Nationals to dish out best for flag, country

GUANGZHOU – Win or lose, Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas will make the country proud here.

“We may not win the championship and we may miss our goal of winning a medal but we can assure we will do our best to make the country proud in each game we play,” said Smart Gilas team manager Frankie Lim.

The Nationals were to start their campaign in the main draw of the 16th Asian Games basketball championship here last night, playing back-to-back Fiba Asia champion Iran at press time.

The Nationals hope to land in the top three to jumpstart a program with an end goal of a stint in the London Olympics in 2012.

“We’ll give our best effort to win a medal though we’re just in the early stage of our program geared towards making good in the 2011 Fiba Asia Olympic qualifier,” said Lim.

“If we fail, we’ll continue with our recruitment program and our training. We’ll keep on trying and keep on trying to find the missing link as we pursue a dream championship,” Lim added.

The Smart Gilas team manager is confident Smart-PLDT’s support of the national team program would not waver whatever happens in their campaign here.

“Mr. MVP (Smart-PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan) wants the best but he’s realistic. He won’t go for it I we can’t do it,” said Lim.

“We have a program in place. Our recruitment program led us to acquiring naturalized player Marcus Douthit. I understand he’ll already be joining us by January and all the way to the Fiba Asia championship,” Lim also said..

As part of their recruitment program, Lim said they’re already looking at young players like Kiefer Ravena, Baser Amer and Bobby Ray Parks.

“Continuity is a must. You just can’t stop or you’ll again start from scratch,” said Lim.

“Look at what happened to us here. Because our ranking dipped, we had to go through a knockout game to make the tournament proper. For me, it’s a big insult,” Lim added.

Lim was part of a program that gave the country proud moments in international stage in the early 80s.