Guganeswaran, an alumnus of Huaqiao University (HQU) and the former main player of HQU men’s basketball team, has been named head coach for Malaysia national basketball team.

Guganeswaran, a Malaysian Chinese with ancestry from Fujian province, led the HQU team to 5 China University Basketball Association (CUBA) championships during 2003 to 2008, and won the first-ever four consecutive CUBA titles.

With agility on both offense and defense, Guganeswaran turned himself into one of the league’s greatest scorers, a gifted passer, and left an incredible mark in the CUBA history. He was invited back to Malaysia to play in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) for four years after his graduation from HQU. He also played for Malaysia at the 2011 FIBA Asia Cup, and led the national team to the finals for the first time in six years. They finished 11^th, making a breakthrough in Malaysia’s FIBA Asia history since the 1990s.

Guganeswaran began his coaching career in 2018 when he was invited to serve as the head coach for Jiangsu Guoli Brave Lions in the National Basketball League (NBL), China’s second-tier basketball league. In 2019, he returned to CUBA, where he achieved his fame for his stunning success, as the head coach of the men’s basketball team of Taiyuan University of Technology. Since his appointment, the team reached the quarterfinals two years in a row. In 2021, Guganeswaran joined the Malaysia national men’s basketball coaching team.

Currently, Guganeswaran is coaching the Malaysia national team in preparation for the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in May. The head coach, aged 40, plans to stay in Malaysia for a long time to serve the development of the game in Malaysia.

Former CUBA Player Guganeswaran (photo by Wang Shuren)

Guganeswaran’s Statue at HQU (photo by Wang Shuren)

Guganeswaran Coaching the Team (photo by an interviewee)

(Editor: Cai Juntao)