Alapag named to Fiba players’ body

MANILA, Philippines - Jimmy Alapag isn’t exactly suiting up for Vlade Divac, but the recently retired Talk ‘N Text star is now on the FIBA team headed by the Serbian and NBA great.

Just a few months after the International Basketball Federation named Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan to the powerful FIBA Central Board, secretary-general Patrick Baumann appointed Alapag to the newly established Players’ Commission under Divac for the term of office 2014-2019.

“It is a pleasure for me to inform you…that Mr. Alapag has been appointed as member of the FIBA Players’ Commission….We already look forward to closely working and collaborating with him for the sake of our sport and its athletes, ” said Baumann in a letter to Pangilinan and SBP executive director Sonny Barrios.

 Baumann is arriving tomorrow at the conclusion of the FIBA Evaluation Commission’s ocular inspection of venues in connection to the country’s bid to host the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

A copy of the circular was furnished Divac, the Players’ Commission chairman, FIBA Asia president Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Al-Thani, FIBA Asia secretary-general Hagop Khajirian, and National Federations and sports director Zoran Radovic.

 The creation of a Players’ Commission was decided upon last August in Seville on the eve of the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Its main duties are “to study issues relating to players of all age groups, propose to the Central Board measures deemed necessary to improve the conditions of players, make recommendations on practices or activities likely to be affecting the interests of players, and provide feedback on and advice on possible improvements to the various competitions of FIBA.”

Divac, president of the Serbian Olympic Committee, on the strength of his appointment as head of the Players’ Commission automatically became a member of the FIBA Central Board.