Inspired by Japan and China, SWBL aims to provide competitive platform for Southeast Asian players

SURABAYA (Indonesia) - The Southeast Asia Women’s Basketball League (SWBL) is starting to take shape as a competitive platform for women’s basketball in the region, taking inspiration from the recent success of Asian national teams at the global stage.

The basketball world marveled as Japan made it all the way to the gold medal game of the Tokyo Olympics. They fascinated again as China went through a remarkable run to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 championship game only a week ago. These outstanding results sparked a fire to develop a competitive platform - the SWBL -  that is expected to be important for women’s basketball in the Southeast Asia region.

 

"You notice Japan and China, how they are investing a lot in their women’s programs, it’s really inspiring how teams from Asia can compete at such a high level in the global stage," said Christopher Tanuwidjaja, managing director of the SWBL. "We just saw that China become number two in the Women’s World Cup and before that we also witnessed how Japan became number two in the Olympics."

"This really showed us how Asian women can compete at such a high level and it would be great to see another team from Asia compete at that very high level, especially if it comes from Southeast Asia. With what we have now with the SWBL, hopefully this league can push that standard for everyone involved in the competition."

In order to develop women’s basketball in Southeast Asia to those standards, it was envisioned that a competitive platform was needed to give the talented players in these countries. There had been a number of competitions for the men to showcase and develop their skills, but it was still a bit lacking on the women’s side which is what the SWBL hopes to address.

 

"What I noticed is the gap of competitions between men and women is really high, where in competitions like the [ASEAN Basketball League], we have the stage for men to compete," said Tanuwidjaja.

"The level of competition is high for the men but for the women, it’s a different thing. That bothered me a bit."

"Basically the idea was just trying to have better competition for women, try to elevate their game, try to pursue what the men had."

The path to that development starts now for the SWBL.

While the League will not yet be in full season mode just yet, the first steps for the SWBL will be a set of "Introduction Series" in October. Three teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand will be participating in three round robin circuits hosted in those three countries.

"We’re going to have three series of round-robin [tournaments]: one in Thailand, then continue in Malaysia, and then in Indonesia. In the end, it’s going to be closed with a final game between the two best teams," Tanuwidjaja explained of the format of the introduction series.

 

While there are only three teams in this first series is due to the initial timeframe, SWBL’s plan is to have another introduction series in February with more teams included from countries like Brunei, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The league is hopeful to operate in a full season format following the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2023 which will be held in Cambodia in May 2023.

The first series will be held in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand from October 10-12. The second series will then be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from October 20-22. The final stage of the competition will then be held in Surabaya, Indonesia from October 25-31.

 

The teams playing in the SWBL are Indonesia ELITE, Malaysia Harimau, and Thailand Sniper. Initially, the players on each team are expected to be familiar faces from the national teams that have recently competed in the Southeast Asian games, which should make the games competitive and interesting for the fans.

"We have a few returning senior national players that went to the SEA Games in Vietnam, some younger ones joining us and some still injured so we will be keen to see how we gel with each other," said Frank Ch’ng Eng Hing, team manager of Malaysia Harimau.

"I think the effect [of having the SWBL] is positive exposure to women’s basketball at a high level and we hope to get a good response with people coming to watch and support."

"We’re very excited to be playing in the SWBL and looking forward to the games."

The SWBL is still only in its early stages, but there’s already a lot of excitement in the air with Tanuwidjaja saying that "it’s been a breakthrough for women’s basketball". Whether it’s the short term or long term plans, there’s a lot to look forward to see from the SWBL.

"Short term, my expectation is to have exposure for as many teams as possible," said Tanuwidjaja. "The long term goal like I mentioned before, we want to see if we could elevate the level of competition for the women in the region."

"Hopefully we can have some teams from Southeast Asia that can represent Southeast Asia on the big stages in the world. That’s the long term goal for us."

FIBA