Format in FIBA-Asia draw in doubt

MANILA, Philippines - There appears to be some confusion on how the FIBA-Asia Championships draw will be conducted here this Thursday. Local organizing committee deputy chief executive officer Moying Martelino said yesterday he received instructions from FIBA-Asia secretary-general Hagop Khajirian of Lebanon to prepare 15 balls representing each entry in the tournament, except the Philippines, for the lottery  a departure from the previous practice where the top four seeds choose one of four brackets each to avoid an early clash of favorites in the elimination round.

“Hagop’s instructions were very clear in his e-mail,” said Martelino. “He asked us to prepare 15 balls for the entries and four balls for each bracket. As host country, the Philippines is allowed to choose which bracket to join, being exempt from the draw. In the past, FIBA-Asia ranked the top four seeds based on the finishes of the Stankovic, now known as the FIBA-Asia Cup. That way, the top favorites won’t play each other in the preliminaries. You don’t want a situation where the top teams eliminate each other early.”

Martelino said he will seek clarification from Khajirian today with the draw only a few days away. Gilas Pilipinas team manager Butch Antonio said local organizing committee chairman Manny V. Pangilinan himself asked for the clarification. “Boss MVP told us to get to the bottom of it because it’s useless to speculate,” said Antonio who left with the Gilas squad for a two-week training camp in Lithuania last night. “We’ve prepared different scenarios where to locate ourselves in the draw since we expect to choose 13th after 12 slots are filled up in the four brackets. But this new development makes it difficult for us to plan ahead. We want to find out what the format really is, if FIBA-Asia has changed it or not. Whatever is the format, we will adjust our strategies accordingly.”

If the past format is followed, top seeds Iran, China, Japan and Qatar will head each of the four brackets. The draw in the first round will involve only those four teams to determine their groups. If the new format is applied, 15 teams will be involved in the draw from the onset, except the Philippines.

So far, 13 of the 16 teams playing in the FIBA-Asia Championships here on Aug. 1-11 are confirmed. Only two slots for Southeast Asia are vacant with Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia out to dispute the remaining tickets. One slot for South Asia is also up for grabs with India, Nepal and Afghanistan battling for the sole berth in the qualifiers in New Delhi ending tomorrow.