Well done, basketball

Malaysia has withdrawn its young women's basketball team from the Guangzhou Asian Games in November to focus on the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia.

National coach Tan See Wah said the team comprising ten new players needed more exposure and lacked the experience to do well in Guangzhou.

"This followed the retirement of six senior players, paving the way for the players. They were not dropped and cited advancing age as factor for the decision," said See Wah, yesterday.

The coach said the seniors who retired include Chew Yan Yan, Pee Yann Yann and Beh Siew Lian (late 30s). They were replaced by 18 years-olds.

"The seniors felt that they will be over 30 by the time the 2011 SEA Games comes around. Basketball was excluded from the SEA Games in 2005 and 2009."

Malaysia won the women's basketball gold medal at Korat SEA Games in 2007.

The team will be compete at FIBA Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar (May22-30) and Under 18 FIBA Women's Asia Cup in Surat Thani, Thailand (June 23-30), FIBA Stankovic Asian Cup in Beirut, Lebanon (Aug 7-15) and Youth Olympic Games in Singapore (Aug 14-26).