AFTER conquering the PBA D-League, Hapee is looking at the bigger picture ahead.
The newly-crowned Aspirants Cup champion is planning to sponsor the Philippine men’s team bound for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
Lamoiyan Corporation owner Dr. Cecilio Pedro said the company has already spoken with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) about the possibility of supporting the amateur-laden squad to the SEA Games which will be handled by Gilas Pilipinas mentor Tab Baldwin.
“We are willing to sponsor the SEA Games in June,” said Pedro during the team’s victory party on Thursday night just moments after completing a two-game sweep of Cagayan Valley in the best-of-three title series.
“I would discuss this with the SBP.”
Sponsoring a Philippine delegation in international meets is nothing new to the Lamoiyan Corp.
The company backed the country’s participation in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.
It also co-sponsored the men’s basketball team in the 2007 SEA Games in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand.
Possibility of Hapee players composing the men’s cage team to the SEA Games looms as the franchise boasts some of the current standouts in both the collegiate and amateur leagues.
It’s also one of the reasons why Pedro is eager to sponsor the team so as not to disrupt the campaign of the Fresh Fighters in the coming Foundation Cup when they gun for a back-to-back championship.
The season-ending meet will run from March to June.
“We want to sponsor (the Philippine team) so that the national team players will also be able to practice with the local team, so hindi ma-compromise ‘yung efforts namin sa D-League,” said Pedro.
Naturalized player Marcus Douthit, Kiefer Ravena, Garvo Lanete, Troy Rosario, and Kobe Paras are among the players submitted by the SBP to the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) in compliance with the submission of entry-by-numbers to the Singapore SEA Games Organizing Committee.
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