General Admission
Opportunity of a lifetime
By Al S. Mendoza
ELEVEN days August 1-11.
That’s the duration of the Fiba Asia Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Known before as the ABC (Asian Basketball Confederation), the Fiba Asia Cup features Asian and Arab countries vying for the region’s basketball supremacy.
In the past, Arab countries weren’t grouped in our territory.
Today, they are with us: Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Lebanon.
Lebanon, arriving two weeks before the tournament, has been sent home due to leadership squabbles among their basketball officials back home.
That happened to us a while back, when Fiba, the world governing body in basketball, excluded us from the 2003 and 2005 SEA Games following turf disputes between the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).
Only when Fiba recognized SBP’s right to govern Philippine basketball did we see our country back to international basketball competitions in 2007.
In 2012, Gilas Pilipinas won the tough Jones Cup, a signal honor that should absolutely gun up our drive to finish big and tall in the ongoing Fiba Asia Cup.
Before the Arabs’ arrival, we only used to contend with China, South Korea and Japan for the Asian crown.
Well, before China lifted its Bamboo Curtain to finally re-enter the world in the mid-70’s, Japan and South Korea had been our perennial rivals.
Thus, in 1973, we beat the Shin Dong Pa-led Koreans to win the crown, with Robert Jaworski as the team captain.
In that team were the late legends like Tembong Melencio, Big Boy Reynoso, Larry Mumar and coach Tito Eduque.
Where was I at that time?
The usual man in the street that I was then, and still am today, I watched the 1973 tournament as a long-haired, big-eyed kid, screaming my lungs out from the general admission from Day 1 up to the last day.
Boy, that was simply unforgettable.
The following year, I became a sportswriter for the Bulletin. That’s when I started occupying the prime seat at every basketball tournament, or at every sporting event for that matter: the ringside.
We play at least eight games in the ongoing Fiba Asia Cup, needing to win more than a majority to clinch one of three slots reserved for the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain.
Of the 15 countries entered, China and Iran are almost a cinch to finish 1-2.
The third and final spot leading to next year’s World Cup should be a toss-up among Korea, Japan, Qatar, Jordan and Gilas Pilipinas.
Our homecourt advantage should be a factor in our aim to duplicate our stint in the World Cup in Puerto Rico in 1974, our prize for winning the 1973 Fiba Asia Cup (ABC).
Basketball being our national pastime, it’d be a big blow, indeed, if we fail to nab one of three coveted tickets to Madrid next year.
Devastating. An opportunity such as this might not come again on home shores.
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