Section 29: Sport Basketball

SPORT BASKETBALL

SPORT BASKETBALL

Basketball was one of the ports that Bahau people were proud of. There was indeed a strong historical connection between basketball in Bahau and Chi Wen School. Nevertheless, how did a small town like Bahau in Negeri Sembilan ever produce such excellent players who brought glory to it?

Basketball in Bahau thrived from scratch in the 1950s. Rao Jin Tu, Li Guo Hua, Tan Jian Sheng, Ma Wen Sen were among the well-known players at that time. They were the best people to narrate the history of basketball in Bahau.

Rao Jin Tu recalled that he used to sit by the basketball court and watch basketball matches since he was a child. The basketball court was located by the side of a big tree behind the Bahau main street. Players at that time included Li Xue Keng, Li Xue He, Lin Sen Jian, Liu Zi Kuan, Feng Jin Man, Feng Jin Shui, Su Zu Jie, Cen Qi Hua, Lin Shu Xun and Xie Jia Hui. There were siblings in the team. According to the records in Chi Wen school magazines over the years, the team was named “Ke Hua Ti Dui”.

In the 1950s, Basketball player, Ma Wen Sen leveled the vacant land in front of the School (the current location of Chi Wen Secondary School) in order to upgrade the condition of the basketball court. Since then, passionate basketball players started their basketball thrill there and at the same time, it had also led to an upsurge of Bahau people playing the game. At the same time, “HuiXing Dui“ was established. The players were Ma Wen Sen, Cen Qi Song, Li Guo Hua, Li Ji Ren, Xu Tong Lu, Wu Fu Cai etc.

In 1952, “XiaoHu Dui” was established. The team members were Ma Wen Sen, Li Guo Hua, Zheng Guo Guang, Hu Jing Chao, Chen Zhuan Jiu, Roa Jin Tu, Lin Ya Xi, Zhu Huo Mu, Su Zu Hua, Liu Zai Xun and others. At that time, only eight players were needed in a basketball team. But at a later stage, “XiaoHu Dui” was replaced by “QiHu Dui”.

The development of “QiHu Dui” consisted of two stages, members in the initial stage included Tan Cheng Fu, Lin Tian Xing, Lu Jian Wu, Chen Mu Sheng, Wan Yu Ming, Chen Ye Jing, Zhang Jin Zhong and the late Huang Jin Cai(nickname Huang Niu). Lu Zhi Wen, Lu Zhi Wu, lin Shen Xie, Ou Nai Guang and Su Ya Xing joined in the team in the later stage.

Why of all the sports, contemporary young Bahau people were only keen on basketball? Cai De Fu ‘s response was that the financial burden was heavy for a layman then. It was less costly to own a basketball than to own a badminton racket and shuttlecock. Moreover, many people could play together with only a basketball. During the implementation of the emergency, the whole gang of boys would play basketball in the afternoon, then went home to shower and sleep as curfew started after 7 in the evening.

The Footage in {Xiao Hu Dui}

Things changed from time to time. The management of “XiaoHu Dui” was unique.

The late Li Guo Hua was a member of “XiaoHu Dui” , he represented the Low Yat Construction basketball team in 1954.

Rao Jin Tu recalled that basketball in the early days was heavy and the players were hurt easily during practices. This was because a tube was attached to a basketball all the time. In contrast, the light American basketball became the dream basketball of the players at that time.

Rao Jin Tu and his brother Rao Jin Jian joined the school basketball team while pursuing their secondary studies in Confucian Independence School, Kuala Lumpur. The school coaches were the renowned national basketball referee, Xie Jin Fu and Lin Han Shui.

Once, Li Guo Hua boldly invited the Selangor “JingWu” basketball team to a game, Rao and his brother were given a jersey each and there and then they could play for “XiaoHu Dui”. The game was very intense. Finally, “XiaoHu Dui” managed to win “JingWu Dui” by a narrow margin in the last two minutes.

Players in “XiaoHu Dui” was well known with their outstanding performance records every time they played. Rao Jin Jian recalled that teams which “XiaoHu Dui “had played against were the Selangor “JingWu”, Klang “JingGong”, Pahang “Bukit Koman”, “ZhongJing” Raub, Seremban “HongYing” and Tampin “DanQing”.

