The warmest embrace

SPORTING CHANCE By Joaquin M. Henson
The Philippine Star
Friday, September 21, 2007

It was a touching scene when after La Salle beat Ateneo by a point in a UAAP men’s senior basketball game at the Big Dome last Tuesday, best friends Chris Tiu and TY Tang embraced each other. That’s what sportsmanship is all about.

The former Xavier School teammates now play for rival schools. After high school graduation, Tang chose to enroll at La Salle and Tiu, at Ateneo. Nothing personal. They still wanted to play together but there were other factors in the equation. Tang preferred La Salle’s basketball program under coach Franz Pumaren and liked the school’s Business Management course. Tiu was inspired by the Ateneo system and took up Management Engineering.

As a backcourt tandem, Tiu and Tang played on at least 16 title squads up to high school. Included in the harvest was a pair of Tiong Lian championships. They learned the tricks of the court from elementary coach Ronnie Mutuc and high school coach Mon Amador.

Tang, 23, said he’ll try his luck in the PBA draft next year. He’s winding up his varsity eligibility this season. “I’ve played in the PBL and now, I’d like to find out if I can play in the pros,” said Tang. “But if I’m not drafted, I guess that will be the end of my basketball career. I’ll go into business and start a new life.”

As for Tiu, he’s considering to play one more year for Ateneo. Although he earned his undergraduate degree last March, Tiu, 22, re-enrolled to take up Mathematical Finance as a second major.

Tang was in Grade 4 and Tiu, in Grade 3 when they started playing for Xavier in the Small Basketeers League. In all, they were teammates for about eight years before parting ways.

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La Salle’s Fil-Bahrainian rookie cager Bader Abdulla Perez Malabes has rejected an offer to play for a professional Kuwait club and will stay with the Green Archers until he graduates.

Patrick Salomon of the Gulf Daily News reported a few days ago Malabes confirmed his decision in a telephone interview.

“It’s a really attractive offer from Kuwait but education is my top priority,” said the 6-1 Malabes, quoted by Salomon. “I have been studying for three years and am close to finishing my course so it would be a waste if I leave now. I’m also really enjoying myself playing basketball. The game is at a much higher level in the Philippines than back home since basketball is the No. 1 sport in the country. In Bahrain, there’s a maximum of four teams that are good. Here, all are good whether the team is from a big or small school. It’s a great challenge.”

Malabes, 20, is taking up Sports Management at La Salle. His father Abdulla Jassim is considered a basketball legend in Bahrain and was a former MVP with the Kuwait club Manama where he starred for 20 years. His mother Consuelo Perez is a Filipina.

Another UAAP cager with Filipino and Middle East roots is Ateneo’s Rabah Al Hussaini who is half-Kuwaiti.

Manama offered Malabes the equivalent of a P52,000 monthly package with a signing bonus of P180,000. The package included a car, an apartment and education in a Kuwait university of his choice.

According to Salomon, the offer will remain on the table until Malabes is ready to sign on the dotted line.

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Regarding yesterday’s column about La Salle’s Brian Ilad, a reader clarified that the 6-5 center played only two years, not four, at Philippine College of Criminology. But Ilad qualified for only a season in the UAAP because he finished high school in 2001, a limitation in his eligibility. A UAAP senior athlete is allowed to play five seasons in a span of seven years from when he graduated in high school.