JEDDAH, 15 March — After a long lull the Filipino Basketball Association (FBA), Gil Manese, the head of the group, hit two birds in one stone.
Firstly, he was able to get back the venue where he got very well known in the field of organizing basketball tournaments. Manese signed a contract with the management of Sheraton Hotel & Villas for the next two years for the use of the Sheraton Compound Basketball Court.
Manese held four consecutive tournaments in the same venue in 1997 & 1998 before he shifted to indoor gyms. He said he really wish to give the players and spectators the convenience they need and this is one of the reasons why he was convinced to hold his previous tournaments at the two indoor gyms in Jeddah since 1999 up to December last year. But now, the situation is different, he said.
Manese, who is also an active official in the biggest umbrella organization (KASAPI Congress) as the secretary-general, worked silently and luckily took backed Sheraton Compound Basketball Court, regarded as the best open basketball court in Jeddah.
Strategically located, it attracts a very sizeable crowd during Thursdays & Fridays. Manese promised to refurbish the court and try to improve their performance to attract more teams to participate in all FBA tournaments.
Aside from Sheraton compound, he also managed to win backed the support of Al-Hussaini Co. (Distributor of Seiko watches in Saudi Arabia) headed by Abdulrahman Al-Hussaini and who also supported the recent tournament of FBA at Ittihad.
This has been made possible through the effort of Hussam S. Salahi (Sales & Marketing Manager) and Mohammed Ali Taleb. Seiko will be the main sponsor of the 13th FBA Basketball Tournament dubbed as 6th Seiko — 13th FBA Basketball Tournament. It is set to tentatively start on March 29 at the Sheraton Compound Basketball Court with not less than 24 participating teams. The tournament will comprise four divisions namely; Inter-Company Bona fide, Inter-Commercial Non-Rated, Inter-Hotel and Balik Sheraton Divisions. Games will be played every Thursday & Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
