Dragons begin defence
By Benny Ang

Defending champions Suncity Dragons after a practice session yesterday.

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Suncity Dragons begin their defence of the 3rd Shell Rimula Ultra Invitational Challenge Trophy 2003 tonight in the opening match as they take on the Chuon Tze Twisters following the opening ceremony at the National Indoor Stadium.

After months of jostling and planning, the games are about to begin and while they may have only three players returning from their championship winning team, they will still be a force to be reckoned with.

Only Jomar Tierra, Antonio Espinosa and Melvin Taguines are back for a second stint with the Dragons but with four imports in their ranks, they will still be one of the favourites although the SYH Tigers have claimed that honour over the past week.

Dave Bautista, a member of Mum Bakery last year, joins the Dragons and brings with him several ex-PBA players in Norman Gonzales, Junel Mendiola and Tyron Bautista.

The imports are formed by Mark Hobson Jr and Lonnie Thomas from America and Luke Egan and Bart Strzebonski from Australia.

Only two imports are allowed on the floor at any one time so the plan for the Dragons is to rotate the four players consistently according to team manager Alan Lim.

"We are going with four imports because it is a long tournament and anything can happen. By having four, we can keep them fresh by rotating them.

"Also, we have a good core of Filipino players back from last year as well as some new recruits. We are in good shape," said Lim.

However, Lim pointed out that this year is going to be tougher than last year as not only are the other teams stronger this year but blending the imports with the Filipinos may take a couple of games.

"I think every team is a lot stronger this year, that's for sure. If you look at the amount of imports in this tournament, there are a lot this year compared to last year.

"We may have four imports but every other team has them too and it's going to come down to who executes best on the day. We also expect that it's going to take some time for the players to gel together," added the Suncity manager.

As for the other teams, Lim said that he expects the SYH Tigers to be the biggest competition although it's hard for him to discount any of the other teams too.

"The Tigers look strong this year. They are a stacked side and Chuon Tze, who we play tonight, we have no idea how good they are. They will be a decent side but we have never seen them play so we have no idea.

"We are just going to prepare the best way possible and hope that it goes alright on the night."

Meanwhile, the organising committee of the 3rd Shell Rimula Ultra Invitational Challenge Trophy 2003 basketball tournament would like to announce that the opening ceremony tonight has been pushed back one hour to start at 9pm instead of 8pm as originally planned.

Also, school students are advised that they will be able to watch the opening ceremony followed by the opening match between the Suncity Dragons and Chuon Tze Twisters free of charge.

They have to be in school uniform with each student allocated one ticket and they can collect their free ticket at the National Indoor Stadium starting at 6pm.  -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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