Phils. to bid for FIBA-Asia Men's Basketball Tournament
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 31 Aug 2012
MANILA (PNA) -- A world-class game venue that is the newly-built Mall Of Asia Arena and first class accommodations await the 15-team delegations in Manila should the Philippines get selected anew as the host of next year?s FIBA-Asia men?s basketball championships.
This, according to Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas executive director Sonny Barrios, will be what he and former Asian Basketball Confederation secretary general Moying Martelino will be presented to the FIBA-Asia executive board when it meets later this month to choose which country will play host to the tournament which will serve as qualifying competition for the 2014 World Championships.
The FIBA-Asia executive board meeting, Barrios disclosed during yesterday?s SCOOP session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura, is set September 18 in Tokyo in connection with the FIBA-Asia Cup (formerly Boris Stankovic Cup) that the Japanese city is hosting on September 14-22.
?Of course, Mr. Martelino and myself will also be showing proof of the Philippines? capability staging events of such magnitude by enumerating numerous international competitions we have so far hosted, the latest of which is the recent NBA Weekend project initiated by SBP president Manuel V. Pangilinan,? Barrios said.
?The NBA Weekend, if you can remember, saw superstars basketball like Kobe Bryant, former MVP Derrick Rose and scoring champion Kevin Durant, to mention a few, whose contracts with their respective clubs amount to more than $1 billion,? the former PBA commissioner said during the forum sponsored by Powerade, AKTV and FILA.
The telecommunications tycoon Pangilinan, MVP to the international business and sports sectors, according to Barrios, is very much interested in giving the country the honor, as he himself ?instructed me to draft the letter of intention as soon as he learned that the hosting is still open.?
?Not only that, it was also at Mr. Pangilinan?s initiative for us to invite Mr. Khajirian Hagop, the FIBA-Asia secretary general to come here last August to personally convey to him our intention to stage the tournament here, Barrios recalled. ?He himself guided Mr. Hagop made an ocular inspection of the MOA Arena during his visit here.?
?Mr. Hagop, I supposed was so impressed in what he saw that he intimated to us that MOA could be an ideal main venue of the tournament should we be awarded the right to host,? he remarked.
Barrios added that should the FIBA-Asia board?s decision favors the Philippines, the Ninoy Aquino inside the Rizal Memorial Complex as the secondary venue,? he said.
Barrios said the choice of Ninoy Aquino Stadium as the secondary venue was arrived at with his meeting with Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia. The PSC owns the six-hectare RMSC compound.
?Chairman Garcia promised us that he will see to it that the PSC will see to it that the NAS will be renovated to meet the international standard required,? he assured.
He said they also mentioned the Araneta Coliseum, site of many international events in the past, including the 1973 ABC championship and the 1978 World Championship, but the problem of distance will most-likely come into focus in the selection.
?Mr. Hagop, having known Metro Manila?s traffic situation was not totally opposed to the idea but said it could be a problem,? Barrios said.
The proximity of the MOA Arena to five star and four star hotels, where teams and officials are scheduled to be billeted was also taken into consideration.
PBA commissioner Chito Salud, Barrios announced, will be with him and Martelino to the FIBA-Asia board meeting to show proof that Asia?s first professional league is all-out in its support for the country?s hosting.
?All PBA activities in the duration of the championship will be on hold,? Barrios aid, quoting Salud.
Pangilinan, Barrios bared, also instructed him to tell the FIBA-Asia board of the plan to provide a bus for each delegation ?for smooth movement of going to and from practice and games venues.?
Barrios also said that Martelino?s reputation as the former ABC secretary general could help convince FIBA-Asia board members to awards the Philippines the right to host.
?Moying was with me when I attended a FIBA-International meeting and I was amazed with the reception given to him by the members not only from Asia but elsewhere in the world,? he reminisced.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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