THE clock continues to tick, but there's still no word from Fiba on when or where the mini-bubble for the November window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers will be held.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) special assistant to the president Ryan Gregorio said the international governing body for basketball has yet to make an announcement regarding the next set of qualifiers.
"There's still no update yet," he told Spin.ph. "We're closely monitoring the situation."
The uncertainty brought by the situation has kept the Gilas Pilipinas program grounded, with program director Tab Baldwin still asking for clarity before buckling down to work.
Fiba has only announced bubbles for the European and African qualifiers, with games to be held from November 26 to 30.
Qualifiers for the Eurobasket 2022 will be hosted by Valencia in Spain, Pau in France, Istanbul in Turkey, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vilnius in Lithuania, Talinn in Estonia, and Espoo in Finland.
Meanwhile, serving as hosts for the Afrobasket 2021 qualifiers are Alexandria, Egypt and Kigali, Rwanda, while Yaounde, Cameroon will host the wildcards between Cape Verde, Chad, and South Sudan come October 22 to 24 for the last ticket to the final round.
Bangkok was rumored to be one of the hosts for the mini-bubbles in the Asian qualifiers, and was likely to host Group A, which included the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Fiba, however, has yet to confirm the news.
Unfortunately, Gilas will have an uphill battle starting from its formation, with special draftees Isaac Go, Rey Suerte, Allyn Bulanadi, and twins Matt and Mike Nieto the only ones committed to the national team program.
Another issue will be the lack of a head coach, with interim coach Mark Dickel, as well as assistants Topex Robinson and Sandy Arespacochaga currently inside the PBA's bubble in Clark, while Alex Compton has decided to return to the US with his family.
Spin fans unite at the Spin Viber Community! Join the growing community now and complete the experience by subscribing to the Spin Chatbot.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
