Winning bidders ng tatlong OQT ihahayag ng FIBA

MANILA, Philippines – Inaasahang ihahayag ngayon ng nine-man FI­BA Executive Committee, pinangungunahan ni­na president Horacio Mur­­atore ng Argentina at secretary-general Patrick Baumann ng Switzerland, ang tatlong winning bidders na mamamahala sa tatlong Olympic Quali­fying Tournaments na nakatakda sa July 4-10.

“There will be no presentation of the bids so no country is invited for the Executive Committee meeting,” sabi ni FIBA director of communications Patrick Koller.  “There are still the same amount of bidders, six for the men, two for the women, and they have all complied with the bid requirements.”

Magpupulong ang naturang mga opisyal sa Geneva para pagdesisyunan kung sino sa anim na bidders ang mangangasiwa sa tatlong OQT.

Ang mga magkakampeon sa tatlong OQT ang siyang makakakuha sa hu­ling tatlong tiket para sa 2016 Olympic Games sa Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Mula sa initial list na 15 interesadong bansa ay pinutol ito sa 10 hanggang maging anim.

Ang Pilipinas, Iran at Japan ay kasama sa initial list.

Tanging ang Pilipinas ang natira para makasama ang Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Serbia at Turkey sa mga bidders.

Nauna nang nagbigay ang Pilipinas ng entry fee na 20,000 Euros (P1.05 mil­yon) noong Oktubre.

Unang inihayag ng Executive Committee na mag-uusap sila kung si­no ang tatlong magi­ging hosts ng OQT noong Nov. 23, ngunit pinalawig ng  FIBA ang bid deadline no­ong Jan. 11 kasunod ang paghahayag ng winning bids ngayon.

Sinabi ni SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan na ang bansa ay may “reasonable chance” sa pamamahala ng Olympic qualifying tournament “being the only Asian country to bid. My guess is that FIBA would like to see Asia as one of the three zones mainly because Asia is a huge potential for basketball.”

Umaasa naman si SBP executive director Sonny Barrios na mapapasakamay ng bansa ang hosting rights ng OQT.

“We’ve complied with all the bid requirements,” sabi ni Barrios. “We’ve proved ourselves more than capable to organize an international tournament of 16 teams with the success of hosting the FIBA Asia Championships in 2013. If given the chance, we want to give the five foreign countries coming to play in the Olympic qualifiers a wonderful experience. We’ll be ready to roll out the red carpet and show the world what Filipino hospitality is all about.”