PBA training day starts on Tuesday

AFTER many delays, all 12 teams of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) started conditioning training today, nearly six months since the suspension of games for Season 45 Philippine Cup on March 11 due to restrictions on sporting events and mass gatherings.

PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial told The Manila Times on Monday in a phone interview that all the players, who medically cleared from last week’s Covid-19 testing at the Makati Medical Center, could now finally join practices at the designated venues of their respective squads.

“It’s already a go tomorrow,” he said, referring to the start of training sessions that are strictly without scrimmages or 5×5 games, restricted under general community quarantine guidelines imposed in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Marcial targets September as the time to file a formal request with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for permission to hold games during training.

“They will start practicing tomorrow without scrimmages. And I think, by September, depending on the situation maybe, I will write the task force,” he said uncertainly but hopefully about the easing of the health crisis by then. “I hope so.”

As of press time, players, coaches and staff of all 12 teams — Alaska, Barangay Ginebra, Blackwater, Meralco, Magnolia, Northern Luzon Expressway, Northport, Phoenix Pulse, Rain or Shine, San Miguel Beer, Terra Firma and TNT KaTropa — have tested negative for Covid-19.

All practicing teams need to follow the guidelines of the joint administrative order, formed by the Games and Amusements Board, the Philippine Sports Commission and the Department of Health (DOH) for the conduct of professional and nonprofessional sports.

Based on the agreement within the PBA, only four players, one trainer and a health officer are allowed to be in the properly decontaminated training venue per conditioning practice.

Meanwhile, KaTropa announced it would hold conditioning practices inside the “TNT bubble” or isolated, sanitized zone at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna for two to three weeks.

Source: TheManila Times