Cage summit tackles fate of RP 5

Let us sit down as true sports leaders, without specific titles, without affiliation and without our own personal interest.

This was the strong appeal made by Go Teng Kok yesterday to all those attending today’s basketball summit where the composition of the RP team in the SEABA Championship in June and the SEA Games in November will be tackled, discussed and deliberated upon.

To show his sincerity, Go said he will resign both as adviser of the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and project director of the Philippines’ bid to host the Asian Basketball Championship (BAP) in 2007. Go will make his move before the meeting starts.

Go was asked by Philippines Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco to set the meeting, scheduled at 2 p.m. at the latter’s Makati residence.

Expected to show up are BAP officials led by its controversial secretary-general Graham Lim, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala, Philippine Basketball League (PBL) commissioner Chino Trinidad and heads of top collegiate leagues like the UAAP and NCAA.

"Let us deal with each other as equal with the millions of basketball-loving Filipinos," added Go, who heads the athletics and chess associations but whose strong influence within the international sports community earned him the key positions in basketball.

The SEABA is one tournament the Philippine cannot take for granted because the top two teams here will represent the region in the ABC scheduled in September in Doha, Qatar where a PBA team is being groomed to represent the country.

The 2005 ABC will serve as qualifying for the 2006 World Championship in Japan where the Philippines also hopes to field a team. But everything will all boil down to the 2007 ABC where the top two teams will earn slots to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Today’s meting is an offshoot of the embarrassing defeat suffered by the RP Team currently preparing for the SEABA and SEA Games, to a rag-tag team from Paranaque in the NBC Northern finals at the Rizal Coliseum less than two weeks ago.

The loss put the country’s chances in the two upcoming tournaments in serious doubt, forcing Cojuangco to call for the summit in the hope of forming a stronger team.

Go said the deportation case of Lim or calls for his ouster from the BAP should not even be included in today’s agenda.

"For the sake of national interest, let us forget about relationships, forego old and new conflicts and keep our minds on one thing–to win the basketball gold in both the SEABA and SEA Games) for the country," added Go.