TOP Zamboangueño athletes are supporting the campaign of their hometown team Zamboanga Valientes in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) Invitational starting on Tuesday at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
Tokyo Olympic boxing bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial, Magnolia’s Mark Barroca, Converge’s Mike Tolomia and pro boxer Jonas Sultan wished their home team good luck in their ABL sortie.
“The Zamboanga Valientes are all primed up because of the encouraging messages they received from fellow top Zamboangueño athletes like Barroca, Tolomia, Marcial and Jonas,” team owner Junnie Navarro said.
“This is very meaningful to all Zamboangueños because this is the first time that they will be representing the country in the ABL,” Navarro said. “Before the Valientes flew to Singapore, Barroca visited the team’s last practice session last week.”
Marcial expressed his all-out support to the Zamboanga Valientes while training for his upcoming fight early this year in Las Vegas, Nevada, while Sultan will join the team in Singapore to cheer for them.
The Zamboanga Valientes faced Louvre Surabaya Indonesia in their first game at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Zamboanga City Mayor John Dalipe also showed his support to the team owned by Cory and Junnie Navarro and MLV Accounting’s Mike Venezuela.
The game was shown live in IBT Divisoria and at the Golden Boys Gym.
The team is composed of American imports Antonio Hester, Will Deng, Ryan Smith and heritage player Jeremy Arthur, former Gilas players JR Cawaling and Kemark Cariño, homegrown Rudy Lingganay, Jeff Bernardo and Denver Cadiz.
Coached by Ateneo De Zamboanga’s Bobedick de los Santos, the team also includes former San Beda star Peter Alfaro, Rhayann Amsali, Padrigao, Jens Knuttel and Tolomia.
Zamboanga has produced talented point guards like RR Garcia, Forthsky Padrigao, Barroca and Tolomia, and taked pride in Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and pool masters Cheska Centeno and Roberto Gomez.