BY BONG PEDRALVEZ and MICHAEL JUGADO
SAMAHANG Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio yesterday admitted that Gilas Pilipinas winning the championship in the FIBA World Cup co-hosted by the country in August is like wishing for the moon.
Like thousands of Filipinos, however, Panlilio is a dreamer, and is hoping the Philippines winds up as the top Asian squad in the tournament so the country can return to the Olympic Games in Paris next year after a 40-year absence from the global sports showcase.
“I know that winning the FIBA World Cup is impossible. But Gilas Pilipinas can aspire to be the best Asian team in the tournament so we can make it back to the Olympics in Paris since we last saw action in the 1972 Olympic Games,” he said.
“Our players know how this competition is important for them and for the country. The last time we hosted it was in 1978 and it was not known as the FIBA World Cup then, and won’t happen again. Their names will be remembered forever,” Panlilio noted.
The last national basketball squad to see action in the Olympics was the team coached by the late Ignacio “Ning” Ramos in 1972 and featured William “Bogs” Adornado, Narciso Bernardo, Ricardo “Joy” Cleofas, Jimmy Mariano, Rosalio “Yoyong” Martirez, Rogelio “Tembong” Melencio, Ed Ocampo, the team captain; Manny Paner, Adriano “Jun” Papa, Freddie Webb and Marte Samson.
That team compiled a record of three wins against six losses and finished 13th, their last game an 80-73 win in the classification round.
Panlilio said the SBP is keeping in touch with overseas-based Jordan Clarkson and Kai Sotto, adding he is hoping both would be available to join Gilas’ coming training stint in July in China.
“We are in communication with them and Kai and Clarkson remain committed to playing for Gilas,” he said.
Panlilio said they are arranging tune-up games in China with Lebanon, Senegal and Finland as part of the team’s homestretch preparations for the World Cup.
As far as the hosting chores are concerned, he said he was constantly in touch with local organizing head Erika Dy “and she has informed me that the preparations are 70 to 80 percent complete.”
The national team training pool is set to leave the country tonight for Estonia to toughen up against European teams in a series of tune-up games.
The Philippine five spent four days in a training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba and will shift to high gear in its build up for the blue-ribbon world cage spectacle the Philippines is co-hosting with Japan and Indonesia from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.
The nationals will test their mettle against Estonia and Finland, while also looking to hold exhibition matches against teams from Latvia and Lithuania.
Coach Chot Reyes said naturalized forward Justin Brownlee will head straight to Estonia to join the team after a “non-basketball medical procedure” he had in the United States.
“For those who are asking, Justin Brownlee had to undergo a non-basketball medical procedure,” Reyes said on Instagram. “So, he will just meet us in Estonia.”
Hard hit by injuries, four players in TNT’s Roger Pogoy (fractured right pinky finger), the Tropang Giga’s Calvin Oftana (calf), and overseas-based Ray Parks Jr. (wrist) and Jordan Heading (back) will not join the team in Europe.
Making the trip are reigning PBA MVP Scottie Thompson of Ginebra and teammates Japeth Aguilar and Jamie Malonzo, former six-time winner June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer and Beerman CJ Perez, Meralco’s Chris Newsome, JP Erram of TNT, naturalized big man Ange Kouame, AJ Edu, Thirdy Ravena, Kiefer Ravena, and Rhenz Abando.
Gilas was drawn with Italy, Dominican Republic, and Angola in Group A of the World Cup.
The Filipino cagers need to finish at least in the top two at the end of the group stage to advance to the next round and hopefully boost their bid of becoming the best placed Asian squad to directly qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
