JEDDAH, 14 May 2004 — Twelve teams are set to slug it out as the 10th Seiko-18th FBA Basketball Tournament enters the final stretch with three divisions titles still at stake. The teams are: Bona fide Division — Saudi Oger Ltd., Hanco Maintenance, Saudi Hi-Tech and ABS-CBN TFC. Open Non-Rated Division: Unilever-Close up, SPS-Kodak Express, Sharbatly Corporation and Wartsila Lions. Inter-Hotel & Hospital: King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Westin Jeddah, ALJ Rehabilitation Hospital and Seiko-Marriott Hotel. The Faisal M. Zahid Division crown will be contested by defending champions TVD Terminators and Remarketing, and the Seiko team will be crowned champions in the rated division over their bitter rivals, Titan Watches team.
Last week games resulted in the following: King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital-Citroen of Ric Aguinaldo & Arlene Sallador beat King Fahad General Hospital-Samsung of Vic Bantay and Archie Pichay (89-72) in a lopsided match. Wartsila Lions of Noel Atienza earlier won by default over Friday Club.
Saudi Hi-Tech of Rudy Roaya also lost to the stronger team of Saudi Oger Ltd. managed by Mario Basilio and Alex Montemayor. Lube Ref Jeddah also vowed out of contention when they lost to the Tokyo Games team of Bandar Alireza (108-89) and SPS-Kodak Express of Loi Atienza turned the tables on Sharbatly Corporation (135-85), who earlier qualified in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, the upcoming "Battle of Regional Champions" between Dammam (Eastern Province Basketball League-EPBL) and Jeddah Selection (Filipino Basketball Association-FBA) will take place on June 3 & 4 at the Ittihad Sports Club here. This event is expected to draw a big crowd. The EPBL team includes Anthony Nabong, 6Ɖ" of Tarlac State University & MBA, Arthur Palima, 6Ɖ" of TIP — MMICAA, White Datungputi, 6Ƈ" of Iloilo University, Omar Asmad, 6Ƈ" of NCAA-PCU, Edgar Bucalin, 5ཇ" of Tarlac State University, Norlam Aquino, 6ƈ" of Letran and Batangas Blades, Allan De Castro, 5ཇ" of Jose Rizal College, Jesie Cabayanan, 5Ǝ" of MLQU-Purefoods-PBA, Ernie Bagay, 5Ǝ" of RP National Team, Romwell Lampitoc, 6Ɖ"of National University and two more additional players that will be named later.
The Jeddah Selection (Seiko-FBA) team will comprise the following: Ritchie Estrada 5ཆ" of MIT, Arnold Bansil, 6Ƈ" of Pampanga Selection, Abril Mabarit, 5ཇ" of Arellano University, Dindeo Garces, 6Ƈ" of Batangas University, Jhong Rapada, 5ཆ" of UM, Omeng Sahagun, 5Ǝ" of PUP, John Gatchalian, 6ƈ" of PICAA, Dante Rivero, 5ཇ" of Jose Rizal University, Alvin Serrano, 6ƈ" of Pampanga Dragons, Don Persia, 6Ɖ" of Iloilo Volts, Barry Nader, 5ཇ" of Feati University and Nonoy Dones, 5Ə" of PATTS.
