AirAsia Sponsors ASEAN Basketball League’s 2010/11 Championship Season

AirAsia is the new title sponsor for the ASEAN Basketball League’s (ABL) 2010 / 2011 season. The second ABL season is set to start on 2 October 2010 with the playoffs to begin in February 2011.

This is not the first time for AirAsia to be a part of the ABL. The airline was the official carrier for the ABL’s 2009 / 2010 season, flying participating teams and fans to competition venues around the ASEAN region.

 “We are very excited for the new season to arrive and proud to be back in the ABL with a bigger role by being the title sponsor for the 2010 / 2011 season. As an ASEAN airline, it is our obligation to help develop the standard and quality of sports in the region. The region has a lot of untapped young talents but limited opportunities are available for them to progress further in their respective fields,” said AirAsia Group CEO, Dato’ Sri Dr. Tony Fernandes.

 The ASEAN Basketball League announced the official launch of its second season in Jakarta on 23 August 2010, with the new campaign to kick off with six teams with a new participant, Thailand Cobras, replacing last season’s Thailand Tigers.

The league format will kick off on 2 October this year with matches being played in Thailand, Singapore and Philippines. The playoff Finals are scheduled to begin in February. The format will be maintained from last season which will be in the form of triple home and away for the league stages with a best of 3 series for the play offs including the finals.

CEO of ASEAN Basketball League Kuhan Foo said, “AirAsia has always shared the ABL’s drive to make a positive change in ASEAN sports development. This synergy in a shared dream to unite South East Asia through sports is a passion that both AirAsia and the ABL stand united on. There are currently some programs that we will be introducing in the near future that will bring this dream closer to the masses in the months to come.”

The ABL continues to push the boundaries of developing the sport of basketball in the region with many precedents set in the previous season. Many of the best national players in South East Asia were given a minimum 4 and half months of very high level competition last season compared to many national leagues in South East Asia which run for one month on average.

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