Tournament Director Rey Fuentes (seated, 2nd from left) leads the launching of the 12th City Sports Club-Cebu (CSC-C) E-League for Basketball yesterday at CSC-C. (CONTRIBUTED)
The City Sports Club-Cebu (CSC-C) E-League for Basketball opens a new chapter of intense hardcourt action as the league’s 12th season is set to kick off tomorrow at the CSC-C Gym.
Arguably the biggest basketball tournament pitting workers from business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in Cebu, the tournament will have a total of 21 competing teams for this year.
A major breakthrough highlights the tournament’s new season as the league is soon to have its own website.
“Every year, we offer something new. We don’t want the teams to lose interest by giving them the same thing,” said Tournament Director and CSC-C Sports Manager Rey Fuentes in the tournament’s press launching yesterday.
“Coming up with the website is just one of our plans for the league. The grand plan is to eventually reach out to Manila, put up a tournament and have a national champion,” added Fuentes.
For this year, the tournament will be backed by Marriott.
“We will be providing venues for the victory party of the champion team, and we will also be giving out prizes to the winner of the Miss E-League pageant,” said Marriott’s Frances Alfafara.
The league’s website will be functional in the latter part of the year.
“We will pattern the look of the website after the Chicago Bulls. League updates can be found there, and we are working on providing stats in real time,” said Rigil Kent Migallen, CEO of Zenovia International.
Just like the previous year, the season, which will be supervised by newly appointed League Commissioner Marvin Caro, will be divided into two groups.
The Elite Classic will have the defending champions Convergys Converters, Teleperformance All Stars, SSI Warriors, Accenture Sharks, Lexmark Stallions, Wipro Tigers, ePerformax Reds, Sykes Pioneers and the Teletech-Telstra Boomerangs.
The Boomerangs were escalated to the Elite Classic after topping the EVO League division last year.
Included in this year’s EVO League are the Author Solutions Hardbacks, Kyocera Frontiers, The Results Spartans, Teletech Titans, Supportsave Dragons and Contact Solutions Flying Lemurs.
Also part of the EVO League are newcomers United Health Group Cobras, QBE Generals, Dynnino Raptors, Blue Ocean Pirates, Tech Mahindra Mighties and Atos Falcons.
The opening day will have the Dragons taking on the Cobras in the first game, while the Converters start their title-retention bid against the Reds in the main match.
Convergys had two teams last season — the Converters and the Blue Devils. The two squads were fused and the franchise, winner of six titles, will be represented by the Converters this season.
“The pressure is there since the other teams will be out there to steal the crown. We are pretty confident, but we won’t underestimate our opponents.
We have to stay focused and hungry,” said Convergys skipper Lourenz Limpangog.