SUBOKIN ballclub leads the cast of strong teams in the 1st St. Ignatius de Loyola Cup Summer Basketball League, which formally opened here on Tuesday, May 1, at the Xavier University (XU) gym.
Easily one of the popular ballclubs in the locality, Subokin of coach Rocky Calingin will try to prove its worth in the five-team league.
"Syempre, I believe Subokin wants to be the league's inaugural champion," said Loyola Cup commissioner Arvin Martinez, even as he cautioned not to discount rival teams Arsenals, HNH Builders, Stampede and the visiting Tracy Basketball.
Calingin said his team will be in a very competitive form and he's confident he could manage it well.
Meanwhile, most of the teams were anchored by former varsity players reunited to support the Loyola Cup hoopfest.
"Nabungkag kami sa amo grupo, pero tungod aning liga maoy nagpabalik kanamo," said Arsenal team manager Norman Paul Ihalas.
Pride is also at stake in the league with no cash prize involved.
All the teams seemed very satisfied with the league policy, while others call it "life-fulfilling" as they can finally play inside the wooden court of XU gym.
"Dili magmahay sila even dako ang registration, but rest-assured they will experience good service," said Martinez.
The league is a double round-robin format with the top-2 finishers going against each other in a best-of-three championship series, while the No.3 and No.4 will fight for the third-place honor.
