TOP athletes from Zamboanga joined hands to support the campaign of hometown squad Zamboanga Valientes in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) Invitational 2023 which kicked off Tuesday night at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
Hometown bets show support for Zamboanga Valientes
Magnolia veteran guard Mark Barroca and Converge counterpart Mike Tolomia along with Tokyo Olympic middleweight bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial and former world title challenger Jonas Sultan are encouraging fellow Filipinos to support the Valientes.
Behind import Antonio Hester, the Valientes rallied back for a 108-94 win against Louvre Surabaya in their first outing in the regional league.
“The Zamboanga Valientes are all primed up because of the encouraging messages they received from fellow top Zamboangueño athletes like Barroca, Tolomia, Marcial and Sultan,” team owner Junnie Navarro said.
“This is very meaningful to all Zamboangueños since this is the first time that they will be representing the country in the ABL,” Navarro added. “Before the Valientes flew to Singapore, Barroca appeared during the team’s last practice session last week.”
Marcial, the reigning Southeast Asian boxing king, expressed his all-out support to the team even while in training for his upcoming fight early this year in Las Vegas, while Sultan would be flying to Singapore to personally cheer the team.
Zamboanga City Mayor John Dalipe also showed support to the Valientes team owned by Cory and Junnie Navarro and MLV Accounting Mike Venezuela.
The Valientes’ game against Louvre Surabaya was shown live in IBT Divisoria and at the Golden Boys Gym in Zamboanga.
The team is coached by Ateneo De Zamboanga’s Bobedick delos Santos, who also mentored former San beda stars Peter Alfaro and Rhayann Amsali, Forthsky Padrigao, Jens Knuttel and Tolomia.
Zamboanga City has produced some of the country’s well-known athletes led by Olympic gold medal winner Hidilyn Diaz, pool champions Cheska Centeno and Roberto Gomez, as well as basketball stars RR Garcia, Barroca, and Tolomia.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
