CHUA CHU KANG SENIORS and KRANJI JUNIORS WIN INAUGURAL FASTBREAK CHALLENGE CUP ‘08  

December 13, 2008 - Singapore 

There's a new preseason basketball tournament in town!  From December 9-13, boy’s teams from among the top primary schools in Singapore participated in a 16 team, round-robin tournament.  Teams competed in two divisions – Seniors and Juniors. 

SENIOR DIVISION
In a fantastic final featuring last year’s primary school national champions, Chua Chu Kang defeated Kheng Cheng, 79-70, to win the Senior Division championship.  The game was tied with just over a minute remaining, when CCK capitalized on a succession of missed free throws, a missed lay-up and two turnovers to secure the victory. 

To get to the Senior Division Finals, CCK beat FastBreak, 73-53, while Kheng Cheng knocked-off Kranji, 59-44. CCK was led by Tournament MVP Glennard Manalo (#14) and All-Star Pay Xuan Ju (#9).  Rounding-out the All-Tournament team were Wesley Teo (#7) of Kheng Cheng, Jack Albanese (FastBreak) and Franz Nalzaro (Kranji). 

JUNIOR DIVISION
In a rematch between the top two teams from Group B of the Junior Division, FastBreak put an early scare into the host favorites from Kranji, racing to an 8-point half-time lead.  In the end, however, Kranji prevailed 60-46, finishing the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record. 

FastBreak made it to the Junior Division Finals with a 61-39 victory over Kheng Cheng.  Kranji beat Changkat 52-31. 

All-Star trophies in the Junior Division were awarded to Muhammad Naqib (#8) of Changkat, Tng Zhi Cai (#4) of Kheng Cheng, Jack Denzel (#10) of FastBreak and Warren Wong of Kranji (far right).  Zeng Mao Zhou of Kranji was named Tournament MVP (center).

Team and individual trophies were awarded to the Champion and 2^nd Place finishers in each division.  The MVP’s each received a copy of the NBA Live ’09 video game from EA Sports. 

The inaugural FastBreak Challenge Cup was hosted by Kranji Primary School.  The event was organized by Mike Denzel, general manager of the FastBreak Basketball Club.   "Our primary purpose in organizing this tournament is to expand our relationship with the local basketball community," said Denzel, whose FastBreak players come primarily from the Singapore American School.  "The tournament gives us an opportunity to measure ourselves against the top school teams in Singapore, at the same time providing them a warm-up for the coming National Schools league." 

Parallel to the game competition, players from all teams were invited to participate in a Skills Challenge.  Players were tested each day on one of the core fundamentals of basketball:  short shots from under the rim (Mikan Lay-ups), lay-ups from the free-throw line (Elbow Lay-Ups) and free-throws.

Skills Challenge Winners

Mikan Lay-Ups (pictured above)

Free-Throws

• 1st Place:  Bart West, FastBreak SRS
• 2nd Place:  Jack Denzel, FastBreak JRS
• 3rd Place:  Jinay Amin, FastBreak SRS 

Primary Schools and clubs participating in this year’s tournament:

• Anderson  (Jrs. & Srs.)
• Catholic High (Srs.)
• Changkat (Jrs.)
• Chua Chu Kang (Jrs. & Srs.)
• FastBreak Basketball Club (Jrs. & Srs.)
• First Tao Payoh (Jrs. & Srs.)
• Kheng Cheng (Jrs. & Srs.)
• Kranji (Jrs. & Srs.)
• Northland (Jrs. & Srs.) 

For a full recap on the 2008 event, click here.

More event photos...

To request an invitation to the FastBreak Challenge Cup '09, contact Mike Denzel at mdenzel@denzelgroup.com