Competitive basketball returns to Phnom Penh with a new six-team community-based mini tournament tipping off on February 25.
Competitive basketball will return to Phnom Penh in the last week of this month with the newly introduced six-team community-based mini tournament tipping off at the Cambodian Country Club court on February 25.
The month-long event will be sponsored by Chitato Potato Chips according to Oktavianus Hauw, the manager of Extra Joss Fighters club and member of the organising committee.
Following a team managers meeting on Sunday, the tournament format and the schedule were finalised.
The six teams taking part are Master Tapsi and Warriors (both from the Philippines community), Smart Dragons (Western), Team Respeck (Cambodian), MSGM (Chinese) and Extra Joss (Mixed).
The teams will play against each other in single round robin at the end of which the top two teams ranked will advance to the semifinals.
The other four will be involved in playoffs to fill the two remaining last-four slots.
The first quarterfinal will pitch the third ranked side against the sixth, and other will be between the fourth and fifth ranked teams.
The tournament final, to be played on a best of three games basis, will be held on March 28.
The owners of several active clubs hit on the idea of the six-team mini tournament after the Cambodian Basketball Federation (CBF) were unable to run this year's league due to a lack of sponsorship
Unlike in previous seasons, the CBF's attempts to secure a main sponsor bore no fruit and the Cambodian Basketball League (CBL) was inevitably called off, much to the chagrin of the teams regularly taking part in the Kingdom's only major basketball event.
The Federation has shifted its focus instead on youth development and is diverting its resources towards grassroots programmes.
The owners of several active clubs hit on the idea of the six-team mini tournament after the Cambodian Basketball Federation (CBF) were unable to run this year's league due to a lack of sponsorship.
Unlike in previous seasons, the CBF's attempts to secure a main sponsor bore no fruit and the Cambodian Basketball League (CBL) was inevitably called off, much to the chagrin of the teams that regularly took part in the Kingdom's only major basketball event.
The Federation has shifted its focus instead on youth development and is diverting its resources towards grassroots programmes.
So in an effort to brighten up the basketball scene and encourage competition across communities that are committed to the game, the month-long tournament will draw on a group of top players from the erstwhile CBL outfits.
