Lina proposes ‘united team’ for SEAG

Basketball Association of the Philippines president Joey Lina yesterday proposed the fielding of a "unified basketball team", composed of players culled from the lineups of the BAP and the Philippine training pool, for the national team to the forthcoming Southeast Asian Games.

Lina said this could be one option all stakeholders in Philippine basketball could agree on in the country’s effort to get the International Basketball Federation to lift its suspension on the Philippines.

"In the spirit of bayanihan, mag-usap-usap tayo. Wala na munang POC, BAP, PBA, PBL, UAAP. Let’s set aside first our organizational differences and work together for the lifting of the suspension," said Lina.

Saying the cage body could not be reinstated by the POC, the BAP president said a solution to the impasse is to show the world cage body that local stakeholders are now united in their effort to see basketball held in the SEA Games.

"We’re trying to move towards unity. Time is running out and everybody should try to get united so we can ask for the lifting of the suspension," said Lina.

Suggesting that they just sort out their differences after the games, Lina said they could play in the biennial meet fielding in a squad called "the United Team of the Philippines."

"While we’re ready with our team, we still have to form the other team. But we can easily be competitive because basketball seems to be second nature to the Filipinos," said Lina.

He said South and North Korea, two countries divided since World War II, formed a "unified team" that competed in the Asian Games and later in the Athens Olympics. — Nelson Beltran