The 1999 ACBA Basketball Tour to Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam commenced on 24 November 1999 and a total of 35 people consisting of the Veterans, Dragons and the Queenbeez teams visited the cities of Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Johore Bahru in Malaysia, then went on to Singapore. A total of 4 games each were played by the Dragons and Queenbeez in Malaysia and Singapore, and the results were exceptionally good whereby both teams won most of their matches except against the Singapore Geylang Boys, where our team lost narrowly.
The 15th World Basketball Invitational Tournament for Chinese was held in Penang, Malaysia from 26 to 29 November 1999 and the ACBA Veterans competed in the over 45s age group. Again, the overseas teams proved to be bigger and taller, and obviously, our veteran team did not make the play off. However, on the closing ceremony of the 15th World Invitational Basketball Championship, the competition flag was passed on to our Chairman, Mr Leon Teh and Sydney would be preparing to host the 16th World Basketball Invitational Tournament for Chinese next year. On the stage of the closing ceremony in Penang, our boys and girls proved to be very popular and were having a fun time, making new friends. Our Akubra Hats were snatched from our heads by every team, wanting it as a souvenir. It was indeed a memorable tournament.
From Singapore, we make our way to Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where we had a series of exhibition games for the veterans, boys and girls. It was enlightening to see war torned Vietnam for the first time, and we visited many war relics and destinations, one called the Cu Cu Tunnel where the Vietcong used the tunnels as their hideouts, conducting their guerrilla war fares with the Vietnamese government and the Americans. We had good results in the basketball games as our Vietnamese counterparts were not as strong as our teams.
This is the 3rd ACBA Basketball Tour, and our boys and girls are enjoying the benefits of visiting other Asian countries, and understanding their customs and cultures, and at the same time playing the game they loved most. Overall, a very successful tour.
