Female players to share center stage in PBA

Pretty soon, the PBA will no longer be a game just for the country’s best male basketball players.

This season, the ladies will share in the spotlight as they get the opportunity to showcase their own skills in the PBA’s 3on-3 tournament, which will be played on regular game days.

PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa confirmed this during the press launch of the league’s 40th season at the Diamond Hotel on Tuesday.

He added that the league has bigger plans for women’s basketball and will be using the 3on-3 format as part of their study on how viable a new league for females can be for the PBA.

“Mayroon talagang initiative, gusto yata sa D-League to put up a women’s basketball league,” said Narvasa. “Kasi yun ang hindi naasikaso. So from here, we’ll get the assessment. Ang gusto yata nila iestablish, school based. Ganun lang muna.”

The planned women’s league was brought up by Blackwater team owner Dioceldo Sy, whose group is also supporting the Perlas Pilipinas national team that was recently promoted to Level 1 of the FIBA Asia Championship, which will give the country’s cagebelles a chance to compete against powerhouse teams like China, South Korea and Japan among others.

In the past, the Philippine Basketball League has created its own league for our country’s cagebelles, but couldn’t sustain the program. The PBA is hoping to create something that will be more lasting.

“The PBA needed to expand its fan base. One of the most well-followed is the women’s basketball. We’re going to have Wednesdays and Fridays games,” Narvasa added.