PBA begs off from BCL Asia
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial PBA PHOTO
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said the pro league is not sending a team in the coming Basketball Champions League (BCL) Asia.
The league chieftain shared that he has been in touch with FIBA (International Basketball Federation) through its secretary general Andreas Zagklis.
“We’ve been talking with sec-gen Andreas and told him about the PBA not joining (the BCL Asia). We apologized for this because the PBA has had a lot of sacrifices made since last year,” Marcial told The Manila Times in Filipino on Sunday.
Marcial pointed to the pro league’s direct involvement with Gilas Pilipinas during its gold medal redemption in the Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, followed by the FIBA World Cup, which the country co-hosted, along with the Asian Games, where the Tim Cone-coached national squad took home the gold in Hangzhou, China.
The PBA has since been concentrating on its two-conference format in Season 48, which Marcial said was again, part of the league’s commitment to support Gilas and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
The BCL Asia, formerly FIBA Asia Champions Cup, will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and is scheduled from June 9 to 15.
Champion squads from the Chinese Basketball Association, Japan B.League, the Korean Basketball League, two teams from the FIBA West Asia Super League WASL, are slated to join the competition, along with Pelita Jaya from Indonesia and Malaysian quintet NS Matrix, which punched in a ticket to the BCL Asia tournament proper recently after topping the regional qualifiers.
Justin Brownlee, Gilas’ naturalized player, who led Ginebra to six PBA titles, currently serves as one of Pelita Jaya’s reinforcements.