Realtors test mettle of visiting Koreans

Two professional basketball teams from South Korea arrived yesterday for a series of goodwill matches against Philippine Basketball Association ballclubs that begins today with the Sta. Lucia Realtors taking on the SK Telecom Knights.

There may be no championship trophies at stake but personal pride and satisfaction should be enough to motivate the Realtors and the Knights to dish out their best in the 5 p.m. encounter at the Caruncho gym serving as the kick-off game of an eight-game series dubbed as PBA vs KBL (Korean Basketball League) dual meet.

The Knights are beefed up by members of South Korea’s national men’s, junior men’s and youth players which means the locals can’t take the visitors for granted.

Interestingly, the encounter brings back memories of the Philippines’ painful loss to South Korea in the semifinals of the 2002 Busan Asian Games. So for Kenneth Duremdes and Dennis Espino a victory against the visiting SK Knights would be enough consolation.

Unfortunately, Espino remains a doubtful starter due to a nagging back injury that forced him to skip the All-Stars game.

"Considering the storied rivalry between Philippines and South Korea in the sport of basketball I’m sure this series will be very interesting," said PBA commissioner Noli Eala.

The Coca-Cola Tigers take them tomorrow when they battle the SK Knights at 6 p.m. at the Arellano Gym. The other South Korean team–the SBS Stars–debuts on Friday against the FedEx Express at 5 p.m. at the Emilio Aguinaldo College Gym.

The series offers a thrilling double-header during the weekend.

The SBS Stars takes on The Alaska Aces at 4 p.m. while the Shell Turbo Chargers go up against the SK Knights at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at the San Juan Gym. Then on Sunday, the SK Knights test the mettle of the Talk N Text Phone Pals at 4 o’clock followed by the SBS-Ginebra match at 6 p.m. at the Ynares Center.

The goodwill series winds up on Tuesday with a game pitting the SBS Stars against the San Miguel Beermen at the Sab Sebastian Gym in Cavite City.

Like the PBA ballclubs, the Knights and the Stars are in the thick of their preparation for the opening of their own tourney back home in

October.

The Red Bull Barakos and Purefoods Hotdogs are not playing in the series, scheduled to leave the country this week to compete in a two-week invitational tournament in Brunei.