The Saigon Legends are a new team, hot off the presses after having been formed for this competition at the encouragement of Brian Piggott and somehow, in just a few short months, their captain August Lee has managed to assemble a team willing and, hopefully, able to compete.
The city is of course now called Ho Chi Minh City, though locals, expats and holiday makers alike still prefer to refer to it by its older and more romantic name, Saigon. August is keen to point out that the team name reflects the legend of the city itself, rather than the standing of the players!
There is currently no pool league in Saigon, though many players congregate in the Red Bar deep in the heart of District 1, the main social and entertainment area. The bar is an expat focal point, with live music and a very busy pool table.
The players are a disparate bunch of enthusiasts who socialise and have fun, mainly at the weekends, and come from many nations around the world including Australia, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, Singapore and Thailand.
Just about as much a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural expat group as you could hope to meet therefore, coming from all walks of life and occupations, but with all somehow ending up in Saigon. And now they find themselves representing their chosen home in the prestigious AEPC tournament in Indonesia!!
The Legends are anticipating their first appearance in the Asia Expat Pool Challenge with a mixture of excitement and no little trepidation given the expected strength of some of the other teams, while Saigon Legends is a group of guys who like to have fun and who just love to play pool. That said, they are fiercely proud to represent their adopted city and of course Vietnam. They will certainly compete; they might be a bunch of guys having fun in the bar, but on the table their competitive nature takes over!
The guys are all hoping that the Expat Challenge might kick-start more players into coming forward and, hopefully, this could eventually lead to the formation of a league in Saigon. The competition is already getting plenty of people talking in Vietnam’s largest city and two bars, the Red Bar and Bar 5, are already planning special events on the day, with the live stream from Jakarta showing on big screens. Everyone hopes that more bar owners will see the benefit of having a good quality pool table in their bars and thereby help improve the breed
The Saigon Legends are thrilled to represent their adopted home and delighted to be at the Asia Expat Pool Challenge 2013.
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