Patriots team to beat in ABL

JAKARTA -- The competing teams in the second season of the Asean Basketball League share a common battlecry: beat the Philippines.

“A lot of teams have been plotting on how to beat the Philippines
. That’s the goal,” said ABL founder Tony Fernandes during yesterday’s official launch of the forthcoming season that will feature six teams from six different countries.

“The Philippines is like Manchester United. That’s why all the teams want to beat the Philippines. I say ‘good luck to you,’” said Fernandes who introduced the no-frills budget airfares to the region through his own airline, Air Asia.

The Philippine Patriots won the inaugural crown last year by sweeping Satria Muda Britama of Indonesia in the best-of-five, home-and-away finals. And nothing much has changed. The Filipinos are once again favored to win it all.

This year’s ABL will take off on Oct. 2 in Thailand.

Because of their heavy business commitments back home, Philippine Patriots team owners Mikee Romero of Harbour Centre and Tonyboy Cojuangco of ABC-5 failed to grace the launch of the second ABL season.

They would have loved being here and would have held their heads high for the Patriots. The coaches of the five other teams faced practically the same question during the launch, and that’s “How do you beat the Philippines?”

“For winning the inaugural championship, I’m sure our rivals will be preparing hard in order to stop us. But we will also prepare since our legacy and pride is at stake in the tournament,” said Romero in a statement.

“It’s our keen desire to keep the championship and we will be doing everything to form a highly competitive team,” said Cojuangco in his own statement.

In their absence, Patriots team manager Erik Arejola pitched in, as well as Harbour Centre chief operating officer Edwin Jeremillo, for Romero, and multi-media expert Maan Hontiveros, for Cojuangco.

“Any pressure on us? Well, we heard that all the teams are beefing up. But we will continue to rely on Harbour Centre’s never-say die attitude,” said Arejola, who smiled when he was introduced as the Patriots team owner.

Aside from the Philippine Patriots and the Satria Muda Britama of Indonesia, others giving it a try are the Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Singapore Slingers, Thailand Cobras and Brunei Barracudas.

The Thais changed their names from the Tigers to the Cobras, hoping to add more venom in their quest. The Thai representative here said they’re using this ABL stint as part of their tuneup for the 2001 SEA Games here in Jakarta.

There were even suggestions to limit the Patriots to just one import at a time as compared to the other teams which can field two imports on the floor. But the suggestion, for the sake of fair play, was immediately shot down.

American imports Gabe Freeman and Jason Dixon carried the Philippines to the title last year, and may be back for another tour of duty, as well as locals Gerwin Gaco, Rob Wainright, Warren Ibanez, Mark Andaya, Dino Daa and Froilan Baguion.

Dato Teoh Choo Hock, FIBA Asia general secretary, was at the launch, and said they are putting up a World Club event soon, and that the ABL champion might get the recognition of representing the region in this upcoming league.

When the inaugural ABL season was launched last year in Malaysia, there doubts, and a lot of eyebrows, were raised, considering the logistics involved in taking the different teams to the different countries involved.

“It’s nice to be here because last year a lot of people thought we won’t be around for a second year. But this ABL is made up of an amazing group of people. But this year we will look much better. We have more partners starting to see the value of the Asean market,” said Fernandes.

“And our aim is to draw 12 teams. Maybe next year. A couple of teams wanted to join this year but they were late with their application. And it was getting too late so we had to close the door. And we decided to keep it as it is for now,” added the airline genius from Malaysia.

Abac Cordero, Philippine Star