Yearender: MVP team calms storm, moves on

MANILA, Philippines - After a tumultuous 2008, Philippine basketball is back on its feet.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan cited the significant strides made by his management team this year in a yearend report to the SBP board.

The PLDT and Smart chair reported the “affirmation of the SBP as the duly recognized, officially sanctioned and legally existing national sports association for basketball in the Philippines by the Supreme Court and the FIBA or the World Basketball Federation through its Special Commission” as one of its most important accomplishments of the year.

“As we look back and review the events which transpired in 2009, it is comforting to note that the tumultuous events which threatened the legitimacy of the SBP have now been largely resolved,” said Pangilinan. “It is imperative that we put this behind us, and move forward in strength and resolve.”

“At the same time, the hard work put in by our members and constituents – from the grass roots level all the way to the international arena – is now starting to gain traction, and produce some meaningful results,” he added.

The man everybody calls MVP also cited the country’s improvement in both Asian and world basketball map as evidenced in the recent world rankings released by FIBA that saw RP’s mean’s team jump from 63rd eight months ago to 53rd entering 2010.

Overall, the country is ranked 57th by FIBA and obtained an increase of 2.7 FIBA ranking points, which happens to be second only to powerhouse Korea among Asian countries.

This was all because of RP’s various national teams in several major FIBA-Asia tournaments including a fifth place effort in the tough, import-laced fifth FIBA-Asia Champions Cup topped by heavy favorite Iran in Jakarta, Indonesia last May.

The country, represented by an all-pro squad, also finished a respectable eighth place in the Tianjin FIBA-Asia Men’s Championship ruled again by the Iranians.

The Philippines also ended up seventh in the FIBA-Asia Under-16 women’s championship, fourth in the FIBA-Asia Division II women’s championship, Under-16 men’s championship and the Asian Youth Games.

To put icing on the cake, the SBP was given one of the only 20 berths to the first World Youth Olympics in Singapore next year as an acknowledgment of SBP’s youth development program and good standing with FIBA.

Pangilinan, however, cited the formation of Smart Gilas Pilipinas, mentored by Serbian Rajko Toroman and composed of country’s finest collegiate players, geared towards an Olympic berth in the 2012 London Games as its biggest milestone.

“The most gratifying result has been one where our country has slowly regained the notice and respect of FIBA and the world basketball community,” said Pangilinan.

“As we look forward to the new year, we must believe that 2010 will represent the true test of all our efforts to date when our Smart Gilas team will perform starting with international competition in the Middle East this coming January, culminating in the Asian Games in Guangdong, China in November.

“These competitions are what will really count,” he added.

“The SBP also showed growth of its constituency and membership base from 19 membership in January last year to 35 last month while successfully staging national youth programs and accreditation of new coaches and referees nationwide.

“The SBP also provided more opportunities for growth for players, referees as well as coaches and increased corporate and government funding and assistance with new and dynamic partnerships with industry leaders like Smart Communications, PLDT, Unilab, International Pharmaceutical, Inc. and GMA-7,” he said.

– Joey Villar