MANILA – From being a thorn on the side of their national team, Bacolodnon guard Samjosef Belangel will now be playing in South Korea’s professional basketball league.
The 22-year-old decided to forego his remaining two years of eligibility with the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles to play for Daegu Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) in the Korean Basketball League.
According to a report by Naver Sports, the KOGAS were just waiting for the signed Uniform Player Contract from both team and Belangel to formalize the deal.
Once the signing is completed, the Bacolod City native will have the distinction of being the first-ever Filipino player to play in the South Korean pro-league.
To sweeten the deal, the KOGAS will also allow the 5-foot-11 Belangel to bring his family to South Korea during the duration of his contract for the 2022-2023 KBL season.
“The KOGAS had to compete with other teams from other overseas leagues to get the services of (Belangel),” a team official was quoted as saying in the Naver Sports article.
The KOGAS, which acquired the franchise of the Incheon ET Land, had a respectable fifth place finish during the 2021-2022 KBL season with 27-27 win-loss slate.
Belangel was known to South Korea basketball community after hitting a game-winning triple for Gilas Pilipinas in their 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers game against South Korea last year in Pampanga.
The Blue Eagles, for its part, paid tribute to Belangel, who averaged 11.22 points per contest during his final year with the school in the UAAP Season 84.
“Student-athletes like SJ are hard to find and even harder to let go of. We thank SJ for donning the blue and white as we bid him well in his next journey,” said Ateneo team manager Epok Quimpo./PN
