Singapore may join WCup bid

MANILA, Philippines - SBP executive director Sonny Barrios disclosed the other day that Singapore has expressed interest to join a multi-nation consortium led by the Philippines in bidding to host the 2023 FIBA World Cup but said no matter the final composition of the syndicate, Manila will stage the eight-team quarterfinals up to the gold medal game.

Barrios and SBP deputy executive director for international affairs Butch Antonio flew to Singapore to discuss the possible terms of involvement two weeks ago. Sport Singapore, a government statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, was to decide whether or not to pursue participation in a meeting yesterday.

It was Basketball Association of Singapore honorary secretary Ong Swee Teck who broached the idea of adding the Lion City to the consortium at a dinner tendered by SEABA president Erick Thohir of Indonesia for regional officers attending the FIBA Mid-Term Congress in Hong Kong last month. 

The Philippines and Indonesia were the original bidding partners then Japan joined. Barrios said Japan has offered Okinawa to host part of the group elimination stage with the city government funding the event. When Ong learned of Japan’s entry, he suggested to include Singapore as another SEABA country in the group.

“We explained to Sport Singapore that when Manila hosted the Olympic Qualifying Tournament last year, the project made money operationally,” said Barrios. “That means we were able to cover the operating costs of staging the tournament from revenues. But if you add on the cost of the hosting fee, then we didn’t turn a profit. Since Singapore won’t qualify a team for the World Cup, Sport Singapore asked if they could host some quarterfinal games. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible but a compromise could be designating a popular team like China to play its group games in Singapore. The idea is to bring in a crowd drawer.”

There will be 32 teams in the World Cup, split into eight groups of four teams. After the first round where teams in a group play each other, the top two in each group advance to the second round of 16 survivors. The 16 survivors are then split into four groups of four each.  The top two of each group in the second round then move on to the eight-team knockout quarterfinals. Then, the four winners play in the knockout semifinals with the survivors disputing the championship in the final. The format translates into 96 games in 16 days.

If the Philippine consortium is composed of three host countries, the proposal will be for Manila to stage four groups and Japan and Indonesia two groups each in the first round. Manila will then stage two groups and Japan and Indonesia one each in the second round.  Starting the quarterfinals, all the games will be held in Manila. If the consortium is composed of four host countries, each nation will stage two groups each in the first round and one each in the second. Manila will also host all the games from the quarterfinals onwards.

FIBA will accept candidature files from bidding countries up to Aug. 31. So far, four bids have been submitted. The first came from the Philippines with Indonesia and Japan as partners. The second was from Russia which will mobilize St. Petersburg, Moscow, Perm and Kazan as host cities. The third was from Turkey which hosted the 2010 FIBA World Cup. And the fourth was a joint bid from Argentina and Uruguay. Argentina hosted the FIBA World Cup in 1950 and 1990 while Uruguay took its turn in 1967.

SBP president Al Panlilio said FIBA competition and sports director Predrag Bogoslavjev will visit Manila to look over playing facilities, hotel accommodations and transport services in July in an inspection tour. The FIBA Central Board will decide on the 2023 host in December this year. The World Cup is set on Sept. 11-Oct. 12, 2023.