ONE PHL BASKETBALL TEAM FOR ASIAN GAMES AND FIBA WORLD CUP
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 22 Dec 2013
The Philippines will most-likely be represented by a solitary team in next years? twin international commitments ? the Asian Games and the FIBA- International World Cup.
This, Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas deputy executive director Bernie Atienza and coach Jong Uichico projected Thursday during the SCOOP Sa Kamayan On Air where they appeared as guests over DZAR 1026 khz AM and viewed live via streaming at www.sonshinetvradyo.com.
In the same public service forum, PH women?s mentor Haydee Ong expressed that they were vindicated that the Filipinas, called Discovery Perlas-Pilipinas, salvaged the silver medal in the on-going 27th Southeast Asian Games.
?For practical purposes, I don?t think we have to send two teams separately to those two tournaments,? Atienza said during the program, sponsored by the Triple V chain of restaurants that temporarily takes the place of the weekly SCOOP Sa Kamayan session held Fridays at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.
?The two tournaments are scheduled a week apart from each other anyway, so it?s really impractical to form two teams for that purpose,? Atienza reasoned out. ?Besides, we will be sending an all-PBA team naman sa World Cup, so mas malakas ang magiging partisipasyon natin in both kung isang team lang ang ipadadala natin.?
?Yeah, that?s true, masyadong magiging mabigat ang burden sa PBA if we will be forming two separate teams and train them for the purpose,? Uichico, head coach of the Sinag Pilipinas that successfully defended the country?s Southeast Asian Games crown last week, butted in.
The duo, who came to the forum along with Ong and Perlas-Pilipinas skipper Joan Grajales, said though said that they were just expressing their sentiments and that the final say will on the Manny V. Pangilinan-led SBP.
?No official words yet on the matter, but based on what we?ve been hearing, that?ll be the consensus,? Atienza said, adding that should their sentiments be followed, coach Chot Reyes, who handled Sinag Pilipinas to a silver medal in the FIBA-Asia World Cup qualifying, will most-likely call the shot both in the Asiad and the world tourney.
Ong and Grajales, for their part, said the Filipinas, despite of bringing home only the silver medal finish in the SEA Games, are proud having done the feat, coming in the heels that until a few days before the national delegation left for Myanmar, site of the 27th edition of the biennial meet, weren?t sure of joining the trip despite falling within the criteria set by the Philippine Olympic Committee.
?Masaya kami at proud that we succeeded in showing proof that, indeed, we were really qualified as we had been saying, to go to Myanmar contrary to what some of our sports officials diagnosed us to be,? Ong and Grajales chorused.
?It?s a pity we came a victory short of snatching away what could have been our first gold medal in women?s basketball, but hanggang doon na lang siguro tayo. May darating pa naming mga tournanent na makakabawi tayo,? Ong stressed. The Filipinas suffered only one loss, against eventual champion Thailand, which they beat in the prior FIBA-Asia, to end up second best.
?That Thais must have learned their lesson after losing to us in FIBA-Asia, kaya pinaghandaan kami ng husto pagbalik bula sa bayan nila ? Grajales said. ?Eh kami, pagbalik naming dito, wala kaming inatupag kundi ang masiguro na pupunta kami sa Myanmar.?
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