THE Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) is thrilled to contribute to Philippine women’s basketball following the approval of its application to the Games and Amusements Board to turn pro.
The WNBL has officially become the country’s first-ever professional basketball league in the Philippines just a year after its inception after its main organization NBL got the nod of GAB recently.
NBL executive vice president Rhose Montreal said the focus of the WNBL is to showcase and expose the talents of women’s players from all over the country.
“First things first, we don’t want to sell WNBL by selling skin,” said Montreal during the league’s press conference announcing the GAB approval on Wednesday. “I believe that there is a surplus of talented women ballers in the Philippines and for us, we don’t care about their gender preferences.”
“We don’t care whether they sport a short or long hair. We don’t care whether they wear short shorts or long shorts. We want to sell their skills,” said Montreal.
In its inaugural season last year, the PSI Lady Air Defenders captured the first-ever WNBL crown by beating the Taguig Lady Generals with national team standout Gemma Miranda taking the finals MVP.
Taguig’s Janine Pontejos captured the season MVP.
2019 also saw the Philippine women’s basketball team also came out successful by winning a gold in the Southeast Asian Games in its home turf. It was actually a double mint for Gilas Pilipinas Women as it was also crowned as the champions in the inaugural 3x3 tournament.
Since the team’s successful campaign, several quarters in women’s basketball have been campaigning for a pro league that will give female ballers a chance to extend their careers after college.
“We want the world to know that when it comes to women’s basketball, Philippines is number one,” said Montreal.
Montreal said the WNBL was supposed to hold its second season but it was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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