Hong Kong’s Eastern Long Lions have supported the decision to abandon the Asean Basketball League season, with teams now focusing on resuming in 2021.

The regional league, which involves 10 professional teams across East Asia including the Southorn Stadium-based outfit, has been suspended since March because of the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, the league announced it had little option but to call off the season.

“The 2019-20 season will be deemed concluded as there is no safe way to complete the remaining fixtures,” said a statement from the Singapore-based organisers.

“This decision is not an easy one and has not been made lightly. The overriding factor of our social responsibility, health and the well-being of our all stakeholders was at the forefront of our discussion … As Covid-19 turned into a pandemic, the nature of the league’s operation and fixtures have been severely impacted by the closure of borders and activities in order to contain the virus … thus rendering completion of the league improbable.”

Eastern executive manager Lee Shue-wing said it was the best decision.

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“We agree this is a reasonable decision, especially for Hong Kong where the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has been increasing recently,” he said.

“The safety of players and officials is always on top of our priorities. With the season being called off, we can now focus on next season and hopefully reignite our challenge by getting more quality players when it begins in early 2021.”

Eastern were crowned ABL overall champions in their regional cup debut in the 2016-17 season, finishing first in the regular season before defeating Singapore Slingers 3-1 in the best-of-five championship series. They were in the semi-finals in the past two years, even though they were unable to mount any serious title challenge.

However, they got off to a shaky start this season and were second from the bottom of the 10-team table after winning only three of their 10 matches. Mono Vampire of Thailand were leading the table with 12 wins, but the club announced their withdrawal when the season was suspended in March.

Hong Kong’s Eastern crowned Asean basketball champions

The regional competition has been under threat with their major commercial sponsor, AirAsia, struggling with financial problems due to travel restrictions.

But the ABL and Singapore Slingers co-owner Wee Siew Kim last week denied rumours the ABL was closing shop, saying they were “completely untrue”.

The organisers will now “turn their efforts into planning for 2021 and hope to make announcements on the 11th season after completing consultations among the teams”.

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