Guam basketball ready to make a statement
Guam is treating the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers as a make or break tournament for their basketball program.
GUAM - Guam is treating the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers as a make or break tournament for their basketball program.
Guam Men's Head Coach EJ Calvo is well aware of the tournament's magnitude for their nation and is keen on his team making a good account of themselves.
"This tournament will make history, and change the game for all basketball players in Guam forever. It is a dream to represent our island of fewer than 180,000 residents against nations with hundreds of millions and extremely well-funded programs," shared Calvo.
Guam Basketball has drastically improved over the last few years, with their 2015 Pacific Games Gold medal announcing their return as the country to beat in the Pacific region.
It was their first gold medal in the quadrennial event in 36 years, and also the qualifiers for the Eastern Region FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers.
"Guam has been waiting for this opportunity and our Men's Team is ready to finally get a chance to play ranked opponents. Individually, our players have played against teams in Asia and Oceania for years," said Calvo, who is also the President of Guam Basketball Confederation.
"We have basketball experience in the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, China, New Zealand and Australia in addition to the United States," he added.
Guam is pooled together with Singapore, Thailand, and Fiji while Group A will feature Indonesia, Malaysia, and Macau. The top four teams of the tournament will qualify to the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
"I'm sure every team will be tough. We will probably enjoy playing our Pacific Island brothers from Fiji the most. We can call each other rivals. We both proudly represent all basketball players from the Pacific region."
Team Guam and Calvo are raring to go and put Guam on the map of basketball. The Eastern Pre-Qualifiers will be their showcase and it's up to them to take advantage.
"We want to thank you all the sponsors and supporters of Team Guam. We will represent our island with pride and play hard every second. When this tournament is done, FIBA Asia will know Guam," he proudly said.
FIBA