Not only in the Philippines

One of our favorite expressions for peculiar situations (especially involving political conflict) is to say “Only in the Philippines.”

Apparently, the internal conflict that caused our suspension by FIBA from international competition is not so unique to our country, after all. It may be even worse for Japan, since they are on the verge of being eliminated from Olympic competition just weeks from the women’s qualifying tournament.

The Japan Basketball Association (JBA) has been unable to peacefully resolve its own internal conflicts, or even open positions on its board of directors for almost a year, and has drawn the close scrutiny and even direct supervision of FIBA’s hierarchy itself. The Japan Olympic Committee, like the POC, suspended the JBA on March 18, and place into serious jeopardy the participation of the women’s team in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid from June 9-15. The event is the last tournament that will grant five more countries entry to the Beijing Games.

Possibly in part because Japan earned the fifth-highest number of gold medals in the last Olympic Games, FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann flew to Tokyo March 28 to hold meetings with the president of the Japanese Basketball league, Mr. F. Tamiaki, the acting president of the JBA, Mr. T. Ishikawa, and the president of the JOC, Mr. T. Takeda.

In the extraordinary congress held on April 29, JBA members were able to pick nominees for board membership. They also approved the calendar and financial reports for 2008. FIBA and the JOC were pleased with the developments. JOC will consider lifting the suspension of the JBA at its next Executive Board meeting. The new JBA will elect a new set of officers to represent the sport’s national association in Japan.

“The institutional developments over the past couple of days have been long overdue and are very encouraging. On behalf of the FIBA Central Board I congratulate JBA for having resolved this deadlock. We expect now JBA to stop the infighting and appoint without delay a new president, so that the relationships with both FIBA and the JOC can be normalized rapidly,” the FIBA website quoted Baumann as saying. “FIBA will therefore closely monitor the compliance of JBA with their latest resolutions. The discussions with JOC President Takeda were also very constructive, allowing to concentrate on preserving the interests of JBA and protecting the athletes. As a result, the JOC can lift its suspension shortly and the Japanese Women National Team shall pursue its training camps without anxiety. We look forward to seeing the Japanese team competing in Madrid and Haining and wish them good luck.”

The JOC and JBA jointly asked FIBA to allow the Japanese women’s team to continue training in upcoming FIBA events despite the fact that the JOC suspension has not yet officially been lifted. The Japanese women’s team is also slated to join the second FIBA Diamond Ball for Women to take place in Haining, China, from August 2-5.

So it seems one of the keys to moving forward was a literal changing of the establishment in the Japanese basketball scenario.

Unfortunately, here in the Philippines, the old guard simply will not go away without taking a piece of the sport with them. The only time we will have peace in basketball is when they realize that they have to allow the new order to do its job first, instead of casting stones even before the new house is built.

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Congratulations to the winners of the FILA Boracay International Dragonboat Festival. The Wann Sea Dragons from Germany finally found their sea legs and won the men’s 500-meter race with a time of two minutes, 7.6 seconds. Not too many people know that the Germans were supposed to arrive days before Saturday’s star, but due to the cancellation of their domestic flight, arrived only on the morning of the actual competition.

The women’s 500 meters was won by Bugsay Boracay with a time of two minutes, 22.12 seconds. The mixed 500 meters was claimed by the PNP Patriots in two minutes, 3.5 seconds.

In the 300-meter races, the men’s event was won by defending champion Tribu Cam Surone minute, 12.5 seconds; the women’s race conquered by Hong Kong’s Stormy Dragons, in one minute, 25 seconds flat, while the mixed race was claimed by Tribu Cam Sur in 1:13.91.

A total of 47 teams participated, from as far off as Australia, Liechtenstein, the US, Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore.