New Tornadoes in town

Foton team manager Diane Santiago (middle) picks up American Courtney Felinski and Turkish Selime Ilyasoglu at the airport Monday night.

Foton pulled off a recruiting coup when it tapped a former Turkish national team member Selime Ilyasoglu and American Courtney Felinski as imports in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix next month.

Ilyasoglu and Felinski formally landed in Manila Monday night, making them the first foreign players to join their PSL club.

The six-foot Ilyasoglu is a 30-year old outside spiker who last appeared for Galatasaray Daikin in the prestigious Turkish Women’s Volleyball Cup where she teamed up with global superstars like Tatiana Kosheleva of Russia and Neslihan Demir of Turkey.

Prior to that, she campaigned in countries like Poland, Italy, Romania and Thailand, where she suited up for Khonkaen Star VC in the Thai Super League.

She also played for the Turkish national team that claimed the bronze medal in the European championship in 2011 and FIVB World Grand Prix in 2012.

On the other hand, the 6-foot-1 Felinski is also a seasoned international campaigner who saw action in countries like Switzerland, Germany and Finland following a fruitful stint for Georgia Tech in the US National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Foton team manager Diane Santiago said their hopes are high, especially since they have longer time to prepare.

“We believe that it’s better to have them here so we can start our training early,” said Santiago, adding that the reinforcements will be formally introduced to the team on Tuesday.

“We want them to develop their chemistry with the local players and, at the same time, get used to the system of coach Aaron (Velez). And I’m glad that we still have at least a month to do that.”

Earlier, Petron tapped Americans Katherine Bell and Stephanie Niemer while F2 Logistics hired another American in Becky Perry a day before Generika-Ayala reached an agreement with former Cuban national team member Lisbet Arredondo.