SPORTS
| September 21, 2019
 |
| (Image Source: Facebook/Philippine Sportswriters Association) |
The
Philippine Superliga is set to culminate its action-packed year in a short but
sweet way as it kicks off its season-ending Invitational Conference on September
24, 2019 and the league means it considering that the conference will only run
for about three weeks or until the 17th of October instead of a regular
schedule that takes two months to finish. This would surely boost the
Philippine national women's volleyball team's campaign in the 30th Southeast
Asian Games which will be held in the Philippines on November 30-December 15,
2019.
Philippine
Superliga president Dr. Ian Laurel stated in the Philippine Sportswriters
Association (PSA) Forum held last September 17th at the Amelie Hotel in Manila
that the league is looking at only ten playing dates for the tournament. He
also pointed out in the said forum presented by PAGCOR, San Miguel Corporation,
Amelie Hotel and Braska Restaurant that even though the PSL Invitational Conference
is a short tournament, the participating teams would surely want to end their
season by winning the crown. Also gracing the forum were PSL administrative
director Ariel Paredes, Diana Garcia of ESPN5 and representatives of the participating
teams.
Competing
in the short but sweet PSL Invitational Conference are Cignal HD, Foton, PLDT
and Sta. Lucia in Pool B as well as defending champion and newly-crowned
All-Filipino Conference champion F2 Logistics, Petron, Generika-Ayala and
Marinerang Pilipina in Pool B. The tournament will commence with a single
round-robin pool stage with the top two from each group figuring in the semifinals
and end with a one-game championship duel.
The
PSL will also host the second leg of the Southeast Asian Grand Prix on October
4-6, 2019 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna where teams from Vietnam and Thailand among
others are set to take action. The national team is in Thailand for the first
leg of the Grand Prix which is ongoing as of this writing until the 22nd of
September. As a final tune-up before the SEA Games, the nationals will be
pitted against a Japanese university team and two selections consisting of PSL
players in the PSL Super Cup on November 5, 7 and 9.
