Philippines joins FIBA E-Sports Open

MANILA, Philippines — Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio said yesterday it’s all systems go for the Philippines to participate in the first-ever FIBA E-Sports Open on June 19-21 with seven players quartered in Eastwood the last two weeks to prepare for the 17-nation exhibition series.

The E-Sports initiative couldn’t have come at a better time with basketball locked down throughout most of the world because of the pandemic. It’s a tribute to the foresight of the late FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann who singled out E-Sports in his presentation of the 10 pillars to anchor the federation’s growth for the future during a Central Board meeting two years ago. Baumann’s successor Andreas Zagklis turned the E-Sports dream into reality with the launch of the Open.

SBP chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan, a FIBA Central Board member, has openly shared Baumann’s vision and voiced his support for E-Sports as a growth avenue. Panlilio was recently tapped to join a FIBA working committee with Latvia’s Edgar Sneps and Russia’s Natalia Galkina in pursuing an E-Sports program beyond the coming Open.

“It’s an exciting development,” said Panlilio. “The FIBA E-Sports Open involves 17 countries, including four from Asia. There are ways to even out issues of connectivity and environment. A minimum efficiency level of 85 is required for each player. Each team is represented by five players on the court with two reserves. We’ll be running the NBA2K Pro-Am Demo Mode with full customization of player avatars, uniforms and arena designs. The SBP is crafting a strategic partnership with the E-Sports National Association of the Philippines for this initiative.”

Panlilio, who is president, CEO and chief revenue officer of Smart Communications, said E-Sports is a big pillar in the company’s roadmap and a fit to its business. “You’ll notice the Smart logo is in every FIBA circular along with other sponsors like Molten and Nike,” he said. “Smart is a key FIBA partner in the 2023 World Cup which we’re co-hosting. For the FIBA E-Sports Open, our team will be powered by PLDT and Smart with full support from the MVP Group.”

The Philippine team is made up of Rial Polog, 31, Clark Banzon, 27, Philippe Herrero, 26, Custer Galas, 28, Angelico Cruzin, 27, David Timajo, 37 and Pedro Brana, 26. For the weekend tournament, they will be situated at the Gariath Concepts Studio in Eastwood. The studio uses PLDT Fiber internet lines for seamless data uploads and downloads. The Open will be produced from the FIBA E-Sports Studio in Riga, Latvia, with a daily four-hour show featuring up to six games. Each game will be livestreamed on FIBA’s Facebook, Twitch and YouTube channels with live commentary.

“FIBA is extremely proud and excited to start its E-Sports journey (with) a pilot project of exhibition games between national teams in collaboration with NBA2K,” said FIBA media and marketing services director Frank Leenders. FIBA head of digital Nicolas Chapart said the Open will be split into five conferences – Oceania (Australia, New Zealand), Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia), Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Lebanon), Europe (Austria, Cyprus, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine) and South Americas (Brazil, Argentina). Leenders cited Chapart and FIBA head of commercial development Gustavo Arellano Jorge for their work in organizing the Open. He also recognized Zagklis’ “strong vision” and “important support and initiatives” from Panlilio, Sneps, Galkina and NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum.