No more imports in Partner’s Cup

CEBU’S premier collegiate basketball league, the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) Partner’s Cup, gets going once again next month at the Cebu Coliseum.

A new hitch will be unveiled in the latest edition of Cesafi’s preseason tournament as foreign imports will no longer be allowed to play to give way for the development of the local players.

This was suggested by long-time league commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy, and unanimously voted upon by the different head coaches of the participating basketball squads in a meeting yesterday afternoon at the Cebu Coliseum’s conference room.

“After all, we made this tournament as a way to give the teams and the coaches a chance to gauge which recruits or players are fit to play for the varsity squad in the regular tournament later this year. To really even the playing field, we’re not allowing the imports to give way for the locals,” said Tiukinhoy.

As of the moment, only two teams in the Cesafi have foreign players on their squads. These are reigning league champions Southwestern University (SWU) and the reigning Partner’s Cup champions University of the Visayas (UV).

SWU has not participated in recent years while UV is seeking for orders from top officials whether or not to participate in the tournament after this development.

The tournament will still use the “barangayan” mode of substitution in the elimination round with regular substitution patterns set to be utilized in the playoffs. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio