Photo from the Shiga Lakestars website
MANILA, Philippines—Shiga is pulling out all the stops to make sure that the first game between brothers Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena in the B.League will be nothing short of a spectacle.
Kiefer’s Shiga faces Thirdy’s San-En on October 2 and 3 with the Lakestars hosting the first game at Ukaruchan Arena.
The Lakestars will give free admission to any Filipino who will watch their first game of the season against the NeoPhoenix.
“Attention, invite Filipinos to home games for free. All Filipinos who are invited will enter for free on the opening game. #ravenabrothers,” the club tweeted on Sunday.
注目の #兄弟対決 はフィリピン人の方をホームゲームに無料招待✨
🇵🇭All Filipinos are invited for free on the Opening Game✅#ravenabrothers
⏩https://t.co/YNpUqamrSK— 滋賀レイクス SHIGA LAKES (@shigalakestars) September 26, 2021
Thirdy is the first Filipino to play in the B.League after he joined San-En in 2020 while his older brother is one of seven players from the Philippines to sign contracts with Japanese teams.
This will be Kiefer’s first season in Japan and it almost didn’t happen after the PBA initially said no to the Filipino star’s plan due to his preexisting contract with NLEX.
The Lakestars announced their signing of Kiefer in June but the PBA said that the Philippine international will have to abide by his contract with the Road Warriors and the league’s uniform players contract.
It was only on Saturday that Kiefer was given his official release to play for the Lakestars in the 2021-22 B.League season.