Victoriousi i Mightyih S Sports PH h hungry f for actioni
AFTER making history in the 31st Dubai International Basketball Championship, Mighty Sports Philippines is keen to represent the country in more international tilts.
“Any time we will have the chance to represent the country, we will be down for it and try to form the best team possible,” said Mighty Sports PH head coach Charles Tiu during the victory party graced by team owners Alexander and Caesar Wongchuking on Thursday night at the Milky Way Café in Makati City.
“Our objective is to really represent the country in international competitions,” said Wongchuking.
Mighty completed a seven-game sweep in its third Dubai Basketball Championship participation to emerge as the first non-Middle Eastern team to rule the annual hoops tourney on Sunday.
With ex- Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Andray Blatche and Puerto Rican forward Renaldo Balkman leading the charge, Mighty exacted a sweet revenge on last year’s tormentor Al Riyadi Beirut of Lebanon, 92-81, in the finals.
Prior to that, Mighty beat United
Arab Emirates national team (88-82), Al Ittihad-Syria (77-72), ES Rades of Tunisia (84-66) and Beirut SC (91-77) in the preliminary round before taking down Al Wathba-Syria, 88-71, in the quarterfinals and AS Sale-Morocco, 80-76, in the semifinals.
“To be honest, I didn’t think we would achieve a sweep. Yes, our goal is to win the championship and there’s no doubt about that. But after the first few days of practice and the first game, it looked too good for us,” said Tiu, who was accompanied by William Voigt, TY Tang, Paolo Layug and Dean Castaño.
“Fortunately, everything eventually fell into place. The players just started playing better and better, and jelling as a team so we were able to accomplish our goal,” he added.
Foreign reinforcements Mikey Williams, McKenzie Moore and Jalen Kendrick played crucial roles in the campaign while veterans Beau Belga, Gab Banal and Joseph Yeo were also instrumental to the win.
New Gilas standouts Thirdy Ravena, Isaac Go, Juan and Javi Gomez De Liaño, and Dave Ildefonso got a much-needed exposure. Also part of the team were Jarrell Lim and Joaqui Manuel.
“The players are the biggest reason why we won this championship. They were great. They played well. They made sacrifices for the team. Without them, this would not be possible. We’re just very happy to be part of history,” said Tiu.
Mighty is eyeing to play anew in the William Jones Cup which it also swept in 2019 and 2016. But it will be up to the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) on whether the Wongchukingowned squad will be be sent to the annual tourney organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.
“They ( Mighty) have been supportive of the programs of the federation,” said Ryan Gregorio, the special assistant to SBP president Al Panlilio. “There’s no concrete plans yet but they will always be a priority.”