Win Molten Olympic basketballs

Molten is rolling out a special edition FIBA Olympic basketball with green, yellow and blue hues in an expressive design to reflect the colors of Brazil on both ends of the spheroid for use at the three qualifying events in Serbia, Italy and the Philippines in July and the Rio Games in August.

Molten’s Philippine distributor Sonia Trading is making available three variations of the Olympic basketball to 15 winners of a contest exclusive to this column. The variations are the BGL7X-YG genuine leather official Olympic game ball strictly for indoor use, the BGM7X-YG composite leather indoor/outdoor version and the BGR7-YG rubber edition preferred for outdoor competition on any surface.

Each size 7 variant features the 12-panel design with the Brazilian colors. The basketballs are now out in the market and available at Toby’s, Chris Sports, Olympic Village and other sports retailers nationwide. The genuine leather version sells for P5,500 while the composite leather edition for P1,600 and the rubber basketball for P600.

Lucky winners of the basketballs get to treasure a keepsake of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament which Manila will host at the MOA Arena on July 5-10 with the Philippines battling France, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and Senegal for one ticket to Rio.

In a joint statement, FIBA and Molten said the expressive Brazilian-theme design of the basketballs “reflects the movement and agility of the most elite players in the world and will add excitement to the game for players and spectators alike.” It’s the third straight year that Molten has produced basketballs particularly branded for FIBA events, starting with the FIBA World Cup in 2014 followed by the FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

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Since it’s the first-ever special edition Molten basketball for the Olympics, this will be a collector’s item for sure. FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann said, “we’re very excited to present these unique basketballs that will be used by the world’s best players and best teams at our biggest events of 2016…we are extremely grateful to Molten with whom we’ve enjoyed a tremendous relationship for more than 30 years – for helping us develop these products.”

The genuine leather basketball sells for $139.98 abroad. It has a top-grain leather cover with a flat-pebble surface, is nylon wound and comes with a two-year warranty. The placement of each pebble was modified and aligned to create a uniform surface texture, a key adjustment from the traditional pebble pattern to improve the consistency of touch. The colors were also brightened to enhance visibility with the increased contrast between the feature colors. Players are now better able to focus on every movement of the ball with the rotation clearly seen at longer distances, allowing fans to appreciate every detail of play.

The composite leather version sells for $44.98 abroad. Both the genuine and composite leather editions actually sell here for less, a testament to Sonia Trading CEO Anil Buxani’s commitment to provide top quality products at affordable prices to the Filipino market.

“By combining function and design, Molten believes that the FIBA special edition basketball aligns with the Molten brand statement ‘For The Real Game,’” said Molten president and CEO Kiyofumi Tamiaki. Molten was established in 1958 and is the world’s largest ball and sports equipment manufacturer. In 1964, Molten was designated as the official brand for basketball, volleyball and soccer at the Tokyo Olympics. It has supplied basketballs for every Olympics since 1984.

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Here’s how to win the basketballs. Simply answer the following questions correctly:

1. Who was Gilas’ top scorer in the Philippines’ 72-69 win over China in Italy the other day? Andray Blatche or Jeff Chan or Terrence Romeo.

2. Who is the captain of the French national team playing at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament? Tony Parker or Boris Diaw or Nando de Colo.

3. What is the nickname of the New Zealand national team playing at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament? Tall Blacks or All Blacks or Ball Blacks.

4. Who do you think will win the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the MOA Arena on July 5-10 and why?

Send your answers by email to [email protected] or Instagram

@therealdeanquinito or Twitter @TheDeanQuinito or Facebook @Joaquin Henson. Entries will be accepted only up to Friday, July 1, with a 5 p.m. cut-off. Each entry must specify the name of sender, age, place of residence, occupation, school and contact details (cellphone number, email address). Winners will be announced in this column and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by Sunday, July 3.

We will be giving away one leather, four composite leather and 10 rubber basketballs to 15 lucky winners. Send in your entries now and who knows? You might be the winner of a Molten FIBA Olympic basketball!