Coach's wife hires bus to take fans to KL for Game 5
Wife of head coach Neo charters bus to ferry fans to KL for decider
GAME FIVE
WESTPORTS MALAYSIA DRAGONS v SINGAPORE SLINGERS
(Tomorrow, 2.30pm, StarHub TV Ch 205)
- Best-of-five series tied at 2-2
Serene Chua is not only the wife of Singapore Slingers head coach Neo Beng Siang.
She is also one of their biggest fans and she wants Slingers supporters to outroar the support for the Westports Malaysia Dragons in the deciding Game Five of the Asean Basketball League Finals tomorrow.
Action speaks louder than words, so Chua has chartered a bus to ferry family, friends and fans to Kuala Lumpur, where the two teams will meet in the finale at the Maba Stadium tomorrow.
With the series tied at 2-2, the 47-year-old Chua wants to make sure that the Slingers get all the support that they can on enemy territory, where more than 2,000 Malaysian fans are expected to be present.
Led by Chua, thirty-three of them made the 355km trip to the Malaysian capital early this morning.
Her heart says a Slingers victory, but she knows that it will be a very close encounter between two quality sides.
"Both teams have a 50-50 chance. They have their own strengths," said Chua.
"The Slingers have been doing fairly well with only three imports. Our local players have stepped up when it counted.
"It is all down to which team want this victory more, and sometimes the slightest details, such as the referee making the right calls, can prove to be the difference."
Her eldest daughter Neo Ying Xue, 23, is also part of the travelling party.
To cheer the Slingers on, the fans have made props, including large cardboard cut-outs of the players' faces.
CRUCIAL
"We also followed the team to Bangkok for their semi-final match against Hi-Tech Bangkok City, and Kuala Lumpur for the first two games of the Finals. We know that home support plays a crucial role," said Ying Xue.
"It's the deciding game of the Finals, and I'm sure the home crowd will try and give their team an advantage over us, so the Slingers need our support."
Besides the band of supporters led by her mother, Ying Xue expects other Singaporeans to travel to Kuala Lumpur to support the Slingers, since it's a long weekend and the stadium is easily accessible.
She is hoping for a healthy turnout of about 100 Slingers fans at the Maba Stadium to roar the Singapore team to victory.
Ying Xue said: "The fans were quite rude (when we were there for the first two games of the Finals) and that's why we want to go to KL again.
"We want to make sure that our players get all the support they can get."
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