ICYMI: Telkha Blitz Wins Championship in Triple Threat Pre-Season Event

By Mark Balmes

Telkha Blitz won the Triple Threat Pre-Season 3x3 event on Sunday night, defeating KP in the title game first of its kind that came down to the wire.

The team blazed through their matches unrelentlessly, giving most of their competitors a tough time in the half-court. Telkha Blitz dropped the offhand after a close match with FEU-NRMF in the first match. “Okay naman lahat ng laro namin maliban na lang sa una kasi we only won by one point, [All of our games were good except for the first one where we only won by one point]” team captain and MVP Khalid said in an interview.

KP was the first to strike, but Telkha Bliz battled back and lead by five at the half. KP held Telkha Blitz to just 40 percent from the field in the first half, and KP only shot 20 percent from three, while Telkha Blitz shot 61 percent.

Telkha Blitz started the second half with a 4-point lead. KP then went to a run of their own, battling back the advantage the opponent has gained. The lead frequently changed throughout the remainder of the match.

The game came down to the final minutes. After a big defensive stop, Telkha Blitz took the lead and the pre-season concludes with its first champion.

CEO,  Team Captain & MVP

Khalid Khalil is competition in human form. He runs a company as a CEO from where he curates a part of his roster depending on the requirements of the match.

“Marami talaga kami naglalaro on a weekly basis pero handpicked sila for the 3x3 match, [we are a big group that play weekly and the players on the team are handpicked from the roster for the 3x3 format],” Khalil said. He mentions that is important for a game such as 3x3 to know who’s roleplaying, defending and scoring, and his current roster has the right balance of all three. It has also helped having known each other for over the year as a team.

He also mentioned that they’ve won an inter-company tournament before and they plan to keep joining basketball leagues and garnering championships.

With 21 years of experiences, he encourages new and aspiring players to keep joining competitions to learn new plays, to always strategize and specify roles, and especially for the 3x3, to know the rules of the game.