Guiao prays for luck of the draw

MEDAN, Indonesia – Coach Yeng Guiao hopes to get a good break in the draw for groupings in the 16-team 25th FIBA-Asia men’s championship in Tianjin, China, saying a favorable result would help Powerade Team Pilipinas achieve its goal of gaining a ticket to the 2010 world championship in Turkey.

“The quirks of the draw play a big factor in this competition,” said Guiao on the draw exercise slated June 17 also in Tianjin, a city by the river, over a hundred kilometers southeast of Beijing.

“The draw, more or less, will tell you how far a team can go,” Guiao added.

Results of the last Asian championship in Tokushima, Japan were used as basis for the listing of Iran, Lebanon, Korea and Kazakhstan as top seeds in Groups A, B, C and D, respecitvely.

The Iranians, the Lebanese, the Koreans and Kazakhs placed 1-2-3-4 in the Tokushima joust where the Philippines settled for a top finish in the consolation round after failing to get the grade for the quarterfinals from the “Group of Death” with Iran, Jordan and China.

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Assistant coaches Rhoel Nadurata and Kenneth Duremdes are two personalities in the RP squad who have fond memories of Indonesia.

Nadurata, now 69, was part of the national squad that last won the Asian Games basketball gold medal in Jakarta in 1962. He would have another Asian Games stint in 1964 in Bangkok where the Philippines’ 15-year title reign came to an end.

Duremdes, meanwhile, claimed he earned the first “multi-million” check in his life in topping the slam dunk competition in the sixth Angsapura Games in this city in 1993.

“My cash prize then was two million rupiahs (equivalent to $500 then),” laughed Duremdes, part of the team figuring in a riot with a Chinese team, prompting organizers to cancel the games.

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Lebanon recently naturalized former NBA player Jackson Vroman of the US. That should make Lebanon one of the teams to watch out for in the FIBA-Asia Championship.

Vroman, who powered Mahram of Iran to the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup title last month in Jakarta, Indonesia, should be enough replacement for the aging Joe Vogel, another naturalized Lebanese who led them to a runner-up finish in the 2007 FIBA-Asia Championship in Tokushima, Japan.

The swift naturalization of Vroman, who exploded for 42 points against Smart Gilas Pilipinas in an elimination round win in Jakarta, should pose an added problem to the all-pro Powerade Pilipinas squad currently seeing action here.