Red Bull Barako, which utterly dominated the All-Filipino Cup eliminations before its bid was jeopardized by the suspension of two key players on alleged illegal drug use, will be back in action, testing the mettle of Yonsei University of South Korea in the main game of the initial twinbill at the Astrodome.
San Miguel Beer, winner of the last PBA invitational tourney held in 1982, tackles the Cebuana Lhuillier-RP team in the kickoff game proceeding a brief opening ceremony.
The Aric del Rosario-mentored RP squad is actually merely an all-amateur selection with most of the national mainstays tied up with their school teams in the UAAP and the NCAA.
Among the nationals missing the PBA Invitationals are Ateneo’s Rich Alvarez and Wesley Gonzales, UE’s James Yap, Nino Canaleta and Paul Artadi, FEU’s Mark Isip and Gerard Jones and UST’s Alwyn Espiritu. Making up the team instead are Ritchie Melencio, Celino Cruz, Dennis Madrid, Loreto Soriano, Ismael Junio, Gary David, Emerson Oreta, Willy Wilson, Nelbert Omolon, Romar Menor, Bernzon Franco, Marc Pingris, Ricky Calimag and Erwin Sotto.
Much of the attention, however, will be on Yonsei University, the first foreign team showing its wares in the three-week tourney patterned after international competitions.
Novi Sad-Yugoslavia and Magnolia-Jilin Qi open their campaigns versus FedEx and Alaska Milk, respectively, on Wednesday. The Chinese team was to arrive in the country only last night.
The Thunder could have an easy time disposing of the Koreans if this is the same Yonsei University squad beaten by the University of the East Warriors in the recent Guam Invitational and repulsed by St. Francis of Assisi in the Asian University Games.
Red Bull Barako could only become more competitive on Jimwell Torion’s comeback. The team signed up former UST stalwart Cyrus Baguio but placed the player on the injured list together with Rysal Castro.
Yonsei will be bannered by Korean national team member Bang Soon Yoon and youth players Yang Hee Jong, Kim Tae Sul, Kim Jae Hwan and Lee Kwang Jae. New recruit 7-foot-3 slotman Ha Seung Jin was left at home.
The other members of the team are Seung Won Jung, Jung Goo Jun, Jung Hyup Lee, Sang Won Jin, Seung tae Choi, Ju Ik Baek, Chan Gyu Kim, Sang Jun Lee, Jae Hwan Kim and Jong Wan Kim.
National mainstay Sun Jun and former PBL import Ma Jian lead the Magnolia-Jilin team that also features Jifeng Li, Shougiang Wang, Jiang Du, Yue Yin, Kun Zhang, Han Wang, Yongbo Wang, Aljun Li, Jingiang Nie, Lei Han and Anan Zhao.
Novi Sad-Yugoslavia, meanwhile, is composed of Slobodan Subasic, Stevan Durovic, Nikola Jelicic, Darko Kos, Milan Repac, Srdjan Todorovic, Predrag radovanovic, Predrag Popovic, Branislav Vukelic, Bogdan Vilic, Bojan Popovic, Igor Beljanski and Mihajlo Delic.