The 33rd FBA basketball tournament ended in a huge success last Friday after four months of grueling and exciting games at the jampacked Sheraton Jeddah Hotel court here.

This is another milestone for FBA, said prexy Edgar Mendoza adding Friday’s quadruplebill is considered as one of the best championship games in the history of FBA.

Mendoza together with Commissioner Jonathan Canda and Technical Director Noel Miguel also expressed their sincerest thanks and appreciation to the sponsors of the event led by House of Donuts (Nassier Group) of Samir Nassier, Western Union through Rodelon del Mundo, diaspora manager; and Lowell Plameras, Media Brokers director; The Filipino Channel (TFC, ABS-CBN Global) through Maribel Hernaez, regional marketing manager; and Alex Sales, TFC Head Sales KSA, Sky Freight Forwarders of Emy De Guzman, Danny Abenes and Rene Quiambao; Palson Household Appliances through Issa Samhan, sales manager; Placenta by Psalmstre through CEO Jim Acosta and Lilia Malinao; Ay-Sarap Restaurant of Nilo Lucena, Friendi Mobile through Jhun Abris, marketing officer; and Royal Brunei through Yousuf Ali Javeed, country manager; and photography by Spectrum group of Alex Domingo.

Highlight of the championship games was the best-of-three series finale between Samco-Juffali and Arjed Catering. Samco defeated Arjed at the final score of 90-78. The match recorded 4 deadlocks. Boyet Bautista of Samco was adjudged best player of the game with 37 points, Brian Adaya had 16 points while Joseph Ubalde and Capina each had 11 points. Salman scored 23 points, Mursie Akad 15, Ron Magat 10 and Robby David 8 points for the Arjed team.

Filipino community leaders headed by fomer Kasapi Chairman Boy Cornejo along with FBL Commissioner Teng Laguialam and Mohamed Bayoumi, friend of the Filipino community and recipient of the prestigious Presidential Banaag Award, as well as representatives of leading sponsors, among them, Alex Sales and Ben Morales of TFC, led the distribution of awards to the following:

Inter-Commercial Open Rated Division — Champion (Samco-Juffali); 1st Runner-up (Arjed Catering), 2nd Runner-up (Hal Consultant), 3rd Runner-up (Fuji Elevator). Mythical Five – MVP (Boyet Bautista), Best Guards (Boyet Bautista and Roby David), Best Center (Joseph Ubalde), Best Forwards (Mursie Akad and Raymond Matias), Best Coach (Elmer Goze), Best Manager (Glen Berdin & Leo Reparado)

Inter-Commercial Open Non-rated Division — Champion Team (Maharlikans Aida’s Cuisine); 1st Runner-up (Unidecor); 2nd Runner-up (Nexus) and 3rd Runner-up (Paninos). Mythical Five — MVP (Greason), Best Guards (Abubaker and Tidano), Best Center (Greason), Best Forwards (Jojo Castillo and Darwin Dula), Best Coach (Baloloy Rojo), Best Manager (Omar Llames)

Inter-Company Bona fide Division — Champion (Nesma Holding Co. Ltd.); 1st Runner-up (Saudi Oger Co. Ltd.); 2nd Runner-up (Brightstar Communication) and 3rd Runner-up (Al-Hamrani Co.). Mythical Five — MVP (JoJo Castillo), Best Guards (Mataga and Panlaqui), Best Center (Tolentino), Best Forwards (Pattad and Jo Castillo), Best Coach (Ricky Pangan), Best Manager (Mazen Munshi)

Inter-Hotel Division — Champion (Movenpick Resort AlNawras Hotel); 1st Runner-up (Hyatt Park Jeddah Hotel); 2nd Runner-up (Al-Bilad Hotel) and 3rd Runner-up (Jeddah Hilton Hotel). Mythical Five — MVP (Teng Romano), Best Guards (Ariel Osorio and Michael Sarabia), Best Center (Jack Basilio), Best Forwards (Teng Romano and Michael Aklilu), Best Coach (Gary Santos), Best Manager (Edward Pelayo).

The next tournament of FBA, the 34th season, is tentatively scheduled to start April 26. According to Mendoza, as of this date a number of teams already secured their participation. Other interested parties may call 0502346231or e-mail at [email protected].