Organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government in association with the Sports Bureau of Guangdong Province and the Sports Bureau of Macao SAR Government, the 9th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Basketball Exchange Programme was held at Hong Kong Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground on 16th January and 17th January 2016. After two days of intense contests, the results are as follows, Guangdong men's team was crowned champion, while Hong Kong and Macao were awarded first runner-up and second runner-up respectively. Guangdong won the women's championship, with Hong Kong and Macao snatching first runner-up and second runner-up respectively. After the competition ended at the noon of 17th, the organizers held the awarding ceremony and farewell lunch banquet during which the guests awarded medals and trophies to the winning teams and athletes. This event enables the youths from the three regions to enhance exchange and promote their friendship.
Vong Ka Hou, the coach of Macao men's team, said, “The participation in this game broadens the horizons of the players, offers them an opportunity to exchange with players from other places, and then they can understand themselves better, which helps them set goals.” Wong Ka Fai, a male player who first joined the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Basketball Exchange Programme said, “I'm very delighted to join the game on behalf of Macao. The importance lies in finding our deficiencies through this game. After playing with the Hong Kong players, I realize that besides the disadvantages in height, figure and skills, we also lag behind in terms of speed and stability of performance. This encourages us to train harder afterwards. In this exchange, I have made many new friends and benefited a lot by exchanging training methods and experiences with them.”
Iong Weng Si, a female player who has competed in the game for four times, said, “I gain a lot in each participation in the exchange. Our players in this exchange are mostly fresh people, who only got limited training time and were not good in cooperation. We realize that there is still a large gap between the Hong Kong team and us through this game and we hope to learn from their strong points and offset our weaknesses.”
Vong Ka Hou, the coach of Macao men's team said that the Macao team has experience in several exchange games and has been crowned champion, awarded as first runner-up as well as second runner-up. There are enormous uncertainties in games. He said, “The Macao team and the Hong Kong team were equally matched in this game. The performance of the men's team was well enough, and the game plan was generally fulfilled, but the on-the-spot psychological quality should be strengthened.”
Lai Chi Hou, the coach of the women's team felt the team's performance was acceptable. He said, “The game plan was basically achieved, but the spot performance was not satisfactory. The main reason for that is they haven't participated in enough competitions. Many new players who were lack of experience were in this game, but they are for sure to be better given them more time and training.”
