Games Sunday (The Arena, San Juan)
1 p.m. — Opening ceremony
2 p.m. — Ateneo vs St. Benilde
4 p.m. — FEU vs UST
Thai volleyball players Jaroensri Bualee and Sontaya Keawbundit exchanged light moments as they recalled the time when they played side by side for Rattanabundit University in collegiate tournaments in Bangkok.
Their schoolmates, Porntip Santrong and Piyatada Lasungnern, were also in one corner, talking delightfully although much of the people in the Tuesday's press conference don't really understand their language.
For a while, the four players looked like teammates rather than rivals.
But their friendship will have to take the back seat when they power their respective teams in the 7th Shakey's V-League which fires off April 11 at The Arena in San Juan City.
"Thailand is the top volleyball country in Southeast Asia. Every other country is a distant second," said Sports Vision chairman Moying Martelino, appearing along tournament director Ricky Palou and league commissioner Tonyboy Liao, in Tuesday's PSA Forum at UN Ave. "Our local players can learn a lot from them (four Thai imports)."
The four Thai spikers, who are also mainstays of the Thailand junior national teams, are expected to spice up hostilities in the country's biggest volleyball tournament with Bualee, the former league MVP, getting reunited with San Sebastian College whom she powered to a runner-up finish behind the University of Santo Tomas in last year's first conference.
A veteran spiker who saw action in the Asian Youth, Southeast Asian Games and Asian Junior Volleyball Championships, the 18-year-old Keawbundit will also get reunited with Ateneo, whom she steered to a fifth place finish in last year's first conference.
Santrong and Lasungnern, on the other hand, will see action for the first time hoping to bring V-League glory for Lyceum, a league pioneer whose best finish remains a couple of third places, and newcomer Southwestern University, the reigning Cesafi champion.
The enlistment of four Thai guest players marks the biggest number of foreign players seeing action in the league which will pit Ateneo against St. Benilde at 2 p.m. followed by the UST-Far Eastern University tiff at 4 p.m. in the opening day.
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