ExCom to decide hosting issue

MANILA, Philippines -  The 12-man FIBA Asia Executive Committee and women’s representative Noviantika Nasution of Indonesia will convene to decide the country to host next year’s zone qualifiers for the World Cup at the Grand Prince Hotel in Tokyo on Sept. 19.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios will make a 15-minute presentation of the Philippine bid with former Asian Basketball Confederation secretary-general Moying Martelino during the meeting. PBA commissioner Chito Salud will also attend to assure the Executive Committee of the pro league’s full support of the P30 million project to involve 16 teams vying for the FIBA Asia crown in July next year. The top three finishers of the FIBA Asia Championships will gain tickets to represent Asia at the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14, 2014.

Barrios said the 15-minute presentation will include a five-minute audio-visual of the facilities that SBP intends to mobilize for the tournament. FIBA Asia secretary-general Hagop Khajirian of Lebanon was recently in Manila to inspect the MOA Arena and the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, the two venues the SBP plans to contract for the games. In the SBP’s proposal, the MOA Arena will be the primary venue and the Ninoy Aquino Stadium the secondary venue.

“Mr. Khajirian was on the way to attend the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championships in Mongolia and the SBP invited him to drop by to inspect the facilities we plan to use for the tournament,” said Barrios. “It was Mr. MVP (SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan) who extended the invitation to Mr. Khajirian. We hope we gave a good impression. We took Mr. Khajirian to the MOA Arena where he was given a tour and the MOA staff made an audio-visual presentation. Then, we met with PSC commissioner Iggy Clavecilla to discuss the availability of the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. On the first day of the first round of eliminations, there will be eight games to be played, six at the MOA Arena and two at Ninoy Aquino. It’s an advantage that the teams will be billeted in hotels along the Roxas strip so they’ll be only five kilometers away from both venues. It’s another advantage that the hotels are situated within minutes of the international airport and tourist spots like the Ocean Park behind the Quirino Grandstand, Luneta and Intramuros.”

Barrios said the MOA Arena is a perfect venue to suit FIBA Asia’s strict requirements. “It’s not enough for us to present an acceptable playing venue,” he said. “FIBA Asia requires at least 10 rooms in the arena for an executive lounge, an office for the secretary-general, an office for the technical committee, a room for referees with shower facilities, an office for the president, a conference room, an interview room for media, among others. They’re really looking at an NBA-type arena and luckily, the MOA Arena is available as a primary venue.”

While Barrios said it was “a good sign” that Khajirian came to Manila, it wasn’t a guarantee that the Philippines will win the bid. “We were honored that Mr. Khajirian accepted Mr. MVP’s invitation,” said Barrios. “He was in town only for two nights and a day and he spent his day working from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. During his stay, we arranged for Mr. Khajirian to meet with Mr. MVP, Mr. Ricky Vargas, Mr. Patrick Gregorio and SBP deputy executive director Bernie Atienza over dinner.”

Barrios said the idea of hosting the FIBA Asia Championships was hatched during the previous staging in Wuhan last September. “We finished fourth and nearly placed third,” said Barrios, referring to the Philippines’ 70-68 heartbreaking loss to Korea in the playoff for third. “Since the top three finishers of the FIBA Asia Championships represent our zone in the World Cup, Mr. MVP thought why not make that the immediate goal? It’s much tougher to qualify for the Olympics where only the Asian champion plays. We filled up the bid form and submitted a covering letter which went through at least two revisions with Mr. MVP before it was finalized. We asked if we could present our bid at the ExCom meeting last December but were informed the bidding was not in the agenda. Iran, Qatar and Lebanon were also interested to host. We were later told Qatar is similarly interested. When word got around that some of the Middle East countries were begging off, Japan expressed interest even if Tokushima just hosted in 2007.”

Barrios said FIBA Asia will consider the competitiveness of the host nation in deciding the winning bid. “Our recent victory in the Jones Cup was a boost,” said Barrios. “No doubt, our national team is a contender for a top three finish in the FIBA Asia Championships. We showed it in Wuhan. FIBA Asia is concerned that if the host nation doesn’t qualify for the Final Four, the crowds will thin out in the semifinals and finals. I think we have more than a 50-50 chance to make it to at least third place. If we win the hosting rights for next year, perhaps, as a concession, Japan will be given the hosting rights for the FIBA Asia Women’s Championships.”