Blatche thumbed down for Asian Games

MANILA, Philippines - There will be no Andray Blatche when Gilas Pilipinas guns for the gold in 2014 Incheon Asian Games later this month.

The Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC) has barred Blatche from suiting up for Gilas citing the rule that requires naturalized players to establish a three-year residence in the country he's representing. Aside from the former Brooklyn Nets' center, Quincy Davis of Chinese Taipei has also been disqualified.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Richie Garcia, who is also the country's chief of mission to the Asian Games, said they have already appealed to have Blatche replaced by Marcus Douthit in the lineup.

"We appealed for a substitution," Garcia told Philstar.com during the send-off program for the Asian Games delegation on Friday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

"Yung kay Blatche, [halos] wala na 'yun. So ang hinihingi namin ngayon ay kung puwede siyang palitan. Kasi sa sulat nila (IAGOC) eh parang ayaw nila palitan eh," Garcia added.

Douthit, the original naturalized player of the Gilas program, has already indicated his readiness to fill in Blatche's shoes in the Asian Games.

Garcia is still optimistic that their appeal will not fall on deaf ears as the Koreans are hell-bent on using their homecourt advantage to run away with the basketball gold.

"But we are appealing and we seem to be getting some favorable reply. It's a question of forms na lang so we will know in a day or two kung puwedeng palitan si Blatche," Garcia said.

Blatche gave Gilas a huge lift in the 2014 FIBA World Cup leading the team with averages of 21.2 points and 13.8 rebounds on their way to a 1-4 record that could have easily been 4-1 if not for their inexperience in closing out games in narrow losses to Croatia in overtime, Argentina and Puerto Rico.

Gilas Pilipinas lost four games by only a combined 23 points while their Asian neighbors Korea and Iran got beaten by a wide margin in their groups.

Iran also logged in a 1-4 record highlighted by a 15-point rout of Egypt but got manhandled in their four losses by a combined 67 points.
Korea lost all their games by a combined 108 points.