JEDDAH, 10 October 2003 — The management of Al-Hussaini & Co. (Seiko watches distributor in Saudi Arabia) led by Abdul Rahman Al-Hussaini, together with Hussam Salahi and Mohammed Ali Taleb, praised the management and staff of the Filipino Basketball (FBA) spearheaded by Gil Manese, Hernan Huerto and Lito Martin for a well organized and crowd drawing tournament.
Dubbed as the 9th Seiko-17th FBA Presidential Cup 2003, the event is principally sponsored by Al-Hussaini & Co. (Seiko) and will run up to December this year at the Ittihad Sports Club in Jeddah. Other sponsoring companies are United Matbouli Group (Samsung Electronics) through Essam Abbas & Ehab Hamud, Metito Arabia Industries (Nort Areglado), Giordano Fashions, ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel, Pepsi Bugshan, WRJ Freight Forwarders, Junastar Cargo Services, Sky Freight Forwarders, Calson Management Services, Ay Sarap Restaurant and Sports World Tailoring.
Last week exciting ballgames resulted to the following: Rated A team Cali-Ice of Kamal Abualfaraj emerged winner in a very tight match with equally strong team of Seiko (Al-Hussaini & Co) spearheaded by Nap Solis & Danny Lequins at the final score of 86-84. The result was decided in the dying seconds of the game when the score was tied at 84-84. A nice and quick move by Tabligan resulted in a twinner. Topscorers for Cali are Hernandez (27), Gatchalian (18), Almoite (16) and Rey Buhat (14). While for Seiko Garces (22), Mayo (19) and Pelagio (19) stood out.
SBG-RPD of Anwar Hafez and Feling (Sharon) Manese posted their second win in the elimination by beating Caffe Aroma of Coach Carmelo Olivar (83-74) in spite of good efforts from Pansacala, De Guia and Balindong. SBG-RPD’s ace players Montessa, Dollendo an Ronquillo played well.
Bridgestone team of Amin Bahartha and Edgar Magbanua secured their second win when they dumped Solid North of Corly Obtinalla (91-69). Mulong De Guzman, Elser, Lawigan and Bahartha were instrumental in their victory as Solid North faded in spite of the efforts of Fakkie, Sendayen, Lacuata and Baste.
Unilever-Axe of Leo Rivera and Coach Juanito Magalang lost their first assignment against the Hanco Maintenance team of Douglas Brown and Edgar Ainza, who posted their second victory in the elimination round. Buboy Rapada, Estrada, Cecilio, Huerto and Arquero were outstanding. With only less than a minute remaining, the score was tied at 84-84 but three successive hits from the foul line by Estrada and Rapada’s twinner sealed the game for Hanco Maintenance. Jun Mabarit, Tejada, Belarmino and Solis tried their best for Unilever.
Meanwhile, winless team Afkar Promo 7 led by Romy Villanueva managed a win against Dr. Erfan Bagedo Hospital of Danny Lequins and Ademar Suson 94-83. Art Oliva and Azupardo topped the scoring list for AP7 team by sinking 23 and 22 big points respectively. Sandy Dalit 16, Junio, 15 and Vidal 14 lent support.
The Original Marawians of coach Ali Naser Radiamoda and Bobby Mapandi posted another victory, a 103-83 rout of Country Lounge & Café of Coach Mario Bautista. The combination of Unas, Rapada, Ulama and Marmai worked hard for their team’s victory. Dionisio, Villanueva, Agustin and Quizon topscored for their team.
The Wartsila team of Noel (Jawo) Atienza won by a slim 102-99 margin in the dying seconds of the game due to overconfidence of Pepsi which committed three successive errors.
Ted Fabian, Marlon Garcia, Fernandez, Alcanar and Arcania scored for Wartsila while Santos, Felias, Bautista, Elmenzo and Coronejo gave their best for Pepsi of Coach John Dizon.
Adjudged as Seiko best players of the game are Montesa of SBG-RPD, Mulong De Guzman of Bridgestone Tires, Buboy Rapada of Hanco Maintenance, Art Oliva of Afkar Promo 7, Manding Unas of D Original Marawians, Ted Fabian of Wartsila and Jaime Hernandez of Cali-Ice. Games are being played every Thursday and Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Entrance is free.
