ADDITIONAL schools from other countries are being eyed to join the Pinoyliga Clobal Invitational Cup by next year.
Tournament director Benny Benitez said more international teams will be part of the tournament in 2026 after Nagoya Gakuin University and Fil-Am Nation select joined three schools in the inaugural edition of the global meet.
“It’s a dream come true for Pinoyliga Cup to finally have a tournament with international flavor. We’re very happy they accepted our invitation to play in the Global Invitational Cup,” said Benitez in a media presser recently at the Games Ville Sports Bar in Mandaluyong City.
“We’re hopeful that this is the start of many more Global Invitational tournaments, with more teams joining again from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, U.S., Australia and New Zealand,” he added.
Nagoya Gakuin coach Hideki Takenoshita, whose men and women’s basketball teams are considered top squads in Japan playing in different regional and national tournaments, id they are excited to play here knowing the physical brand of play in the Philippines.
“We played De La Salle University (in Japan), and we know they (Filipinos) play physically. We’re ready, we’re excited and we’ll try to win all our games here,” said Takenoshita.
Aside from Fil-Am Nation, the visiting Japanese team also played University of Santo Tomas, Emilio Aguinaldo College, and University of the East.
In the women’s category, Nagoya Gakuin lost to the UST Lady Tigers (68-55), and will face next the WMPBL All-Stars, Ateneo, and UP.
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