Slingers star has no plans to retire

SINGAPORE — Two-time ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) MVP Wong Wei Long wants to clear the air: He is not retiring any time soon. At least not for another eight years.

Faced with incessant questions in recent months about his future, the Singapore national basketball team and Singapore Slingers veteran said there is still a lot left in his tank despite playing competitive basketball for more than a decade.

But as Wong enters the final stretch of his professional basketball career at the age of 27, he is making no secret of his plans when he hangs up his sneakers. That is probably what set tongues wagging about a possible early retirement.

“I don’t want to be a basketball player forever, and I am already planning for life after it,” said the second-oldest member of the Singapore national team, behind 29-year-old captain Desmond Oh.

“My aim is to play till I’m 35. I won’t be worried of younger players (taking my place), because they only spur me on to work harder.”

The engineering graduate from the National Technological University is already preparing for life after competitive basketball. In January last year, he set up a basketball youth academy — Scholar Basketball Academy — and owns a Japanese restaurant at Dairy Farm Road. He is thinking of opening an ice cream parlour and a gym.

But it is the academy that Wong is extremely proud of. He has even roped in three Slingers team-mates — Leon Kwek, Toh Qing Huang and Wu Qingde — to train local budding basketball players. From just eight students when it first stated, the academy now boasts close to 100.

“My dream is my basketball academy and I want to groom the youngsters into the next ‘Wong Wei Long’ for Singapore. I also want to make this business successful so as to allow my Slingers teammates to be able to earn a comfortable living as my academy’s trainers.”

Business is brisk at the academy, especially after his heroics for the Slingers in the ABL Finals against Kuala Lumpur Dragons last month, when his buzzer-beater at the OCBC Arena forced the final to go into Game 5. The Slingers lost the decider.

As a by-product of the academy, Wong also started an annual basketball league for the youngsters called the Elites Basketball League. The competition, spanning three-and-a-half months, provides more game exposure for young players, which he said is “crucial” for them to rise up to the next level.

“It is the first basketball league in Singapore on such a big scale. The League has garnered 10 sponsors as well,” said Wong, who recently turned down a lucrative offer from a Thai basketball club because he wants to stay in Singapore and build up his businesses.

“When I was younger, there were not many leagues for me to play in, and I did not have much game exposure. That was the reason why we couldn’t really compete with countries like the Philippines. In my first four years at the national team, we didn’t win a single tournament.

“I used to sit for three hours or more at street basketball courts and watch people play, as I did not have a coach as well. I want to do these (providing trainers and setting a league) for the current generation, and speed up their development as players.

“When I get to my 30s, maybe a younger player will take my place on the court and I will be demoted to the bench. But I will be happy knowing my trainers and I groomed him.”