Legends players celebrate with the trophy after they winning the CamEd Women’s Basketball Cup during the CamEd Women’s Futsal Tournament 2022. CHHORN NORN
The women’s basketball team of CamEd proved strong enough to convince their management that they are capable of fighting for gold at the 2022 University Games, scheduled to return in July.
The confidence of the team stems from their strong performance at the 3x3 basketball tournament of the CamEd Women’s Futsal Tournament, which finished on April 30.
Casey Barnett, director of CamEd Institute, said after the awards ceremony: “I see the quality of our women’s basketball team has increased a lot. Most of the players who competed today have trained since they were 10 years old. Now that they are in their 20s, they have accrued a lot of skill and experience.”
Throughout the three-week competition – between 14 teams at the Premium Sports Club – Legends showed they were the best of the tournament. In Saturday’s matches, they beat CamEd Maverick in their semi-final and went on to beat Possible 13-8 in the final to become champions. The Wildcats, who lost to Possible in their semi-final, beat CamEd Maverick 6-5 to take third place.
The Legends’ title win impressed Barnett, as they were able to defeat senior teams, despite only being second-year students. “I’m very happy because this year’s champions are still second-year students, so they have two more years to strengthen their skills and participate in sporting tournaments on behalf of our school,” he said.
In national tournaments, CamEd women’s basketball team have a winning record. They took gold for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2018. The CamEd team also took gold in women’s football in 2018, the last before Covid-19 restrictions suspended national sporting events.
Their confidence at maintaining their winning ways extends to this year’s games, with Barnett saying he will be selecting the best players from all of CamEd’s teams. Players from Legends, Possible, Wildcats and CamEd Maverick will begin training together soon.
“We have high hopes of retaining the women’s basketball gold medal in this competition. Although we cannot provide a 100 per cent guarantee, we have high-quality athletes, and we know what it takes to win at this level,” he said.
Ear Simour of the Wildcats team said: “I am very happy that CamEd Institute holds these sporting events, which bring students together to play for health, friendship and solidarity. This competition has strengthened our spirit and confidence, and we will train hard for the University Games. I hope we can bring home gold for CamEd.”
