Mental “doping” dose from family
In their 13/14 matches in this year’s Southeast Asian professional basketball tournament (ABL Invitational 2023), Saigon Heat Club had a match to decide an early ticket to the semi-finals with the Singapore Slingers.
Khoa Tran (white shirt) often plays in the starting lineup
Confronting his rival who broke his 4-match unbeaten streak, Tran Dang Khoa (Khoa Tran) – a Vietnamese-born pitcher who has pursued a basketball career for many years in Vietnam received a rare source of motivation from the audience. radio is mother and sister.
Khoa Tran’s sister (blue shirt) and mother (next door) at Nguyen Du Gymnasium
According to Khoa himself, the defender’s biggest wish during the basketball competition in Vietnam is to have his relatives come to the field to cheer him on. This unexpected appearance of mother and sister is only the second time in nearly 8 years of working away from home that the family is present directly to support Khoa. Not disappointed with the audience who crossed halfway around the world to see him play, the defender many times capped the national team to help Saigon Heat have a dramatic victory with a score of 71-68 against the representative of Singapore.
Saigon Heat topped the group stage of ABL Invitational 2023 (11 wins 3 defeats) after 14 matches
Thanks to this result, the students of coach Matt Van Pelt had a comfortable mentality to win another victory in the last match later. Closing stage 4 in Ho Chi Minh City and also the last stage of the ABL Invitational 2023 group stage, Saigon Heat went straight to the semi-finals with a top performance. This is the first time in 9 ABL attendances, the Vietnamese basketball representative has this favorable position. This achievement also helps Khoa Tran continue to flourish with Saigon Heat, after winning the VBA 2022 championship in September last year.
Saigon Heat’s opponent in the ABL semi-finals is once again the Singapore Slingers (fourth place in the rankings). The two teams that are rich in debt will play a maximum of three matches, the team that wins first will advance to the final. The other semi-final pair is between NS Matrix (Malaysia) and Hong Kong Eastern (Hong Kong).
Family from the US to Vietnam to support Khoa Tran and Saigon Heat’s match
Recently, Khoa Tran’s family returned to the US. “My sister is coming home. Go on the highway in peace, maybe we will see each other soon. Thank you everyone for the gift,” Khoa Tran said. “Goodbye Khoa, I wish you all the best in the semi-finals. Maybe we will meet again sometime this year. Everyone will miss you,” Khoa’s sister replied.