Rao Jin Jian recalled that in 1968, The national basketball team had to forgo the Singapore Sport Festival, International Basketball Invitational Tournament and took part in Agong Cup basketball Tournament in Sabah. Bahau basketball team volunteered to participate in Singapore Sport Festival and was accepted by the organizer.

The Bahau Team played against the Singapore team in the opening game. It was a close game from beginning to the end. However, after three overtime periods, the Bahau team lost by one point! According to Li Guo Hua, by right Bahau team could have won the game, but in the last two seconds, the contact lens of a key player dropped. This gave the opponent team the chance to edge the Bahau team out. The player was severely reprimanded! In another round when the Bahau team played against the Taiwan team, the Bahau team lost the game only by three points. The strength and skills shown in the tournament made the Bahau team soared internationally. By the way, it was an honour that teacher Bisuo was one of the referees of this international invitational tournament.

Among the players, Li Guo Hua was the most outstanding. He played for the national team for 12 years. He won the ‘Best Model Player Award’ and the ‘best defender Award’ in Asia. He was also the captain of the Malaysia basketball team for many years and had made excellent achievements. Under his leadership and coaching, The Malaysia and Bahau basketball teams achieved remarkable results. Among the national players, four of them were from Bahau. They were Li Guo Hua, Tan Cheng Fu, Chen Ye Jing and Huang Jin Cai.

The Bahau players performed very well when they played for the country. They were trained even more diligently before the games. Li Guo Hua said;” We jogged back and forth from Cai De Fu ‘s house to rubber factory in Ladang Geddes every morning, covering a total distance of about 30 km. We diligently exercised for a month. We were teased as fools by the lady rubber tappers who worked along the roadsides”.

In 1957, Chi Wen Scholl Alumni Association organized “Du-Li Cup” tournament, and then followed by “Qi-You Cup” tournaments for 11 times.

Some team members continued to serve in the basketball sport in Bahau even after their retirement. After his secondary education, Rao Jin Tu returned to Bahau Chi Wen School as a teacher and continued to be active in the sport. He said; “I stopped playing basketball after 1958. I served as a Contest Director in the 12 tournaments out of 13 “Qi-You Cup” tournaments. When I was the contest director, I managed all the related affairs.”

In each event, the alumni association was only in charge of soliciting funds and prizes, but all other affairs were managed by Rao and Referee Bisuo, who were a perfect team. Besides, Rao Jin Jian, Li Guang Ming, Ou Nai Guang, Huang Wei Cheng and Liu Zi Cai also served as referees. Other meritorious persons who assisted in the organizing of the tournaments were Ceng Ling Qiang, Huang Xie Shui, Chen Li Xiao and so on.

During the peak period of basketball in Bahau, the “Qi You Cup” organized by the Alumni Association of Qi Wen School attracted many basketball teams to compete for the championship, sometimes up to 20 teams participated in a tournament. These teams came from places such as Ladang Geddes, Rompin, Bukit Glugor and others. Later on, the event was even more exciting when the women basketball teams came to the scene. Teacher Bisuo and Rao Jin Tu were the well-known basketball referees. At that time, teacher Bisuo was the only Indian referee for international tournaments.

After the alumni association stopped holding “Qi You Cup” basketball tournament, Cai De Fu took over the management of basketball in Bahau. He founded and led the Bahau Sports Association and handling of the basket team. During the period from 1969 to 1981, he organized various basketball-related events raising the Bahau basketball to a new level. The Bahau Sport Association also organized several times “Lin Jiangshui Annual Men’s Basketball Championship and “Tang XiangQin Annual Womwen’s Basketball Championship”. At the same time, many outstanding young players were attracted to join in the Sport Youth Team of the association.

Li Guo Hua recalled that Cai De Fu arranged the training before matches. During the training, the players stayed in his house. Every morning, Cai would prepare breakfast for the players after their training.

Ke Jin De also shared that he often followed the team to matches as a reporter. Li Guo Hua would drive his little Italian Mini Fiat packed with 7 or 8 players and headed out for the games.

Cai De Fu mentioned that when he was developing basketball in Bahau, the Bahau women’s basketball team always lost to Seremban women’s team. As the result, no player from the team was selected to play for the state. On second thought, he sent them to participate in the tournaments organized by Malacca state. Eventually, six players were selected to play for the Malacca team! However, it was objected by the Malaysia Basketball Association because a player from one state could not play for another state. Cai added that during his time, Malacca, Selangor and Kelantan were the strongest basketball teams in the country.