Aujan Barbican claimed 68-59 over Almana Supremacy in the opening round of the Kingdomwide Recreational Sports Development Association (KRSDA) First Basketball Tournament in the Eastern region on Friday at Aujan Compound in Dhahran.
Almana undoubtedly played superb to rally Aujan with their trio stars, Leo Perpose (26), Al Pineda (14) and Luis Peralta (12), giving an outburst on the match, but the defense wasn’t good enough to outdo Aujan team. The battle was tough but to rock hard the solid Aujan was not fiery magical shots to foil Aujan capturing the game match win.
The second game brought another spectacular when Tropang Khobar clinched to berth an indefensible score to win over PMCC Conqueror with 62-58. Tropang Khobar Allan Quintana (14), Joey Kabigting (14) and Jimmy Pasamba (14) led to overcome the expected-strong contending PMCC Conqueror’s key players Dennis Sales (13), Vincent Cobarubias (11) and Jackson Gabi (11), who attempted strong defense to a fruitless end over determined Tropang Khobar.
It was just a notable beginning of the tournament’s opening games that began with a colorful parade of the 12 gorgeously uniformed basketball teams, followed by an invocation led by Jerry Yap and the national anthem sang to the pitch of Jackie Esparza.
Alfredo “Boy” Oquino, KRSDA Coordinator for the Eastern Region, welcomed all participating teams and guests, followed by Cesar Cansino’s acknowledgement thanking all present, the sponsors and donors of the event.
The founding Chairman of KRSDA, Art Santos, in his official opening of the tournament, acknowledged appreciation to all participating team players and enjoined them oneness to build a strong community and camaraderie in the region.
Labor Attaché David Des Dicang of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office – Eastern Region Operations (POLO-ERO) expressed his appreciation to KRSDA tournament organizer in his short message and extended an invitation to a friendship game in October this year.
The Philippine Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Antonio Villamor delivered his message via phone patch, mentioning the Overall Chairman of the tournament, Rico Paguio, and the KRSDA’s unwavering support and contribution to molding better OFWs through sports.
The program went on as Lexter Lacap of the Carlton Hotel team led the oath of sportsmanship, which was highlighted with the lighting of torch by Richard Esparza of PMCC Conqueror.
Best in uniform was awarded to Tropang Khobar, while the two beautiful muses of Aujan Barbican – Ms. Mariane Labonete and Ms. Marie Santiago, bagged best muse. Awards were given by Nars Tarun, President of KRSDA.
“The program went well. I don’t believe it myself if I were not here. There are flaws on technical matters but there are rooms to improve them. The preparation was tough and exhausting though,” Paguio commented after the ceremony.
Participating teams were Aujan BARBICAN, PMCC Conquerors, PMCC Pillars, Al-Mana Supremacy, Carlton Hotel, Al-Safi, IPSA Red Lions, Tropang Khobar, Tropang Magic WESCOSA, Eastern Pak Crushers, Zahran Operations & Maintenance and the IMCO Al-Othman Aces.
Special thanks to the sponsors and donors for the successful opening of the KRSDA tournament: Gulf Air, Barbican, Al-Othman Travel & Tours, Giordano, UPS, Carlton Al-Moaibed Hotel, Raffy Beltran of The Filipino Channel (TFC), Philippine Embassy and POLO-OWWA, Basketball Referees Association of Dammam (BRAD).
The Scores:
First Game: Aujan Barbican vs Al Mana Supremacy (68-59)
Aujan Barbican (68): Del Mundo (14), Liwanag (13), Enriquez (10), Peralta (9), Beredo (8), Senierez (6), Melchor (4), Pullos (2), Labonete (2)
Almana Supremacy (59): Perpose (26), Pineda (14), Peralta (12), Amer (4), Wantino (2), Cabaltera (1)
Second Game: Tropang Khobar vs PMCC Conqueror (62-58)
Tropang Khobar (62): Quintana (14), Kabigting (14), Pasamba (14), Mamaid (11), Macailing (6), Araya (2), Hernandez (1)
PMCC Conqueror (58): Sales (13), Cobarubias (11), Gabi (11), Largo (6), Pancho (6), Bautista (5), Pujante (4), Berdelao (2)
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