Monday, July 28, 2008 Baguio team doing good in Liga Pilipinas
BAGUIO team Victory, one of the founding members of the first regional basketball league in the country is doing well in the games and has won five games so far, since it started doing the rounds in various communities in the country last June 11.
On July 30, the team will showcase before residents of Baguio the product of their hardwork, as it plays host to the event to be held at the University of Baguio gym.
"The city is very enthusiastic with this opportunity to showcase the flair and ability of our Baguio victory team with the rest of the country," Baguio Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. said in a statement of support for the team.
The recently created Liga Pilipinas is a community-based, local government-supported, commercially sponsored basketball league.
Liga Pilipinas games are televised on IBC 13 and NBN 4, as well as by local media.
The Liga has more than 300 games every year. It has 16 teams and is composed of eight local players, two ex-professional players and one Filipino-foreigner. A team's name is named after their home province or city plus their moniker like Baguio Victory, Batangas Barako, Zamboanga Amores, Pagadian Explorers or Cebu Niños.
The 16 teams come from various provinces all over the country. They are divided into two groups: the Northern League and Southern League.
The Northern League is composed of eight teams namely Ilocos Sur, Baguio, Pampanga, Taguig, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Rizal.
The Southern League, on the other hand, is composed of Cebu, Mandaue City, Bacolod, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga, Pagadian and Ozamis.
Liga Pilipinas is owned by Pinoy Basketbol Inc., a corporation formed through the merger of three basketball stakeholders: the National Basketball Conference, Mindanao-Visayas Association and Third Force. (RO)
