Summary of stage 1 ABL Invitational 2023: Saigon Heat and Hong Kong Eastern take the first place
After 6 days of competition in the lion island nation of Singapore, ABL Invitational 2023 closed the first stage of the competition last night, January 8.
The representative of Vietnam, Saigon Heat Club, has had great success when winning all 4 matches, climbing to the top of ABL rankings after a series of matches on January 7. However, coach Matt Van Pelt's teachers and students have now fallen to second place, giving up first place to Hong Kong Eastern due to a loss in the sub-index.
| Hạng | Đội | Trận | Thắng | Thua | Điểm ghi | Điểm bị ghi | Phong độ | Điểm |
| 1 | Hong Kong Eastern | 4 | 4 | 0 | 344 | 240 | W W W W | 8 |
| 2 | Saigon Heat | 4 | 4 | 0 | 355 | 278 | W W W W | 8 |
| 3 | Singapore Slingers | 4 | 2 | 2 | 326 | 306 | W W L L | 6 |
| 4 | NS Matrix Malaysia | 4 | 2 | 2 | 325 | 308 | L L W W | 6 |
| 5 | Zamboanga Valientes | 4 | 2 | 2 | 348 | 334 | W L L W | 6 |
| 6 | Macau Black Bears | 4 | 1 | 3 | 314 | 323 | L L L W | 5 |
| 7 | Louvre Surabaya | 4 | 1 | 3 | 315 | 414 | L W L L | 5 |
| 8 | Cooly Bangkok Tigers | 4 | 0 | 4 | 314 | 438 | L L L L | 4 |
*Note: The winning team gets 2 points, the losing team gets 1 point
In the rest of the rankings, the home team of stage 1, Singapore Slingers, received two consecutive defeats after starting 2-0, temporarily holding third place. Right below, the two teams with a record of 2 wins and 2 losses are NS Matrix Deers (Malaysia) and Zamboanga Valientes (Philippines).
Macau Black Bears and Louvre Surabaya (Indonesia) only won 1 match after 4 appearances. Particularly, the Cooly Bangkok Tigers had a lot of problems in their first major tournament, losing all 4 matches in stage 1.
Closing the first stage, the teams will take a break for 1-2 days. Then the entire tournament will move to Batam, Indonesia. This is where the second stage of the ABL Invitational 2023 will take place before everything takes a break for the Lunar New Year.
In stage 2, Saigon Heat will face opponents they have not faced in the first leg including Singapore Slingers, Cooly Bangkok Tigers and especially the top team Hong Kong Eastern. The confrontation with the Hong Kong representative will take place at 4:00 p.m. Sunday, January 15.
