BASKETBALL – TOP professional basketball teams from the Philippines are set to play official games in Bahrain later this year, it has emerged.
Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Willie Marcial disclosed to popular Philippine sports website spin.ph that a series of league fixtures are scheduled to be held in the Gulf, including in the kingdom and in the UAE.
They are to take place as part of the 50th anniversary season of the PBA, which is one of the most popular and highly competitive basketball leagues in Asia.
“The game in Dubai will likely be held this October,” Marcial was quoted as saying in Filipino by spin.ph. “In Bahrain, there may be double-header games. Those will take place in December.”
According to the report, Marcial would not name the teams that will be playing in the games, but they have already been pencilled in.
The PBA chief was recently in the UAE for the 2025 Basketball Champions League Asia, which saw the PBA’s Meralco Bolts in action. No other details were available.
This PBA season features 12 professional franchises. They include Bolts, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Blackwater Bossing, Converge FiberXers, Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, NLEX Road Warriors, NorthPort Batang Pier, Phoenix Fuel Masters, Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, San Miguel, Terrafirma Dyip, and TNT Tropang 5G.
According to spin.ph, it will be the first overseas games for the PBA since 2019 when it held a two-game offering in Dubai, involving Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel, and NLEX.
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