THE Bay Area Dragons’ campaign in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup has created a lot of buzz especially after they compiled a league-best 9-2 win-loss record at posting time.
The Dragons’ campaign was tackled during the Tuesday's SPIN POV episode where the success of the foreign guest team based in Hong Kong but also representing the Greater China area including China and Macau was discussed.
WATCH:
Curiously, some fans claimed knowledge of restrictions in the fielding of Bay Area players during PBA games apart from the import set-up where it was made to field Myles Powell in its first four games, Andrew Nicholson in the next four before going with Myles Powell the rest of the tournament.
Not a few viewers believe a couple of Dragons’ local players are not allowed to play on the floor at the same time during PBA games.
Sought for clarification, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said there is no such restrictions on Bay Area locals, insisting that any of the Dragons players can play with each other at any time during the game.
The only restriction for Bay Area locals, Marcial said, was for each member to be a citizen of Greater China in order to be part of the team.
Bay Area is mostly composed of players from Hong Kong and China but there are also a few who are based in other countries but have Chinese blood. But unlike in the Philippines, China does not grant dual citizenship.
A few of the players that have “dual citizenship” are Glen Yang (Canada) and Hayden Blankley (Australia), who are key players to the Dragons’ campaign in the Commissioner’s Cup.
As for these players, Marcial said they were made to present identity cards to meet the requirement of a local. In the case of Hong Kong, the country has a HK Identity Card.
“Kunwari Chinese-Canadian, wala silang dual citizenship. Dapat may card sila ng China. May nakukuhang card kapag citizen ka,” said Marcial.
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