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SINGAPORE (Youth Olympic Games) - Hello everyone! Here is my first entry from Singapore, where I'm currently to cover the 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Youth Olympic Games. Feel free to share your thoughts with me further below in the comment section!

Arriving in Singapore
After landing in Singapore safely, I was picked up by a friendly lady that told me, that my luggage might have been not on the way from Frankfurt to Singapore. Knowing that my charger for my laptop was in the luggage, I was slightly nervous, but my luggage finally appeared and I was ready to leave the airport towards my hotel. The mascots of the games appeared everywhere on the short trip to the center of the city and the local staff helped me out later on several occasions so I would not get lost immediately. I did not know what the friendly guys from the media accreditation meant when they mentioned that I was supposed to learn "cenglish" but after a day in Singapore, I know now what's up with that. It's sometimes tough to understand but you get used to it really quickly.

The opening ceremony
While being too tired to make it to the ceremony, I decided to stay home and to watch it on the television while taking this nice pic out of my window.

I liked most of it, especially the young singers who showed great skills on the microphone, and all the fireworks made me think what it would be like to be here on New Year's Eve.

The competition starts
FIBA is currently introducing and promoting 3-on-3 basketball to reach a wider and younger audience as in most places around the world, kids do play mostly on one rim, especially in bigger cities due to the lack of space. The Youth Olympic Games are just perfect to use this format as it's played in the city and in front of young fans over here in Singapore.

Girls-Highlights:
Singapore's girls did a good job against Germany but lost in the end thanks to the missing physique under the basket. Alexandra Hoffgen dashed the hopes of the hosts who had plenty of fans in the stands, cheering like crazy for them.
The Australians showed no mercy towards Chile and kept them pointless in the first half. Somehow, the girls from down under got lazy and the Chileans won the second half by six points but it was not enough to change the result significantly.
My favorite coach in this tournament is the yelling lady from Russia.

She pushed her players to a win over the Ivory Coast. Mrs. Kaftanova seems to be into the merchandising business. Never seen so many "Russia" signs tagged to one body.
Finally, the Czech Republic and Italy showed early signs of domination and both should be going for a medal. The Italian twins Caterina and Francesca Dotto are coming fresh from winning a European Championship and displayed great skills on the court.

Boys-Highlights:
The Greek boys started with a "W" against the Kiwis into the day, mainly to a highly motivated Lampros Vlachos (Panionios Athens) who was very vocal (read: Trash talk par excellence) on the court. I actually enjoyed that as it reminded me of the good old days when guys like Gary Payton or Charles Barkley talked endlessly towards their opponents to confuse them and intimidate them.
The Croats edged Spain in over-time thanks to high-scoring Matej Buovac, who killed it with 23 points in a high-scoring game with a bunch of highlight-plays.

I really liked the Indians who lost to Puerto Rico but showed glimpses of what they are capable of. The Boriqua could be doing pretty well in this tournament as they really know how to play as a team and Kristian Medina of Marianopolis Prep is doing a great job so far.

Lithuania send a team consisting of men instead of boys as they are really looked physically ready (They dunked at will) to take it to the medal round. Even their coach looked like Ivan Drago, so I did not wonder about their win over helpless Panama.

The U.S. boys needed some time to get it going, especially Angelo Chol who found his rhythm in the second half and netted some crucial points for the United States against the Turks who forced too many three-pointers in the end.

The Virgin Islanders crushed South Africa within three minutes in which they scored 15 points to seal the day with a positive outing.

Results of Day One:

Girls
Vanuatu - Canada 12-27 (Izono 10 - Kilpatrick 11)
Singapore - Germany 22-33 (Ng 7 - Hoffgen 20)
Thailand - China 13-34 (Buapa 6 - Ma 16)
Australia - Chile 18-9 (Bontempelli 18 - Vasquez 4)
Russia - Ivory Coast 16-6 (Antonenko 10 - Bamba 2)
Angola - USA 8-30 (Afonso 4 -Stokes 12)
Czech Republic - Mali 33-8 (Vackova 9 - Toure 6)
Italy - France 26-11 (C.Dotto 14 - Eduardo 4)

Boys
Greece - New Zealand 22-19 (Vlachos 8 points - Fraser 7 points)
Iran - Egypt 27-21 (Sedighi 10 - El Sadani 9)
Singapore - Central African Republic 17-25 (Su 9 - Gouzhy 12)
Spain - Croatia 27-29 (Motos 15 - Buovac 23)
India - Puerto Rico 15-33 (Sunder 10 - Medina 16)
Panama - Lithuania 14-33 (Grant 5 - Uzupis 18)
USA - Turkey 23-17 (Chol 10 - Yildizli 7)
US Virgin Islands - South Africa 28-12 (Swanston 10 - Mahlinza 6)

FIBA

l Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games