KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran's AsiaScope) - There is a tricky phase in every player's career when he is considered "too young to be a mainstay, but too experienced to be called young."

Players like Yao Ming and Hamed Haddadi have been glorious exception to this rule - having walked straight out of the junior ranks into the senior teams - which probably is the reason they turned out to be the superstars they are, and will continue to be.

Not all players are gifted with such prodigious talent. Nor are they blessed with such felicitous breaks. But then exceptions, as they are these superstars, are a once-in-a-while occurrence and therefore cannot be the norm.

It's the players who come through ranks, battling their way at each step until they reach the top - or attempt to reach the top - who keep the circulation going on court.

FIBA Asia has an encouragingly large number of such players who are toiling hard in training, unsure yet of their future, more the future itself unsure.

Iran and China are the leaders in this 'emerging players category', probably the reason why the two countries, between them, have swept 16 out of the 17 gold medals in FIBA Asia competitions for men across all age groups since the turn of the Millennium, with Korea's gold at the 2000 FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Kuala Lumpur being the exception.

The Philippines is the third most active basketball communities in Asia - of course in terms of popularity and following per capita, the SEABA country outweighs any other country in the world by a distance - and has a large number of players, but most of them are sorted out at the PBA.

The experimentation abilities of the coaches of all three teams will be put to the most severe of tests at the 5th FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China (July 11-19).

The next 48 hours might be the most crucial these three gentlemen have spent in the last few months as the deadline to submit their final rosters fast approaches.

Iran and the Philippines are heading to Spain for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup (August 30-September 14) and for these two Wuhan is the first step in the hard - but short - road to prepare to perform at the world's biggest basketball event ever.

For China, Wuhan marks the first step in the hard - and long - road to redemption for respect.

What Iran and the Philippines have achieved has been based on the superlative performances of their mainstays and spearheads. Both are surely well aware that they need to groom, nurture and utilise the players waiting in the wings if the achievements have to be sustained at the same level or improved when they go to the next level.

China have bitter experience of not doing this.

Every competition for many teams is an end in itself. But for those intending to win it, the competition is not restricted to one event alone. Every win in every event, in this case, is only clearing one milestone on the long road to achievement.

After all, it's the fringe players who play the vital role in keeping this momentum.

Oh, by the way, was somebody looking for list of these emerging players? Too difficult to list the too many.

And even more difficult to explain how too many were left out!

So long…

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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