RP to bid for 2011 FIBA-Asia tourney

MANILA, Philippines – Manila will bid to host the 26th FIBA-Asia Championships in 2011 and SBP executive director Noli Eala said yesterday he intends to formalize the tender after the Tianjin tournament, regardless of how the Philippines fares.

This was disclosed by Eala even as SBP has raised serious concerns about the propriety of FIBA creating a special commission to investigate reports of disunity, circulated by the BAP.

“We are in good faith,” said Eala. “The SBP wants to find out why the special commission was created and why FIBA is paying attention to black propaganda. We are awaiting FIBA’s response but until then, the SBP is proceeding with its mandate. There is so much to be done for basketball in the Philippines and we are racing against time. We don’t need distractions. We’re moving forward.”

Eala said FIBA-Asia secretary-general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock of Malaysia told him during the recent draw ceremonies in Tianjin that a decision on the 2011 host will be made before the year ends.

The 2011 FIBA-Asia joust will be the zonal qualifier for the London Olympics the year after. Unless there is a change in the qualifying format, only the 2011 FIBA-Asia champion will automatically advance to represent Asia in the 12-team Olympic basketball competition.

A lobby has reportedly begun for the Olympic organizers to expand the basketball tournament to 16 teams, in which case two Asian teams may be accommodated. But at the moment, only one slot is reserved for Asia.

Next year’s world champion and England as host will be seeded in the 2012 London Games. England will be bannered by NBA players Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. Also qualifying are the Asian, African and Oceania champions and the top two finishers in Europe and the Americas. Additionally, the top three placers in a special pre-Olympic qualifying tournament will join the event.

Eala said he has received verbal support from basketball officials of Qatar, Korea and Jordan for Manila to host the 2011 conclave.

The Philippines has hosted the FIBA-Asia Championships only twice – the inaugurals in 1960 and 1973. The last Southeast Asian city to host was Jakarta in 1993. The last four hosts were Shanghai, Harbin, Doha and Tokushima. In August, Tianjin will be the FIBA-Asia tournament site.

Since China joined FIBA-Asia in 1975, it has captured 14 of 17 titles with the Philippines (1985), Korea (1997) and Iran (2007) breaking the streak. The Philippines has won five championships in all in 1960, 1963, 1967, 1973 and 1985. The last tournament where the Philippines went to the semifinals was in 1987, finishing fourth after losing 89-75 to Japan in a playoff for third.

It’s been nearly 40 years since Manila hosted the tournament and Eala said the SBP is prepared to make a “serious” bid.

Eala said Jordan was initially tipped to host this year’s competition.

“We were informed that FIBA had already inspected and approved Jordan’s facilities,” said Eala. “The Jordanian monarchy even gave its all-out support. But geo-politics stepped in as in the end, FIBA-Asia decided to award the hosting rights to Tianjin.”

The possibility of China hosting the 2011 tournament isn’t to be discounted as it’s important, in FIBA’s global economics, for China to represent Asia at the London Olympics. No country in Asia is a match for China when it comes to economic clout in basketball.

Eala said in Tianjin, he also spoke with Dato Yeoh about the Philippines playing in the coming Stankovic Cup in Kunshan on Aug. 28-31. So far, the China Basketball Association has confirmed the participation of the host country, Turkey, Australia and Angola.

Dato Yeoh said former FIBA president Dr. Carl Men Ky Ching of Hong Kong decides which teams will participate in the Asian edition of the Stankovic Cup. Eala was advised to ask Ching if the Philippines could play as a fifth entry.

While in Tianjin, Eala got a glimpse of the 10,000-seat flying saucer-like facility where this year’s FIBA-Asia games are scheduled. The Tianjin Arena is strictly for indoor sports like basketball and is different from the 60,000-seat Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium which hosted the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and some preliminary soccer matches of the Beijing Olympics.

The FIBA-Asia draw turned out to be lucky for the Philippines which joined Korea, Japan and Sri Lanka in Group A. In the first round, the Philippines will play each groupmate once. The top three then advance to the next round where the survivors play the three survivors from Group B once. The win-loss records will be carried over from the first round, excluding the result of the eliminated team, meaning if Sri Lanka is fourth in Group A, the outcomes of its games will not be included in the reckoning for the next round.

“There’s an explanation for that,” said Eala. “By taking out the result of the eliminated teams, you erase the possibility of fixing margins of victory because in the event of ties, quotients will be applied. It’s usually the eliminated teams that are vulnerable to fixing margins because they’ve got nothing more to lose.”

Eala said the FIBA-Asia format is similar to the World Cup of Soccer’s version. Starting the quarterfinals, every game is a knockout affair – all the way to the finals.