Malaysia - Sim: Silver or I'm out

From: http://thestar.com.my
View source article here.
By LIM TEIK HUAT

KUALA LUMPUR: Basketball coach Sim Sin Heng takes accountability to heart.

And the Penang-born Sin Heng, who has been appointed as the new chief coach of the national men's basketball team, has vowed to quit if they fail to win at least the silver medal in the SEA Games in Thailand at the end of the year.

Sin Heng, who guided the national juniors to two South-East Asian Junior Championship titles in 2002 and 2006, will be the first local coach in 10 years to handle the senior side.

American Felton Sealey was in charge of the team from 1998 to 2004 and Australian Brian Lester took over until he left late last year.

Under Sealey, the team were bronze medallists in the 2001 and 2003 SEA Games. Basketball was not in the 2005 Manila SEA Games programme because the Philippines' national association were embroiled in an internal dispute and were deregistered by the international body.

While the previous foreign coaches have tried and failed, the 51-year-old Sin Heng dared to spell out his target for a relatively young team.

"We have to accept the fact that we are not ready to play at the Asian level yet. For basketball, the SEA Games will be the ultimate target and that is what people are going to judge us by," he said.

"I want the men's team to return from the SEA Games in December with at least a silver medal. This is the challenge that will drive me on to work on the team. If I cannot deliver, I am ready to hand my job to someone else and become the coach to have served the shortest stint."

The last time the Malaysian men's team reached the SEA Games final was in Jakarta in 1997, losing to the the Philippines. Malaysia last won gold in 1989 in Kuala Lumpur.

A basketball enthusiast, Sin Heng has been involved in coaching since 1992. 

He was seconded from Jit Sin Secondary School in Penang to work with Malaysian Basketball Association and served as the assistant to Sealey from 1999 to 2003.

More than 20 players have been called up for centralised training, which begins at the Maba Stadium on Jan 15.

Sin Heng added that he would adopt an open-door policy for players who failed to make it to the full-time training.

"There are many players who are still good at playing basketball but they cannot train full-time because of job commitments," he said.

"If they can come later and make the team stronger, I will still consider them. 

"At the end of the day, I want to bring the best 12 players to the SEA Games to achieve the best result."