Cagebelles 'robbed' of gold, bring case to FIBA

JAKARTA – The 26th SEA Games basketball competition has ended, but Discovery Perlas Pilipinas is not yet giving up its fight for the lost gold.

Insisting that the Phl cagebelles were robbed of the championship, team manager Cynthia Tiu said they would fight for it all the way up to FIBA, the world governing body for basketball.

Tiu said they had placed the result of the Phl-Thai game Saturday under protest.

“It was supposed to be a historic moment for the Philippines. Let’s not let it go to waste,” Tiu said.

“We know we won that one, and the country knows that we did. And because of that, and because of the effort that the players gave, we will fight until this is settled with the Fiba itself,” Tiu also said.

Coach Haydee Ong and her chargers were ready to celebrate the country’s first championship in SEAG women’s basketball when a Thai gunner knocked in a buzzer-beating triple to force overtime.

The Thais lived on in OT and went on to snatch the gold medal from the unbelieving Perlas Phl side.

Tiu seemingly has become more emboldened to pursue their case when she got hold of videotapes showing the Thai stepped on the line when she launched the crucial shot counted by the referees as a game-tying triple.

“The youtube videos are clear that, first, the Thai player was stepping on the line and that two, it took her such a long time to get that shot off,” Tiu said.

It was a judgment error on the part of the referees.

But there’s no word from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas whether they would endorse the Perlas Phl appeal to FIBA.

“What’s funny was that the technical committee here said that they are ‘discouraging’ protests because of the fee of 2,000 Swiss Francs,” Tiu said. “I don’t care about the amount because the girls gave it their all. That’s a small amount to pay to uphold what’s right.”

Nonetheless, the Filipinas attended the awards rites Sunday, receiving their silver medals.