Asean Para Games: Veterans play to put wheelchair basketball in the spotlight
They hope to use the APG as a platform to attract younger people to the sport
It was difficult not to notice the entire extended family of Edwin Khoo, 59, vice-captain of the Singapore wheelchair basketball team.
The team played their first match of the 8th ASEAN Para Games (APG) against Thailand at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sunday (6 Dec) afternoon.
His wife, seated with his three children, was cheering him on fervently from the stands, with at least another 16 more from the extended family around them.
“I feel proud watching my husband play in front of our home crowd. I don’t watch him play often so it’s very exciting and the last I watched him play in Singapore was a long, long time ago,” said Lana Tang, wife of Khoo.
“Also, he was telling me that many years ago, Singapore lost to Thailand 114 to nil. So scoring 19 points from them today is a good achievement!”
Thailand fielded a team of professional wheelchair basketball players who train six times a week. The experienced Thais took the game 51-19.
Khoo’s daughter Ying Nuo, 25, added, “The preparation for this was quite intensive and my dad would come home from training very tired. They train about three to four times a week. He’s not very young anymore!”
In search of younger players
Khoo, who has been playing wheelchair basketball for over two decades now, came out of retirement to make his debut at the APG.
“One of the reasons why we decided to take part in the APG is because we want to expose the game to more people, especially the younger ones,” said the procurement manager of an engineering firm.
“We want to tell them that there is such a sport for the disabled and it is fun!”
The team is certainly not young, with seven of them nearly 60, and there is a need to attract younger talent for continuity of the sport.
When asked about the team being older than the others in the competition, Khoo responded, “I don’t like to use the word 'old'. I like to say that we have more veterans!”
He added, “We all share the same passion for the sport and despite all of us having to juggle our careers, families and commitments to society, we managed to make it happen. The atmosphere was awesome today too, with the crowd behind us!”
The Indoor Stadium was packed with mostly Singapore supporters, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself.
“We are feeling good,” said captain Choo Poh Choon, 34, “Although we lost but our spirits are high. It was a big challenge for us as the Thai team is strong, but we did what the coach wanted us to do and we fought to the end. “
Singapore takes on Myanmar in the second match of the round robin on Monday at 6pm.
The ASEAN Para Games takes place from 4 to 9 December. Admission to all events is free. Find out more here. You can also watch live streaming of events here.
