Christmas wishes

If Santa Claus is listening, here are five of 10 wishes this Christmas for Philippine sports. The other five wishes will be in this column tomorrow.

• Unity among sports officials. It would happen in a perfect world but the reality is we live in a imperfect society. Still, the wish is for all officials involved in sports to come together and bring honor to the country while putting the athletes’ interests above all.

• PSC receives its due. The Supreme Court has ordered funds due to PSC since 1993 to be remitted after the case was filed eight years ago. The estimate is back remittances could amount to over P25 billion and the monthly allocation to PSC would be bumped up from P150 million to P1.6 million. But where’s the money? The windfall would be a huge boost to the development of Philippine sports.

• PBA’s 50th anniversary a blast. The PBA will celebrate its golden anniversary next year. Three conferences are lined up and Eastern of Hong Kong is likely to return as guest team in the Commissioner’s Cup but with the added flavor of a home-and-away setting. The draft is expected to bring in star talent, possibly including Thirdy Ravena, Rhenz Abando, Clint Escamis, Will Gozum, LJ Gonzales and Quentin Millora-Brown. Rule tweaks are in the works to make the game even more exciting.

• Gilas to make FIBA Asia Cup statement. How far will the Philippines go in the FIBA Asia Cup on Aug. 5-17 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? Gilas struck gold in the Asian Games last year but Australia was not in the competition. The Aussies are back-to-back defending Asia Cup champions and Japan is tipped to make a major push for the crown with NBA players Rui Hachimura and Yuki Kawamura. Gilas is so far unbeaten in two FIBA Asia Cup qualifying windows and will face New Zealand and Chinese-Taipei, both on the road, in the third window in February.

• Obiena to stay on Olympic course. World No. 3 pole vaulter EJ Obiena narrowly missed a podium finish at the Paris Olympics and has set his sights on LA in 2028. He’ll return to action at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing on March 21-23.