THE UNTV Cup basketball tournament featuring public servants unwraps its seventh edition on Monday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Senate Defenders are looking to become the first back-to-back champions of the league.
Backstopped by Jeff Sanders, Marlon Legaspi, Harley Ng and Senators Joel Villanueva and Sonny Angara, the Defenders swept the Malacañang Kamao in their best-of-three to raise the championship trophy for the first time last March.
Armed Forces of the Philippines and Judiciary have won the annual event twice but not successively.
“We want to make a little history in the league so we prepared early for the tournament. Hopefully, nobody gets hurt as we go for back-to-back,” said Defenders coach Mike Fermin.
“We prepared hard because we know everybody is after us,” said Fermin, noting that newcomers Philhealth and Philippine International Trading Corporations have also formidable crews.
Also taking part in the P10 million tournament event organized by UNTV President and CEO Daniel Razon are National Housing Authority, Ombudsman, GSIS, Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture.
The champion will get P4 million, with the runner-up getting P2 million – all will go to their chosen charities.
“We want to instill to our public servants the essence of physical fitness that’s why we are holding this tournament. This event will also give them the opportunity to interact with their fellow public servants,” said Razon.
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