Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino on Monday said the Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (WMPBL), the country’s first women’s professional basketball league, will open opportunities to female athletes.
Tolentino said the WMPBL would contribute to national sports development, calling it a “breakthrough” for women’s basketball.
“May this league serve as platform for women empowerment and promote national unity through sports,” Tolentino said in a news release.
The league will attract more aspiring athletes nationwide as it plans to play their games in selected provinces, Tolentino said.
He thanked former Senator Manny Pacquiao for organizing the league, which the latter described as a “revolution that brings women’s basketball to the forefront”.
“It’s an honor to be part of the WMPBL. May our Filipina basketball players inspire young girls from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao to also dream of becoming athletes,” he said.
Pacquiao, during the opening of the tournament’s inaugural invitational at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion Sunday, told the 14 teams that the league is “more than a competition” but a platform for “empowerment and a celebration of excellence from Filipinas who dare to dream big”.
The inaugural invitational will serve as a prelude to the first season of the WMPBL that is expected to start later this year. (PNA)
