Manny plays B’water in practice, opener

MANILA, Philippines - Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, in the thick of his preparation for his fight with Chris Algieri in November, will see action in the Kia Motors-Blackwater preseason match-up on Oct. 4 and in the keenly awaited duel between the two new PBA teams right in the opener of PBA Season 40 on Oct. 19 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

“Manny has confirmed to the commissioner (PBA commissioner Chito Salud) he’s playing against Blackwater,” Kia Motors Eric Pineda told The STAR after the formal presentation of the Kia Motors Sorento team to the media at the World Trade Center yesterday.

“After the fight (with Algieri in Macau on Nov. 23), Manny will rest for two weeks and he’ll play more games with his Kia Sorento team,” Pineda also said.

Also yesterday, the PBA Commissioner’s Office, upon inspection of the newly assembled Philippine Arena hard court, announced the opening of the new season in the Bocaue venue is a go.

“The Philippine Arena is ready. Lease contract is to be finalized,” said PBA operations chief Rickie Santos.

Kia Motors, with Glenn Capacio as Pacquiao’s chief deputy, is confident it has formed a team competitive enough to win at least four games in its coming PBA debut.

“We’ve got scrappy, hard-working players who will give the other teams a good fight,” said Capacio.

“Our goal is to win four to five games. On where that brings us, it’s hard to tell. We have to be realistic this is the PBA. It’s a highly competitive league,” Capacio also said.

The management is hopeful Pacquiao’s competitive spirit will rub off on the team.

“I’m lending my name to the team. Hindi ako papayag na mapahiya,” said Pacquiao on a video shown during the team presentation.

“Success is a product of hard work. We’ll work very hard to achieve that in the PBA,” Pacquiao also said.

From the free agent pool and the rookie draft, Kia got Mike Burstcher, Hans Thiele, Rich Alvarez, Reil Cervantes, Angelus Raymundo, Chad Alonzo, Eder Saldua, Paul Sanga, Kenneth Ighalo, Joshua Webb, Chito Jayme, Rudy Lingganay, LA Revilla, and JR Buensuceso.

“These are players all committed to work hard and try their very best to give all our rivals a good fight,” said Capacio.