The Philippines will link up with Thailand and Fiba-Asia to ensure the staging of the basketball competitions in next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Laos.
The Philippines has sent a draft of the memorandum of agreement to Laotian Southeast Asian Games organizers to guarantee basketball’s inclusion in the calendar of events in the region’s premier sporting event.
“We sent them (Laotian organizers) the MOA and we can expect a positive response in the next few days,” said athletics chief Go Teng Kong in yesterday’s PSA forum at the Shakey’s UN Avenue branch.
Under the MOA, Go said Thailand, Fiba-Asia and the Philippines, through the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, have made commitments to fund and run the event during the two-week meet.
Joining Go in the forum was wushu chief Julian Camacho, who was with Go during the last Southeast Asian Games Federation Council meet held last Nov. 11-13 in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.
“The main complaint of Laos then was that they had no venue to stage basketball. But during our visit, Mr. Camacho was able to spot a multi-purpose hall inside the Laos National Sports Complex that is ideal for basketball,” Go said.
He added that FIBA-Asia representatives have already evaluated the venue which is of international standard.
“We can expect the response to the MOA before Dec. 7 (when the complete calendar of events for the SEA Games will be known), and we can look forward to having basketball in the SEA Games,” Go said.
On the other hand, Camacho said the Philippines remains hopeful that dragon boat, which the RP bets dominated in the 2005 Manila SEA Games, and canoe kayak might still be included in the Laos SEA Games roster.
Go, who is the SEA Games Federation Council committee chairman for rules and sports, was able to convince other members of the regional meet to include cycling, archery and weightlifting in the 2009 SEAG calendar.