ALKHOBAR, 12 March 2004 — The Overseas Filipino Congress-Eastern Province (OFWC-EP) opened its much awaited 4th Open Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Al-Nahda Sports Complex with 26 teams participating.
The 3-month tourney kicked off to a flying start with a 4-game schedule played right after the Opening Day Festivities. The participating teams are as follows:
Expat Dribblers; Al-Garawi Center/Fila; Tropang Rizal; KFMC-Kadiwa; KFMC; Coca Cola; Al-Saffar Trading & Contracting Est.; Farm Superstores; Saudi Ductile Iron & Pipes (SADIP); SAAD Falcons; IPSA PTAC; Nueva Ecija Patriots; Al-Kuhaimi Metals Industries Ltd.; RGP Consortium; Bayt Al-Ansari; Arcan Food; SIPCO-Finex; Fluor Arabia; Al-Wakeel Aluminum and Glass; Herfy; Steel Technics; Dammam Dome; Bared Al-Khaleej; Pukhet Restaurant; CISTA; Dammam Hunks.
In the scheduled opening day games, Group B Expat Dribblers team started on a winning note by edging out the Winnie Datungputi led Tropang Rizal 76-75.
Emotions flared during the last seconds resulting in Tropang Rizal succumbing to pressure after losing Datungputi on a technical foul against Expat’s Louie Materiano. Expat Dribblers Russel Pia topscored with 23 points followed by Arnold Haloc with 22 points. For Tropang Rizal, Datungputi had a game high 22 points while Bong Garcia had 20 points.
In Group C1, KFMC-Kadiwa vanquished Al-Wakeel Aluminum and Glass 76-66. Manabilang and Vera defied all the guards to score 21 points apiece. Al-Wakeel’s top guns -- Glen Abrantes and Bong Palad did not get support from their colleagues but managed to score 22 and 13 points respectively.
Raul Gonzales, chairman of organizing committee, expressed his thanks and appreciation to all the teams at his opening address. He also promised to make this basketball tournament bigger and better year after year. The opening day ceremonies started with a parade of the participating teams.
The judges unanimously selected the RGP Group team as the Best Uniform Team while KFMC-Kadiwa and RGP Group shared the Best Muse award. Jhun Garcia, deputy chairman of the organizing committee, announced Ms Ciara Joyce Agustin Buot and Justine Montigue as winners. The newly appointed Labor Attache Atty Delmer Cruz, of POLO/OWWA, Alkhobar, praised OFWC-EP organizers for a job well done.
Meanwhile, OFWC-EP President Isabelo B. Hugo acknowledged and thanked OFWC-EP leaders from Riyadh and Jeddah and Eastern Province who attended the festivities.
The sponsors of the tournament are Autostar Alissa Group thru Salah Mukhamsen, Chow King Restaurant, Top Grand Central Sports Wear and Wardrobe, Abu Abdulaziz Studios and Lab, HDE Cargo Services (Al-Dossary), Mohammad Al-Dossary Hospital.
