ABL新賽季增軍至歷史性的10隊-珠海狼戰士 - 籃球

ASEAN Basketball League adds historic 10th team with the Zhuhai Wolf Warriors


ZHUHAI – The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is adding a historic 10th team
into the league’s playing field and will still have a Chinese team in the
Zhuhai Wolf Warriors.

“We saw an opportunity after the ABL started accepting East Asian teams like
Hong Kong [Eastern Basketball Team] and [Formosa Dreamers] of Taiwan,” David
Chu, General Manager of the Zhuhai Wolf Warriors said. “I have about 20
years of experience in the Asian basketball scene so when my partner asked if
I could put a together a team if he got the investment, I said yes.”

The team will be based in the city of Zhuhai, which is on the southern coast
of Guangdong, China. Zhuhai is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of China, giving
it easier access to the global market. Because of its prime location as a key
port city and its surrounding environment, Zhuhai has built a reputation of
being a garden city and attracts millions of tourists both internationally
and domestically each year.

“Our home court will be at Jinan University in Zhuhai,” Chu says. “it’s a
good sized 2500-person capacity stadium. Once our fan base picks up, we will
eventually move to a bigger stadium.”

Zhuhai is directly connected to both Macau and Hong Kong via the Hong Kong–
Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HKZMB) which is set to open later this year. With the
Macau Black Bears and Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team just near by, the
decision to use Zhuhai as the base for the Chinese team was more than
reasonable.

“Zhuhai is the closest city to Macau so it was the most convenient choice
when it came to logistics for teams to fly in,” says Chu. “We are also
Zhuhai’s first professional team in any sport so we hope we will have the
support of the people in our first year.”

The Wolf Warriors will draw from China’s immense talent pool of basketball
players to form their team. According to the NIKE FIBA World Rankings, China
ranks 29th in the World and 3rd in Asia. With a population of nearly 1.4
billion people, Zhuhai will be recruiting the best they can to form a
competitive team, even though they know it might be a tall task.

“I think the goal for most expansion teams is not to finish last,” Chu
says. “I think we have a slight advantage since I have been following the
ABL closely. I have seen the level of players from the top teams and I just
need to go get players that are equal to or better than those guys.”

“Making the playoffs is a realistic goal for us in our first year.”

The Wolf Warriors will be the ASEAN Basketball League’s 10th team this
season, the most that the league has ever had in its 9 years of existence.
This puts the league among great company of other successful sports leagues
around the world. In their 9th season, leagues like the National Basketball
Association (9 teams), National Football League (10 teams), Philippines
Basketball Association (8 teams), and the Korean Basketball League (10 teams)
had similar humble beginnings towards becoming the leagues that they are
today.

The ASEAN Basketball League is more than proud of the competitive nature and
commitment to excellence of the returning 9 teams and look forward to seeing
the Zhuhai Wolf Warriors carry themselves likewise.

“We are very honored to be the 10th team in the ABL,” Chu says. “I know
some of the owners before I joined and this should be a fun year. I think
with more teams it will help with the ABL brand across the region.”

“The league is definitely going in the right direction with this expansion.”


ABL官網：https://goo.gl/bCrzuk

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新賽季中國將維持有一隊在ABL聯盟中，新球隊珠海狼戰士宣布加盟ABL

成為珠海的第一個職業運動隊，主場選定容量為2500人的暨南大學珠海校區場館

第一個賽季目標期望闖進季後賽

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