IN an effort to give outstanding young players the much-needed international exposure, the Pinoy Youth Dreamers (PYD) will compete in the 9th Asia-Pacific Basketball Youth Cup to be held in Singapore on Oct 26-31.

PYD founding president-coach Beaujing Acot said the six-day competition will be another good opportunity for young and talented Filipino players to showcase their skills against their counterparts from neighboring countries.

“We regularly participate in the Asia Pacific. Maganda naman lagi ang ating performance. So far, we won gold, silver and bronze in different age group categories,” said Acot.

“May mga pagkakataon na hindi successful yung naging campaign ng teams natin. But it’s always part of the challenge for us to learn and improve.”

The multi-titled coach said the Asia-Pacific tournament will have three groups, 13-under, 15-under and 18-under.

Aside from 5-on-5, there will also be a 3×3 tournament for the first time this year.

It is fully endorsed by FIBA after making the tournament return after two years of restrictions.

“Madami ding challenges sa ating mga PYD teams, like schedule ng practice which is only every weekend lang dahil yun mga players natin are coming from different teams,” added Acot

Acot said the three teams — Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in Under 15 and Under 18 with coaches Toto Tundag (Under 15) and Lucky Ecarma (Under 18 under); PYD-Manila in Under 13 and Under 18 with coach Kyle Ysibido; and PYD-Davao under coach Enzo Nitorreda,

In addition, PYD-Guam will send two teams to compete in Under 15 and Under 18 in 3×3 tournaments.

The Guam-based PYD-teams, on the other hand, will be handled Yimpact Basketball coach Jimmy Yi.

“It’s a big challenge for us.We want to represent the country well,”said Ysibido, who guested in the recent “Sports on Air” episode via Zoom.

“We’ll do our best to make the country proud of our team,” added Ysibido, a former PYD player who also saw action in past Asia-Pacific Cup tournaments.

Ysibido is also part of Batang Gilas pool which trained under coach Sandy Arespacochaga way before the pandemic.

His assistant coach is Ankush Singh.

Ecarma echoed Ysibido’s statement.

“It’s different when you play and represent the country in international competitions. You always want to do your best and bring home the title,” Ecarma, a former player himself, said in the same weekly online sports forum.

Team managers are Harpinder Singh and Harold Villanueva while team consultants are coaches Rommel Rasmo and Melki Villanueva.