reporter Feng Zihan
In October 2022, the first home and away pan-regional season of the East Asian Super League (referred to as the "Eastern Super League") will be officially launched, with a total of 8 top club teams from East Asia participating.
As for Chinese fans, the one that everyone is most concerned about is naturally the Bay Area Pterodactyl, which is fully cultivated by the East Asian Super League. On May 12, this Hong Kong club team officially announced its head coach for the next two seasons. He is the legendary coach from Australia - Brian Gore .
Gore is a six-time Australian National Basketball League (NBL) champion. He led the Australian national team to win an Olympic medal for the first time ( Tokyo Olympics bronze medal). He has now become the first head coach of the Bay Area Pterosaurs. coach. The newly formed team announced that Gore will be the coach for the next two seasons.
"I am honored to be appointed as the head coach of the Bay Area Wings, and I am looking forward to this challenge. Being the first specially invited team of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 20 years and participating in Asia's top league, the East Asia Super League, is An exciting thing," Gore said.
In March this year, the Bay Area Pterodactyl and the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) announced that due to the strict immigration control and restriction measures introduced by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the team’s home city, due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the newly established Bay Area Pterodactyl team will The home court for home and away games of the Eastern Super League is temporarily located in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and will participate in the PBA League Commissioner's Cup as a special invited team.
"Brian Gore is one of the best coaches in the world and he has a deep understanding of Asian basketball. There is no doubt that he will make this club very competitive. He has developed some of the best players in Asia, And coached the best team. Gore’s glory speaks for itself,” said Matt, CEO of the Eastern Super League.
Gore played an integral role in the development of basketball in Asia. He has coached in CBA for more than ten years, leading the team to a winning rate of nearly 70%. In the 2013-2014 season, he became the first foreign coach to win the CBA Coach of the Year. In addition, he has experience working for the Chinese national team and the Japanese national team.
Gore has led the CBA Xinjiang Flying Tigers (2018) as the head coach and the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions (2019) as the coach to participate in the Eastern Super League. In 2018, he also hosted an East Asian Super League coaching training camp, which received extensive participation from coaches from all over the world.
"With coach Gore at the helm, the Pterosaurs will become a team that all Chinese fans are proud of. As the first Chinese club in history to participate in international competitions in foreign professional leagues, our goal is to play well foundation to build a top-ranked team. Hiring Gore as the team's head coach is a solid foundation for the team to achieve its goals," said Liu Quansheng, general manager of the Bay Area Pterodactyl Club.
The next PBA League Commissioner’s Cup is tentatively scheduled to start on October 2 this year. The first home and away pan-regional season of the Eastern Super League will start in October 2022, with a total of 8 teams participating. The champions and runners-up of last season’s Japanese B League, South Korean KBL League and Philippine PBA League will directly qualify to participate in the Eastern Super League. The Bay Area Winged Dragons and the champion teams from Chinese Taipei P. LEAGUE+ will represent Greater China.
