JEDDAH, 13 July 2006 — The Saudi Arabian Basketball Federation will be sending a team next month to Brunei for the prestigious 6th Shell Rimula Brunei Cup basketball tournament.
Saudi Arabia was among the countries invited by Brunei Basketball Federation for the Aug. 19 to 27 tournament that boasts a high quality field with teams from Australia, Jordan, Korea and the Philippines seeing action.
The event forms part of the 60th birthday celebrations of Brunei’s sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and organized by BBF in coordination with Brunei’s Culture, Sports and Youth Welfare Ministry.
The Saudi cagers will be up against Darwin All Stars from Australia, All-Star Team from Jordan, SK Knight from Korea and the PBA’s Sta. Lucia Realtors. The teams will play for the top prize of $20,000 in the annual event.
At the sponsorship signing ceremony chief guest Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Pehin Dato Paduka Awang Dani bin Ibrahim said that the Shell Rimula basketball championship serves as a significant platform to raise the level of play in Brunei basketball.
“Basketball is one of the sports that is gaining popularity within the country and especially more so with the setting up of Shell Rimula basketball championship which features top international professional basketball teams,” he was quoted as saying by Bruneidirect.com.
The Home Affairs deputy minister also conveyed his thanks to the sponsors for their efforts in raising the popularity of the game of basketball and especially to the main sponsor, Brunei Shell Marketing.
Jackson Ting, managing director of ACE MVP Events Management Co., signed the agreement with all the sponsors while Pengiran Hj Yasmin bin Mohammad, the Managing Director of BSM inked the agreement on behalf of Brunei Shell Marketing as the title sponsor.
Free tickets were offered to schools sponsored by Golymyne Hardware and Maju Motors, Burneidirect.com said.
Meantime, SABF had released the schedules of upcoming events including the Saudi Basketball League fixtures. The league starts Nov. 6.
