MVP to attend FIBA meeting

MANILA, Philippines - SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan will attend the FIBA Central Board meeting at the House of Basketball in Mies, a Swiss village near Geneva, on March 11-12 with the progress of preparations in staging the three Olympic qualifying tournaments likely to be high in the agenda. Pangilinan will be accompanied by SBP vice chairman Ricky Vargas, MVP Sports Foundation president Al Panlilio and SBP executive director Sonny Barrios in the trip.

Manila is one of three cities hosting the qualifiers. The others are Turin, Italy, and Belgrade, Serbia. The Manila event will be held at the MOA Arena on July 5-10 with the Philippines, France, New Zealand, Turkey, Canada and Senegal participating in the tournament where the winner gains a ticket to Rio.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios (left) and FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann at the FIBA House of Basketball in Switzerland.

Before the Central Board meeting, FIBA sport and competitions director Predrag Bogosavljev and FIBA Asia secretary-general Hagop Khajirian will arrive in Manila to discuss hosting details with the SBP on Feb. 29-March 2. Pangilinan will host a dinner for the visitors on March 1. The FIBA officials are booked at the Hyatt City of Dreams Hotel where the FIBA working group, game officials and event staff will be billeted during the tournament. The Nobu Hotel will be for the VIPs and Sofitel for the teams, including the Philippines. Foreign media will be given a choice to stay at the Manila Diamond Hotel, Microtel MOA and Hotel 101.

Barrios said he will take up with the FIBA officials the deadlines for submitting lineups. “Right now, there is no advice from FIBA when to submit our lineups,” said Barrios. “From previous practice, it is usually 30 days before the tournament to submit a 24-man lineup and 15 days before, the final 12.”

Barrios said the Cuneta Astrodome will be employed as the main practice venue. Another option is the Ninoy Aquino Stadium but Barrios said he will first check on its condition with PSC chairman Richie Garcia.

As for the coming teams, Barrios said only Turkey and New Zealand have so far established contact with the SBP. “No concrete plans yet but Turkey plans to arrive early to acclimatize and play tune-up games,” he said. “Turkey is also exploring the possibility of setting up camp in Hong Kong for a week before coming over. If the camp will include a pocket tournament, maybe we could join. New Zealand called asking about tickets and pricing. We’re not able to determine pricing yet until we meet with FIBA because there will be seats allocated for media so that will affect our gate potential. The positive development is we’re getting ticket inquiries every day. We expect a full house every day for every game whether or not the Philippines is playing.”

Barrios said Gilas’ training progr2am is still up in the air. “Coach Tab (Baldwin) and (Gilas team manager and SBP deputy executive director) Butch (Antonio) are working on the details,” he said. “This will involve scheduling tune-up games, pocket tournaments and overseas training, if possible. If ever Gilas goes abroad, the team must be back at least a week before July 5 to avoid the onset of jet lag. They can’t leave and return three or four days before the tournament starts. If Gilas goes to Europe, there’s a six to seven hour time gap to contend with.”

Barrios said TV5, which has the local airing rights to the qualifier, plans to document the Gilas journey all the way to July and if it wins the tournament, to Rio. “(TV5 marketing head) Chot (Reyes) is thinking of an MVP Cup before the qualifier but we’ll need the commitment of two or three foreign teams to play,” said Barrios. “As much as possible, TV5 would like to cover not just tune-ups but games where there’s something at stake like a championship or prize money or prestige. This is another project we’ll look into.”

As for Gilas’ training, Barrios said he agrees with Baldwin that commitment is an essential element to building a cohesive team. “I know that coach Tab is disappointed with the attendance of the Monday practices,” he said. “He wants the players to give their 100 percent commitment. This is no joke. We’re up against the world’s best teams and only the winner of the qualifier goes to Rio. We know our chances to qualify out of China were better than our chances to qualify out of Manila. But there’s a big difference in that we’ve got homecourt advantage and the world’s best fans as our Sixth Man.”

Barrios said naturalized player Andray Blatche hasn’t signed to play in the qualifier but talks are ongoing. Blatche is now playing in the Chinese league. “We signed Andray to a contract last year from playing in Changsha all the way to playing in Rio but things changed when we didn’t win the FIBA Asia Championships,” he said. “Now, we’ve got to play in the qualifier and the conditions are different. Andray has a new agent who’s negotiating with East West Private of Cincinnati so it’s taking time to finalize but I don’t expect a problem in eventually coming to terms.”