By Les Tan

Talk ‘n Text and San Miguel, two professional teams from the Phillippines Basketball Association league will play a regular season game in Singapore at the Indoor Stadium on Saturday, November 30th in a double-header bill that will see the Singapore Slingers take on an all-star Filipino team play in the second game.

The Slingers, who pulled out of the Australian National Basketball league earlier this year because of excessive travel costs, are five games into their Challenge Series with a 4-win 1-loss record. The Slingers game against the PBA team Purefoods is so far the highlight of the series with a raucous crowd of 5,500 spectators of mostly Filipino fans showing a level of basketball support most have never seen in Singapore in recent memory.

With the two Filipino teams playing for points that count, most will expect a crowd number that will exceed the numbers seen at the game against Purefoods. The organisers expect at least 7,000 to show up for the game.

The game, which will be beamed to millions of TV viewers in basketball-mad Philippines, will tip off at 3pm, and will be followed by another game at 5pm between the Singapore Slingers and a Smart Telecom National Selection side representing the Philippines.

Said Slingers Managing Director Bob Turner: “This event will further prove that a regional professional league in basketball is a viable proposition. Our Chairman Tony Fernandes is championing the formation of the regional pro league, which is set to launch by the middle of next year.”

Tickets for the double-header on Nov 30 are available now at the Smart Wireless Centre at the Lucky Plaza Mall in Orchard Road. Ticket prices are $35, $25 and $15 with a free phone card.