VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam's first-ever professional basketball team, the Sai Gon Heat, have been launched by a sports academy set up by global investment group IDG Ventures.

The Sai Gon Sports Academy said the team would play in the AirAsia Asean Basketball League.

"Today is an extremely exciting day for me because of the launch of the professional basketball team Sai Gon Heat that will represent Viet Nam at the highest level in Southeast Asia," American-Vietnamese Henry Nguyen, chairman of SSA, told the media yesterday, Oct 20.

"We know we can build a team that can compete at the highest level with the majority of players based in Viet Nam and their development will be extremely important in terms of our results and ability to compete with other teams."

"The establishment of Sai Gon Heat professional basketball team is simple a next step in all our programmes at SSA. It is our vision in the big picture that establishes the kind of awe and dream for young athletes of Viet Nam to fire us to"

Sai Gon Heat has one coach and is looking for two more as well as international players and 10 Vietnamese players.

"To do this, we definitely need the support of the Viet Nam Basketball Federation (VBF) as well as the HCM City's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism where our team is based.

"We believe this co-operation will not only help our team compete in the AirAsia ABL Championships but also raise the level of basketball in Viet Nam."

The VBF has expressed its support and considers the establishment of Sai Gon Heat today as a milestone in the development of basketball in Viet Nam.

"The VBF will do all it can … to develop basketball, particularly professional basketball, including helping the Sai Gon Heat to compete in the AirAsia ABL," Nguyen Quoc Quan, general secretary of the VBF and deputy general secretary of the Southeast Asia Basketball Federation, said.

The ABL, to be played from January through June 2012, will see eight teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore Thailand, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.

The league was set up by budget carrier AirAsia, Indonesian media giant E-Live Entertainment, and the Southeast Asian Basketball Fedration in 2009.

Indonesia and the Philippines will have two teams each because of their large populations and the sport's popularity there.

Each of the teams can have two international imports and three regional players.

Sai Gon Heat will play a total of 21 games, 10 home and 11 away.

"When we first started the league, we came to Viet Nam to look for a potential partner or a team owner but could not find anyone," Kuhan Foo, CEO of AirAsia ABL, told Viet Nam News.

"We were lucky to find SSA and think of adding Viet Nam this year.

"How we do is we work with our teams in partnership. We provide the regional platform for the teams to compete and then hopefully the teams can go out and find their own sponsorships or be independent.

"The teams will indirectly help their national teams."

The SSA, a training academy for multiple sports, announced at the press conference it would provide $10,000 each to HCM City's men's basketball team and the Vietnamese team to compete in the 26th Southeast Asia Games in Palembang and Jakarta, Indonesia, next month.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News