The Filipino imports in the B.League will take part in this season’s all-star game.
In an announcement made on Monday afternoon, league chairman Shinji Shimada declared that there will be two games taking place over the weekend. The first will be the “B.League Asia-Rising Star Game” on January 14 in Okinawa.
Shimada explained that this game will pit the Asian Quota Players against the outstanding young rookies of the league.
Currently, there are 14 Asian Quota players in the league, headlined by San-En’s Thirdy Ravena.
Other Filipinos in B1 are Shiga’s Kiefer Ravena, Nagoya’s Bobby Ray Parks Jr., Toyama’s Dwight Ramos, Niigata’s Kobe Paras, and Ibaraki’s Javi Gomez de Liaño.
Korea’s Yang Jaemin plays for Shinshu, while China’s Wang Weijia suits up for Akita. Then Indonesia’s Brandon Jawato is signed with Utsunomiya.
It is unknown whether B2 players will participate as well.
Filipinos in division two are Juan Gomez de Liaño of Tokyo Z and Kemark Carino of Aomiri. Chinese-Taipei’s Lin Chihwei (Fukuoka) and China’s Liu Jin (Nishinomiya) are also in B2.
Matthew Aquino of Shinshu is classified as a local player.
The league also announced that voting will open for the All-Star Game set on January 15.
From November 8 to 30, the league’s official website will open its voting portal.
B.League White will be composed of Utsunomiya, Ryukyu, Mikawa, Toyama, Nagoya, Akita, Shinshu, Kyoto, Hokkaido, San-En, and Ibaraki while the Black team will have players from Chiba, Kawasaki, Osaka, Shibuya, Tokyo, Shimane, Shiga, Yokohama, Niigata, Hiroshima, and Gunma,
Imports are also part of the candidates.
Last season, Thirdy Ravena was selected to the All-Star team. Ravena had to pull out due to injury while the festivities were ultimately scrapped due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.