Dubai: The chairman of the newly-formed Premier Basketball Organisation (PBO), Dubai, is hoping to rekindle the enthusiasm for the sport by reviving basketball tournaments for the Filipino community in the not-too-distant future.
"To start with we will try to organise some sort of volleyball competition for women and then possibly go and organise inter-corporate sporting events as well. But the ultimate [goal] will be to re-start the popular basketball tournaments we used to have for the Filipino community in the past," Rey Samson, told Gulf News.
Competition for hotels
Samson was speaking on the sidelines after announcing plans for the first Inter-Hotel Basketball Tournament 2010 at the City Max Hotel in Dubai yesterday. So far, 12 teams from some of the top starred hotels in Dubai have confirmed participation for the tournament which is scheduled to start from the last week of August at the Al Safa Indoor Hall.
"The last basketball tournament organised by the PBA [Philipino Basketball Association] for the community was way back in 2006. It will be good to get this tournament started again. For the time-being we will be happy to take one step at a time. But the re-starting of the tournament for Filipinos is a definite possibility in the future," Samson said.
The Inter-Hotel Basketball Tournament 2010 is being supported by Al Rostamani, Agemono Restaurant, Al Ain water, New Dubai Team Travel and Tourism and Philippine Supermarket.
Among the teams that have already confirmed participation for the tournament are Kempinski Hotel — Mall of the Emirates; Dubai International and Le Meridien; Dusit Thani Hotel; JW Marriott; Jumeirah Hotel; Shangri-La Hotel; Al Murooj Rotana; Atlantis Hotel; Pullman-Dubai; Fairmont Hotel and former champions Crowne Plaza Hotel.
