WUHAN – Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan vowed he would continue the high-profile basketball program aimed at putting the Philippine team back in the Olympics.
The business tycoon hinted he’ll be even more determined to pursue this Olympic dream, fired up by the progress and improvement shown by the national team in the just-concluded FIBA Asia Championship here.
“Whatever it takes. Whether it’s 2012, 2016, 2020 or pag patay na ako (even when I’m dead),” Pangilinan told the Filipino sportswriters at the close of the Wuhan competition Sunday.
Pangilinan said he promised the same to FIBA president Yvan Mainini and secretary general Patrick Bauhmann in a brief talk moments after Smart Gilas lost the battle for third place to South Korea.
“They were complimentary and encouraging. They told me we ‘made some progress, big progress, just keep on doing what you’re doing.’ I told them ‘we will not lose our dream of one day entering the Olympics,’” said Pangilinan.
“No matter what the people expect, I’m determined to see our support of the program. I’m determined to see one day the Philippines entering the Olympics,” the Philippine cage federation chief added.
He had mixed feelings on Smart Gilas’ fourth-place finish in the 16-nation meet that served as the regional eliminator for the 2012 London Olympics.
“On one hand, (I’m happy) we improved from our Tokushima (ninth) and Tianjin (eighth) showings. It’s a good sign that our program is working. On the other hand, it’s sad we lost our shot at the finals and we lost the fight for third,” he said.
Five minutes away from wrapping up the bronze medal, the Nationals reeled from Cho Sungmin’s endgame explosion and settled for fourth with a heartbreaking 68-70 loss to the Koreans.
Smart Gilas was relegated to the bronze-medal play after yielding to Jordan, 61-75, in the semifinals.
Host China itself found Jordan a tough nut to crack, digging deep to win the championship match, 70-69.
The Philippines finished with six wins against three losses from the eliminations, same with Jordan.
Except for Marcus Douthit and Chris Tiu, all other members of Smart Gilas will join their PBA teams upon their return to Manila. Pangilinan, however, reiterated the Smart Gilas program will continue.
“We’ll re-organize the program and see whether we can qualify for the 2014 World Championship,” said Pangilinan. Up in the air is who’ll run the program and who’ll be the players.
“We have to think about the core. I’m not a coach or a player, but I have insights now. We have certain weaknesses that I saw in this tournament that we have to focus on,” said Pangilinan. He thought the national team would be better with tall guards.
“Our point guards are so small. I’m not saying that our point guards are not good; they’re very good especially Jimmy (Alapag). But I think we need bigger point guards for this team,” he said.
There’s no assurance as well to Rajko Toroman’s tenure as head coach.
“His (Toroman’s) plan is to go back to Serbia to rest and I said go ahead. We talk when you come back,” said Pangilinan.
“There’s no decision yet one way or the other. We have to look what’s good for the team in preparation for 2013,” Pangilinan added.