Dubai: Top Filipino and Indian basketball players will meet in an exhibition match on Friday as the Dubai Community Basketball League (DCBL) All Stars face Blue Rhine Eagles in a charity game at the Zayed Bin Sultan Boy’s School gym in Satwa.
“This friendly match is not just about promoting camaraderie between Filipino and Indian expats, this is also a fund-raising activity for our kababayan [countryman] Larry Castro, who needs financial assistance for his bone-marrow transplant,” said DCBL governor Rante Bautista, organiser of the event.
Members of the Philippine expatriate team were selected from the 27 teams which participated in the recent DCBL-Ramadan League. They are composed of Rommel de Padua, Ron Sanchez, Paul Buenafe, Peter Buenafe, Kent Lamique, Butchoy Dalumpines, Tong Maniego, Barranco, Jojo Roque, Rechil Falcon, Wilbert Sayson, Romel Caberte, Philip Ryan Neri Moradas, Jason Gonzales, Ruzzell Tamayo, Dominic Ceniza, and Eric delos Santos.
Jazzville coach Roland Crisostomo will be the head of the DCBL-All Stars and he will be assisted by Marvin Malang of Emirates Forklifts and Bobet Kilates of FaceNBook Boosters.
The Blue Rhine Eagles is one of the top teams in the IBS (Indian Basketball Society) League. Formed in 2010 by a group of college friends who love basketball, Blue Rhine Eagles finished second in this year’s IBS League.
Blue Rhine Eagles coach and power forward Sunil Mathew said: “We are a very good team. We have exceptional individual talents and we play cohesively as a team.”
The Indian expatriate team features IBS’ most valuable player Kevin Varghese, the best defensive player Sajeev S. Kammath, rookie Abimanyou Dabbas and IBS topscorer Usman Kunda. The other members of the team who will face the DCBL-All Stars are small forward Vishal, power forwards Sean and Murtuza, centre Shyam, and point guards Madhu and Charles.