ILOILO City – After being postponed due to the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases early this year, the Mayor JPT New Normal Basketball Tournament is finally kicking off today at the Don Francisco Village here.
According to Commissioner Von Fernandez, 11 teams are participating in the Open Category while 14 teams are set to compete in the 40-above category.
Leading the Open category is defending champion DPWH, which is to be bannered by 2020 Mayor JPT Basketball MVP John Lester Ramones, Miguel Sasuman, Wilmer Dalumpines, and Peter Traviña.
Also playing in the Open Category are the Guimaras Leopards, Asialink/Creek Side, TEJ/Stoneford, Toto Tia Ten/XYZ, J Cordon/Starr, Lead Generations, Rebisco, Biron/Golez of Dumangas, and MDC Sports.
Tournament format for the Open Category will be single round robin with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. Championship will be a best-of-three series.
Meanwhile, playing in the 40 above category were Iloilo Executives (A & B), Iloilo Pros, IFCBA Elite, PISAI, Ilonggo Basketball Group, Pretorians (A & B), Petrels Ballclub, RGG Ballclub, Pototan Agahan, SOG Ballclub, Barotac Nuevo Starr, and Wildcats Sports Club.
For the 40 above, the squads will be divided into two brackets with top two teams from each group moving on to the crossover semifinals. Championship will be a best-of-three series.
Fernandez said that, unlike in the 2020 edition were foreign players were allowed, this year’s JPT tournament will be solely for basketball players from Western Visayas.
“We want to give more exposure to Region 6 players kaya we remove yung mga foreign players as well as former professional and semi professional players,” Fernandez told Panay News on Friday.
“We are just happy that we finally were able to commence with this tournament are the COVID situation. We are hoping to finish this by March 27,” he added./PN
