MANILA, Philippines—And it’s finally a dozen.
Zamboanga completed the 12-team lineup of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 President’s Cup that is set to begin on March 16 at SM Megamall Event Center.
“It’s an honor and pride for our city to join this league, especially for our fans in Zamboanga,” said team owner Junnie Navarro. “They are really looking forward to watch our homegrown players play in a big league.”
The Valientes join the other 11 teams of the inaugural Fiba-sanctioned 3×3 league in the Philippines with Manila, Go for Gold-San Juan, Quezon-City Zark’s, Bacoor, Valenzuela, Marikina, Bulacan, Vigan, and Cebu all in the fold.
Navarro said they plan to showcase the talents of Mindanoans in the nationwide basketball league and that’s the main reason why they joined in the first place.
“We all start here, on a three-on-three format, and the reason we’re interested was because we are passionate about basketball,” added Navarro in Filipino. “Rhayyan Amsali showed that Zamboangeños can excel in this discipline.”
Amsali is a highly-touted juniors player who’s part of the Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team and has since transferred from National University to San Beda.
Homegrown talents Das Esa, Jonathan Parreno, Grevani Rublico, Rino Berame, and Ferdinand Lusdoc are the first five players the team announced with the sixth yet to be named.
Navarro also signed actress Empress Shruck for the opening ceremonies.
He hoped that he can help his players become more exposed to a nationwide scope since his team already carry a certain drawing power in Zamboanga.
“Our players can already sell out venues in Zamboanga and hopefully we could expose them more in this league,” said Navarro.