As it nears its launch date and tip-off day, Liga Pilipinas is set to begin regional basketball action with a pair of pre-season tournaments this weekend.
The Southern teams composed of Bacolod, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Zamboanga, Davao and host Cebu open up hostilities starting Saturday, May 24 at the Cebu Coliseum.
On the other side, the Northern teams composed of Baguio, Ilocos, Pampanga, Laguna, Quezon and host Taguig begin their own pre-season event at the Taguig Sports Center starting on Sunday, May 25.
Both tournaments, sponsored by ML Kwarta Padala, will be a short 4 day championship where the teams of each division will be grouped into two. They play a single round robin elimination phase after which the top two teams will meet in the championship on the final day of the tourneys. The pre-season tournaments will be the first official activity of the newly created regional basketball league.
Liga basketball operations chief Butch Antonio described the pre-season games as a "dry run" for the upcoming maiden season of Liga Pilipinas. "Not only are the teams given the opportunity to gauge their level of preparedness for our inaugural season, the pre-season competition also gives Liga a chance to test our officials, referees and operating systems," Antonio stated.
Double headers will be scheduled every playing day of the pre-season tournaments starting with the Zamboanga vs Misamis-Oriental and Cebu vs Iloilo games in Cebu on Saturday, while Ilocos opens up against Quezon and Baguio goes up against Taguig in Taguig on Sunday.
Liga will be using strictly FIBA rules and will be tapping a pool of 46 referees selected after a nationwide tryout conducted by Liga Technical Head Perry Martinez. "Liga is glad to be providing so many young players and budding referees this chance to be part of a truly competitive league to hone their skills for long term growth," Martinez said.
The fledgling community based league is set to launch its maiden season on May 31 in Cebu and begin its first two legs on June 11.
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