Basketball player Tony Nguyen said that carrying the Yukon flag during Sunday's Opening Ceremonies at the Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife is up there with winning a gold ulu.

Nguyen found out about being chosen to be the flag bearer right after he got off the charter on Saturday.

He said being chosen for this honour meant a lot to him.

"Being the representative of the Yukon is just great," Nguyen said.

"I have a lot of respect for all of the athletes here, all the coaches, all the volunteers and it is just going to be a great experience and I really want to represent Yukon in a great way."

This is Nguyen's second and final Arctic Winter Games. In 2006 the junior male basketball team finished first overall.

A repeat would make history for a Yukon basketball squad at the Games, as no team in the history of the Arctic Games has been able to do so.

Nguyen said he is confident in the team's ability.

"Our team this year, they are young, we have 10 guys who get along great with each other and we have a great chance at winning gold.

I can't say enough about how are team is, they are just 10 great guys," he said. "I know after winning two years ago, we are the team to beat."

The team was chosen four months ago and since then they have been practicing at least three times a week.

The Yukon group has also had plenty of game experience, playing against a variety of men's league teams.

The Yukon junior males went undefeated against the teams in the men's league.

The team also participated in a tournament earlier in the season in Edmonton, where they finished with an 0-3 record.

Nguyen said despite not being able to win at the Edmonton tournament their experience in the competition will benefit them at the Games.

"It was just being able to play together, it helped us grow as a team and it will help us down here for sure," he said.

"The teams down in Edmonton were probably better than maybe the teams we will play here, which will help us a lot just to learn.

It would have been nice to get a win down there, but it showed us how to play basketball and what we needed to work on."

He said repeating as gold medal winners would be incredible.

"It would be a great honour actually," Nguyen said. "It is something that future generations could look at and they would know that basketball in the Yukon has had success."