SBP open to host SEABA joust

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said the other day no schedule has been set for the SEABA Championships that will decide the Southeast Asian qualifier for the FIBA Asia Cup on Aug. 15-27 but mentioned the possibility of Manila hosting the event.

“There’s no official bid process to host the SEABA Championships,” said Reyes. “We understand the FIBA Asia Board will meet at the end of the month in Lebanon and could take up the schedule of the different sub-zone qualifying tournaments. We actually don’t know when or where the SEABA Championships will be held at this point.”

The Philippines is not represented in the FIBA Asia Board which is made up of president Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Al-Thani of Qatar, secretary-general Hagop Khajirian of Lebanon, treasurer Hiang Chiang Quek of Singapore and members Mohammed Hobesh Al Marri of Qatar, Abay Alpamyssov of Kazakhstan, Talal Al-Sabah of Kuwait, Dato Yeoh Choo Hock of Malaysia, Mudar Majdoub of Jordan, Mahmoud Mashhoun of Iran, Maruo Mitsuru of Japan, Noviantika Nasution of Indonesia, Yul Pang of South Korea, Abhijith Sarker of Bangladesh, Erick Thohir of Indonesia and Lancheng Xin of China.

There is also no Filipino representative in the eight FIBA Asia committees which are competitions (headed by China), technical officials (South Korea), youth basketball (Indonesia), women’s basketball (Indonesia), finance (Bangladesh), legal (Jordan), marketing/media (Kuwait) and 3x3 (Oman). The composition of the FIBA Asia Board and committees is for the term from 2014 to 2019.

Aside from the SEABA Championships, FIBA Asia has not scheduled qualifying events in Central Asia, East Asia and South Asia. The first sub-zone to hold its tournament was the Gulf where Qatar won in the United Arab Emirates last September. West Asia is set to stage its competition in Jordan on Jan. 29-Feb. 2. 

Reyes said FIBA Asia secretary-general emeritus Dato Yeoh is a key figure in determining which country will host the SEABA Championships. Dato Yeoh, 72, is the founding SEABA secretary-general and was FIBA Asia secretary-general from 1998 to 2012. He was instrumental in forming SEABA in 1994 and wields a lot of influence in the sub-zone. Dato Yeoh suffered a stroke in 2012 but has survived to stay active in FIBA affairs. Khajirian’s support is also vital in Manila’s bid to host the event.

SBP president Al Panlilio confirmed that Manila will bid to host the SEABA Championships. “We’re open to explore the possibility of hosting the SEABA tournaments for men, women and U18,” he said. “At the moment, there’s no official word on when or where the tournaments will be held.”

The SEABA sub-zone is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam. Of the 11 SEABA Championships held from 1994 to 2015, Manila has hosted only twice in 1998 and 2001. Singapore hosted the most recent tournament in 2015 and Indonesia, the previous three. The Philippines has not hosted the competition in the last 16 years but has won seven of the 11 SEABA titles. The Philippines did not participate in two of the four championships it failed to win in 2005 and 2013. In the two tournaments where the Philippines lost, it was fourth in 1994 and second in 1996. 

In 2015, the Philippines ran roughshod over the opposition in the SEABA Championships, sweeping its five assignments by an average winning margin of 68.4 points. Gilas assistant coach Josh Reyes called the shots for the Philippines in the first three games before Tab Baldwin flew in to take over as head coach. The team was made up of Kiefer Ravena, Mac Belo, Marcus Douthit as the naturalized player, Troy Rosario, Bobby Ray Parks, Almond Vosotros, Jio Jalalon, Glenn Khobuntin, Scottie Thompson, Norbert Torres, Kevin Ferrer and Russel Escoto.

What makes the coming SEABA Championships a critical tournament is only the winner will represent Southeast Asia in the 16-team FIBA Asia Cup where the 14 top finishers advance to join two wildcards in playing a series of home-and-away games in determining seven Asia/Oceania qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China. 

Reyes said the critical nature of the SEABA Championships will require Gilas to pull in naturalized player Andray Blatche to re-join Gilas. Assistant coach Jong Uichico said it won’t be an overkill to bring in Blatche. “We don’t know if the other teams in SEABA will enlist a naturalized player so we want to make sure we’re covered for any eventuality,” he said. Blatche said he’s excited to suit up for Gilas but the drawback is he may not be available if his Chinese league team Xianjing makes it all the way to the finals in April when the SEABA Championships will likely be held.