Blatche issue : Dayrit appeals for calm
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 09 Sep 2014
Blatche (L).
Former Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso ?Cito? Dayrit yesterday appealed for sobriety in the midst of the Olympic Council of Asia decision not allowing naturalized player Andray Blatche to reinforce the Philippine team in the basketball competition of the coming 17th Asian Games which unfolds September 19 in Incheon, South Korea.
?Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan did the right thing in appealing the OCA decision,? Dayrit, a former Philippine Sports Commission commissioner and incumbent president of the Asian Fencing Federation, said even as he called on everyone to cease from issuing statements that would only aggravate the situation and prejudice the country?s standing in the Asian sporting community.
Dayrit was referring to a letter sent by Pangilinan to Kuwaiti OCA head Ahmad Fahad Al Sabah asking the Asiad organizers to reconsider its earlier decision disqualifying the former Brooklyn Nets in the U.S. National Basketball Association to play for the PH team due to the three-year residency rule.
?Let?s just appeal for reason and fairness. after all, the men and women comprising OCA are all reasonable people,? Dayrit said during yesterday?s ?Tropang BisTag? radio program aired over DEC. ?Let not emotion affect our cause.
Dayrit, who was interviewed via phone patch during the program, also welcomed Pangilinan?s move to send a small representation to argue, if needed, appeal during a series of meetings on eligibility set Thursday and Friday in reference to Philippine Sports Commission and chef de mission Riche Garcia, who and former Asian Basketball confederation secretary general Moying Martelino, were tasked to present the appeal.
Pangilinan, MVP to the sports and business communities, and SBP chair Ricky Vargas in a separate interviews during the program said that the country?s regulatory body for basketball had sent OCA the letter of appeal to serve notice that the Philippines is not giving up on Blatche?s case.
?We have several options to resort to and we intend to use them to fight for our right. We?re prepared to go through the last mile for principle,? MVP and Vargas chorused, adding that one of those options is to pull the national team out of basketball competition.
?No, that?s not the solution,? Dayrit countered. ?As I said, OCA members and those of the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC) are men and women of reason, who definitely will listen to reason. Let?s just maintain our stand that Blatche is qualified to play because this is the first time that he will be playing for another country as a naturalized athlete.?
?That?s all there is to it. Maiintindihan naman nila (OCA) yun. And that Blatche had qualified and actually just played in the FIBA World Cup.. So, why should he not be qualified to play in the Asian Game?? Dayrit argued.
?Okay, supposed OCA rejects our appeal, eh may (Marcus) Douthit pa naman tayo na siyang nagbigay sa atin ng silver medal in last year?s FIBA-Asia that brought us back to the world stage after the absence of nearly four decades,? he said.
Dayrit said antagonizing the Games organizers is the least the Philippines, as a member if the OCA, could do, adding that Games organizers like the Asiad, Southeast Asian Games and even the Olympics are given leeway by the international Sports Federations to implement their own rules, which are called ?house rules? or ?internal rules.?
?As for OCA, it is only very strict on its own eligibility rules in the interest of natural born Asian athletes,? he explained. ?We are all witnesses to the proliferation of naturalized athletes and OCA is just trying to tone this down,
?Hindi lang naman sa basketball sila strict, but in all sports as well. In fencing, for instance, reports reaching us in the AFC that OCA has also banned the participation of several Russian and European fencers in the coming games,? Dayrit disclosed.
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