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The Toronto Falcons are the Filipino Centre’s 2009 Victoria Invitational Basketball Champions! Successfully defending last year’s win, the Falcons had to fend off the strong Lakan Midget team at the last game of the 2 day tournament over the Victoria Day weekend.
650 youths aged 7 to 17 from 54 teams and 9 basketball clubs participated in the annual event sponsored by the Filipino Centre of Toronto.
This year the FCT was fortunate to involve the partnership of the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Police Service. Dr. Alok Mukherjee, Chair of the TPSB, personally greeted the throng of over 3,000 during the opening ceremonies at the Hoopdome. He said “This tournament is an excellent example of the kind of healthy activities that encourage our youth to acquire key values like cooperation, teamwork and respect.”
Inspector Francis Bergen of the Community Mobilization Unit of the Toronto Police represented Chief William Blair who could not attend due to an emergency.
PC Philip Mendoza of the CMU led a team of police officers who played a friendship basketball game with selected Fil-Can Forex players and opened the playing day on Saturday. It was a great moment that helped build the beginning of bridges of understanding between the community and the police officers.
It was a marvelous opening to the annual tournament that started only 2 years ago and was named in honor of Dr. Victoria Santiago and her long service and contributions to the Filipino-Canadian community.
Participants in the opening ceremonies included American Legion veterans Gene Dorotheo, Ed Sabiles and Ninia Segovia who bore the national colors; FCT Board of Directors led by Dr. Victoria Santiago and Dr. Nenette DeVilla; Paulina Chan Miss Teen Central Ontario and Rachelle Perez, Miss Teen GTA 2009 – both are competing in the Miss Teen Canada Globe quest to be held in August 2009. 11 year old Ma Theresa Panaligan captivated the crowd with her rendition of the national anthems. The Folklorico Filipino dancers wowed the crowd and the NBA Toronto Raptors mascot #95 made an appearance and entertained the crowd with amazing acrobatics.
The nine clubs that participated in this year’s tournament included: The Angiels, Filipino Basketball Association of Durham, FYAA Toronto Falcons, Lakeshore Association of Neighbors, Milton Stags / Jayhawks, MYBA Storm, NYPAA, Vaughan Youth Athletic Association, and the York Grizzlies.
Community Service Awards were presented to Chair Alok Mukherjee, Chief Bill Blair, and PC Philip Mendoza for their contributions in supporting the Filipino-Canadian community of Toronto.
Community Service awards were also given to 5 pioneers who demonstrated selfless dedication to serving the youth of the Filipino-Canadian community through activities in athletics over the last 30 years. They are: Geopo Dacanay of PHYBA, Bobby Del Rio of the MPAA, Wally Landicho of Philcan, Nestor Leabres of NABA and Flor Lim of Filact.
The official results of the 3rd FCT Victoria Invitational Basketball Tournament:
- Mosquito Division: Milton Stags/JayHawks defeated Vaughan. MVP Avan Nava
- Tykes: Falcons defeated MYBA. MVP #15 James Kweku-Teye
- PeeWee Division: North York defeated MYBA, MVP #15 Jordan Tirazona
- Girls Division: Vaughan successfully defended against Lakan. MVP was awarded to Sybil Tan.
- Bantam Division: Lakan defeated North York in a nail biter. MVP: Paulo Reyes
- Midgets Division: Falcons prevailed against Lakan. MVP Russel Lagman.
The FYAA Toronto Falcons won the FCT Overall Revolving Trophy by virtue of their double wins in the Tykes and in the Midgets divisions. Championship team and individual awards are going to be presented at the Pistahan Sa Toronto Festival at the Nathan Philips Square on June 13, 2009.
Aside from an incident with misbehaving parents in the Mosquito division (age 7 to 9) the tournament went without a hitch. Rosalinda Cerrudo-Javier took the misbehaving parents to the “principal’s office” for some needed behavioral reminders.
In only the 3rd year of this annual tournament, Tournament Director Philip Beloso and the team of dedicated volunteers have masterfully guided the games of the Victoria Invitational into a mature and well organized affair that is the envy of many. Plans are now underway for the 2010 games.
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