), finally selected a squad of 15 players and the team will start training this Saturday at the home court of Home United at the Police Headquarters.

Some of the players who showed up last Saturday impressed Meng Koon with their attitude. “These were not national youth players or even school players but attitude-wise they were different. They really wanted to fight for a place and they worked hard and were aggressive on defence.”

Some of the non-Singaporean players also stood out.

“Two or three of the non-Singaporeans were quite impressive with their own style of playing. The Japanese point guard, his passing is not bad. Another Caucasian, his build is an advantage.”

The Whites will have three National Under-18 players in the team – Teo Kun You, Lim Boon Kiat and Ng Zhao Feng. The squad of 15 will be cut down to 12 by the end of the year.

“We are quite happy with the selection,” said Meng Koon. “We’ll focus on their fundamentals. The team is small in size and so we’ll play Korean style – take shots from the outside. We’ll focus more on defense, transition play and fast breaks.”

Provisional Whites squad:
Teo Kun You
Lim Boon Kiat
Ng Zhao Feng
Chester Leow
Cornelius Foo
Yap Kian Leong
Tan Zhi Kun (2nd round draft)
Chen Jia Hong (2nd round draft)
Johann Yeo (2nd round draft)
Dominic Wong Jun Jie (2nd round draft)

team list is incomplete. If you know any member in the team, please list in the comments section. Thanks.

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