Filipino referee tapped for World Cup

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino referee Ferdinand (Bong) Pascual has been named to the pool of 56 arbiters from 39 countries for the 18th FIBA World Cup in China on Aug. 31-Sept. 15, joining nine other Asians in the 32-nation conclave that will be the biggest ever since its inaugural in 1950.

It will be Pascual’s second World Cup assignment after Spain in 2014. He also worked at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Pascual, 49, was one of two Southeast Asians assigned to this year’s World Cup by FIBA secretary-general Andreas Zagklis. The other Southeast Asian is Harja Jaladri of Indonesia.

Pascual, who is the PBA’s supervisor of officials, will leave Manila for Beijing on Aug. 24. He will join the other World Cup referees in a camp in Beijing starting Aug. 25. Game assignments will be announced on Aug. 30. The 32 participating national teams are divided into eight groups of four to play in the first round in eight venues which are Beijing, Shanghai, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Foshan and Shenzhen. The Philippines is bracketed with Serbia, Italy and Angola to play in Foshan. The trip to Foshan will involve a flight from Manila to Guangzhou then a bus or subway ride.

Aside from the Philippines and Indonesia, the other Asian countries represented in the referees pool are China and Korea with two each, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan and Chinese-Taipei. Only 13 countries will bring in more than one referee. The US, Canada, Argentina and Italy are checking in three each with Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Australia, Poland, Latvia, China and Korea represented by two each.

Other FIBA officials are eight technical delegates and eight referee instructors. China’s Jiang An Zhou and India’s Norman Isaac are the Asian technical delegates while Japan’s Atsuhiro Ueda is the only Asian referee instructor.

Since the Philippines will send in a team of PBA players and NBA veteran Andray Blatche, Pascual said it’s important to brush up on FIBA rules before the World Cup. In FIBA, players aren’t allowed to call timeouts on the floor and only coaches may call timeouts in dead ball situations. In FIBA, a free throw shooter has five seconds to make an attempt unlike in the PBA where the limit is eight. In FIBA, in the last two minutes after a timeout, an inbounding team has the option to throw in either in the backcourt, where the reset is 24 seconds or in the frontcourt where the reset is 14. In FIBA, a player fouls out on five personals unlike in the PBA or NBA where the limit is six. In FIBA, a team enters the penalty situation after four team fouls, unlike in the PBA where the limit is five. In FIBA, there are distinct types of fouls – regular, technical, unsportsmanlike, disqualifying, fighting and double. Fouls are reviewable at any time using the Instant Replay System (IRS) where they may be upgraded or downgraded.  In FIBA, basketball interference is reviewable only in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime. In FIBA, offensive and technical fouls are counted as team fouls with technical fouls from the bench the exception. In FIBA, a team is allowed two timeouts in the first half and three in the second but up to only two in the last two minutes. In FIBA, each quarter has a duration of 10 minutes unlike in the PBA or NBA where it is 12.

Pascual is only the second Filipino referee to work in the Olympics after Medardo Felipe in 1984. He was in the 30-strong pool for the Rio Games where three other Asians from Oman, China and Korea were listed. The Rio pool was made up of 24 men and six women from 25 countries. Pascual was a PBA referee from 2006 to 2012. He earned a commerce degree at the University of Baguio and was a nursing aide before becoming a full-time referee.