Dwight Ramos, other Filipinos return as Ravena weekend showdown postponed

MANILA, Philippines – Five of the seven Filipino players in Division 1 are set to return to the hardwood this weekend as Japan B. League action finally resumes.

Earlier this week, the B. League postponed the highly anticipated weekend showdown between Kiefer Ravena’s Shiga Lakestars and Thirdy Ravena’s San-En NeoPhoenix as the latter had three players testing positive for COVID-19 and 11 other players were deemed as close contacts.

However, amid soaring COVID-19 cases in the Land of the Rising Sun, the show goes on for Dwight Ramos and the Toyama Grouses, Ray Parks and the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins, Kobe Paras and the Niigata Albirex BB, Javi Gomez de Liaño and the Ibaraki Robots, and Matt Aquino and the Shinshu Brave Warriors.

Gomez de Liaño and the Robots are the first ones to take the floor on Saturday, January 22, as they go up against the Hiroshima Dragonflies at 1:05 pm, Manila time.

Ramos and the Grouses, meanwhile, will face the Seahorses Mikawa at 2:05 pm, same time as Parks and the Dolphins’ clash against the Levanga Hokkaido.

Finally, Paras and the Albirex BB will look to snap their 23-game losing skid when they take on Aquino and the Brave Warriors at 4:05 pm.

Over in Division 2, Kemark Cariño and the Aomori Wat’s weekend games against the Earthfriends Tokyo Z – who recently parted ways with Juan Gomez de Liaño – also got cancelled as Tokyo had one player testing positive for the coronavirus and 12 other players were ruled as close contacts. – Rappler.com