Women's basketball squad heads to China for SEA Games preparation

The Malaysian women's basketball squad will head to Tianjin, China this week in preparation for the upcoming SEA Games to be held in Manila, Philippines. Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said it is the first collaboration between the Malaysia Basketball Association (MABA) and Tianjin Basketball Association (TBA) where the sport exchange programme will be a great demonstration of sports cooperation between the two both governments. 'Malaysia sees great potential which could be explored in the area of the sports excellence and youth development and we look forward to having a closer collaboration and working together with China in these areas,' he said in his speech at the 2019 Malaysia-China Basketball Exchange Programme at Wisma MABA, today. The seven-day visit from Sept 19 to Sept 25 will also see our contingents engaged in friendly matches with the Tianjin's senior women's team (1 game), Tianjin Youth team (1 game) and Tianjin University team (2 games). Led by seven officials and 14 players, the sport exchange programme also expected to help Malaysia slowly evolve its basketball leagues to reach good international standard. Also present were China's Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian and MABA president Datuk Lua Choon Hann. Meanwhile, Bai Tian in his speech said the 'basketball diplomacy' would play its unique role to further strengthen and friendship between Malaysia and China to better heights. 'In addition to this MABA-China trip, China Basketball Association (CBA) will also send renowned China coach, Zhang Jing Dong to have a workshop in Kuala Lumpur in October. 'He will share his good training experiences with MABA members and help with local coach training courses here in Malaysia,' he added.
Courtesy of: bernama.com