SINGAPORE: Singapore national men’s basketball player Kelvin Lim has issued a rallying cry to his teammates, urging them to give their all and build on past experiences, as they set their sights on advancing from the group stage and into the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup.
“We want to perform better than we did in previous years and aim for a top-eight finish. We always look forward to playing in front of our fans at home, and we will do our best to start our year strong,” said Lim in an interview with The Independent Singapore ahead of their opening match this Saturday (March 29) at the OCBC Square, Singapore Sports Hub.
The 2025 FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup marks the eighth edition of the competition, with Australia emerging as a dominant force in the men’s category with four titles. Mongolia has claimed two championships, while Qatar won the inaugural edition in 2013.
Singapore first hosted the tournament in 2022, and its best-ever finish was in 2023 when it advanced to the quarter-finals after finishing in the top two of its group.
Two years ago, Singapore defeated Chinese Taipei 22-20 in overtime and lost to Mongolia 9-22 in their final group stage match. Despite trying their best against China in the quarter-final, Singapore eventually lost 14-21.
“Last year’s FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup was really memorable because the atmosphere was super amazing. Everyone was so loud, and you could feel the passion from the fans, so that really encouraged me to keep fighting and playing hard,” added Lim, who is the sole surviving team member in the Singapore men’s team from the previous edition.
The Singapore men’s team parted ways with former Slingers players Xu Duanyang, Delvin Goh and Tay Ding Loon and welcomed new additions 24-year-old Agbalo Espinosa, Nur Aufa Bin Emil Putra (23), and Karl Phua (19) for their 2025 FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup campaign.
“I’m excited to experience that again this year and our team is ready to give everything for Singapore. We’ve had a busy year preparing, and we managed to reach our highest combined federation world ranking of 22, so we do have high expectations of ourselves,” Lim noted.
Singapore’s men’s team are in Pool A alongside top-seeded Mongolia. Hong Kong, Bahrain, Guam, Malaysia and Indonesia are currently playing in the qualifiers with the top team joining Pool A in the main competition.
There are also changes to the Singapore women’s team roster. New players Lydia Ang and Jermaine Lim, both 23, will join Han Xing Yue (24) and Tang Choy Ting (31).
The Singapore women’s team are drawn in Pool C with third-seeded team and last year’s quarter-finalists Japan. The top team from the qualifiers Group C – Vietnam, Iran, Kazakhstan and Maldives – will join the hosts in Pool C.
The qualifying matches will be played from March 26 – 27, and the main pool matches will begin on Friday, March 28.
Singapore preparing for 2025 SEA Games
While Singapore national 3×3 basketball team head coach Lazar Rasic hopes the players give their best in the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup, he also believes that this tournament is a vital platform in their preparations for the year-end SEA Games in Thailand.
“I want to see improvement, and I want to see what we were doing the whole this period (training and preparations) that they implement it without fear. They must hustle and give their heart to represent the country the best way,” said head coach Rasic, who first led the Singapore team in the competition last year.
“Our goal is to be better than the previous edition and to go as far as possible in this competition. So everything is possible. Of course, we will fight our best to come as far as possible.”
According to Rasic, the Asia 3×3 Asia Cup competition would be fiercely contested, as every participating team is a national squad and they come to Singapore prepared and with their strongest possible lineup.
“Definitely favourites are Australia, Mongolia, Japan, New Zealand, and China. These are the teams who are strong, and we need to be the best version of ourselves if we want to compete with these teams,” shared the Serbian-born head coach.
Rasic also discussed the strategic revamp of Team Singapore’s roster, explaining that the introduction of fresh, young talent is a deliberate move to cultivate a strong foundation for future competitions.
“This edition, we changed the rosters a lot. So men’s, we have three new players who didn’t play previous editions. We are going to pull the age limit down a little bit based on that as we are trying to build up the rosters for 2029, which is our main and long-term goal,” added Rasic, who has also set a top-four finish in the SEA Games.
The Singapore men’s team is scheduled to play their first match on March 28 against the winner from the qualifier at 3:45 p.m. before taking on Mongolia at 6:55 p.m. The Singapore women’s team will face Japan at 3:20 p.m., with their second match to be played at 7 p.m.
Basketball fans will enjoy free entry to selected sessions on March 26 and 27 on a first-come-first-served basis until full capacity is reached. Tickets for the main competition are on sale now, priced from a concession rate of $5 for youths under 18, seniors above 60, full-time national servicemen and persons with disabilities, while courtside seats for the final are at $65.