14 teams to compete for Manjaro's Noor Mubarak Cup

HOOP fans in the Sultanate will finally be treated to some local basketball action.

A total of 14 teams will vie for top honours when they compete for the Filipino Amateur Basketball (FAB) 4th Manjaro Basketball tournament's Noor Mubarak Cup, scheduled to start next month.

According to the tournament organiser Gabriel B San Pablo, there will only be one category this year as oppose to two categories held in previous years.

The 37-year-old and above category will not be contested as only one team had enrolled for the category. Instead, all teams will fight it out in the 37-year-old and below category, set to be held at the Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) court in Batu Bersurat.

"We held a managers meeting to discuss but no one mentioned having the veterans' category this time around so we decided to put all teams under one category," said San Pablo, during an interview with The Brunei Times, yesterday.

The 14 teams are separated into three groups with Urdan, Jed Star, Dermatology, Jasmine and Hua Ho Yayasan making up Group A.

Group B comprises of Seria Hoax, who are the only 37-year-old and above team, LDY Engineering, Fratini's and Gills Sports while Group C are made up of Kayumanggi, Onesing, GILR Wildcats, Ford and Hua Ho Bunut.

The top two teams in each group will advance to the second round. Those six teams will then be drawn into two groups in the second round.

The tournament would then enter its semi-finals stage, pitting the first and second placed teams from the first group against the second and first placed teams in the second group respectively.

The tournament will see action four times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, with two games to be contested every day.

First organised in 2005 as a three-on-three tournament behind Manjaro Restaurant in Kiulap, the competition has grown from strength to strength, being held five times over the next two years.

The 1st FAB Manjaro Cup started in March 2008 while the 2nd edition was organised in August the same year.

The competition was moved to Harun's Gym in the capital as it continued to gain popularity and has since moved to the BBA court.

The Brunei Times