JEDDAH, 25 July 2003 — After 3 months of thrilling and exciting games, the 8th Seiko-16th FBA Basketball Tournament concluded their championship games at the Sheraton Compound Basketball Court in Jeddah last Thursday.
The awarding ceremony will be held at the Philippine Consulate Grounds on July 25, 2003 from 7:00 p.m. Ambassador Kadatuan P. Usop of the Philippine Consulate, Labatt Nasser Munder of POLO, Welof Mustapha Glang of OWWA and AO Muhammad Taha Guinomla are expected to attend.
Other invited guests are community leaders from KASAPI Congress, OFWCC and other communtiy organizations in Jeddah.
Representatives from the sponsoring companies invited are as follows: Muhammad Ali Taleb from Al-Hussaini &Co. (Seiko), Essam Abbas of Samsung Electronics, Wout Mathijs and Fuzail Ahmed of Friesland Middle East (Rainbow Milk), Samir A. Carali of Qatar Airways, Nort Areglado of Metito Arabia Industries, Nonoy Velo of ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel, M.A.K. Jeelani of Giordano Fashions, Mubarak Bin Madi and Sami Michamich of Nivea, William Clives of Hempel Paints, Jun Astilla of Junastar Cargo Services, William R. Jao of WRJ Freight Forwarders, Bert Nulud of Calson Management & Services, Abdulfattah Mogawan of Nayong Pilipino Resturant and Benny Banting of Sports World Tailoring.
Junastar Cargo Services of Jun Astilla, Pros Manlapig and Ferdie Tapia emerged champion in the earlier game last week when they outscored Hanco Maintenanace of Coach Edgar Ainza and Douglas Brown in a very tight match that went into overtime period before Junastar won 98-93.
The championship match was witnessed by Muhammad Ali Taleb of Al-Hussaini & Co (Seiko), who represented Abdulrahman Al-Hussaini and Hussam S. Salahi also of the same company. In the two other championship matches; WRJ Freight Forwarders of William R. Jao, Jagg Malit & Bebot Budlong defeated the Arab News squad led by Boy Lucas and Ian Jaramel 99-91.
Meanwhile tournament chairman Lito Martin congratulated Al Majal Service Master led by Ken Bautista and managed by Khalid Nagadi for prevailing in their championship match against the equally strong team of Finetools S.A. headed by Herman Mallari, Eufemiano, Tejada, Dagohoy and Silao at 97-80. Top scorers for Al Majal Service Master were Consignado, Togonon, Manguerra and Ramos. Coming in third position was Unilever (Dove) led by Leo Rivera, as a result of their walkover win over Samsung Electronics who did not show up.
In the Strong Division; the awardees are as follows: Champions (Al Majal Service Master), Ist Runner-Up (Finetools S.A.), Unilever (Dove), 3rd Runner-Up (Samsung Electronics) while in the Open Non-Rated Division; Champions WRJ Freight Forwarders, 1st Runner-Up (Arab News), 2nd Runner-Up (Dynarabia Fire Rescue) and 3rd Runner-Up (Marawi Wizards).
Meanwhile, the upcoming tournament of FBA, 9th Seiko-17th FBA Basketball Tournament, will start on Aug. 22,2003 at the Ittihad Sports Club as a result of the agreement signed between FBA and Ittihad Sports recently. FBA President Gil Manese announced that only quality teams shall be included in the next tournament and will be limited to 18 or 24 teams. The principal sponsor is Al-Hussaini & Co. (Seiko) with Samsung Electronics (UMG) and Friesland Middle East (Rainbow Milk) as secondary sponsors.
