Antipolo, Pasig venues eyed for PBA’s opening conference

THE Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) push to open its Season 46 continues to take form as the league said it was eyeing the cities of Antipolo and Pasig as possible hosts for its season-opening All-Filipino tournament.

League commissioner Willie Marcial shared that the Ynares gymnasia in Antipolo, Rizal, and Pasig have been short-listed for their new season, which is targeted to begin late this month or early July under a closed-circuit setup where player movements are restricted to home-gym-home.

The venues may not be the usual big arenas that typically host the PBA, but Mr. Marcial said these will do for now considering the prevailing conditions with the pandemic.

“Right now, we don’t need the bigger venues to host us. We still cannot have fans because of the pandemic,” the PBA chief said in a television interview on Thursday.

“I have talked to Mayor Junjun Ynares about the possibility of using the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo for the All-Filipino tournament. We are also considering the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig and we need to talk to Mayor Vico Sotto about it.”

Mr. Marcial shared that nothing is definite yet as they are still awaiting the next announcement of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on the quarantine classification for “NCR Plus,” which includes the National Capital Region and the province of Rizal.

NCR Plus is under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with “heightened restrictions” until June 15, leaving the PBA unavailable to fully take its preparation in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Currently, PBA teams are doing workouts and scrimmages in Batangas, Ilocos Norte and Pampanga, areas under MGCQ or with lower quarantine restrictions.

The PBA is hoping to stage two conferences this season to give fans more basketball action. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo