RAFAEL ‘Paing’ Hechanova, a member of the 1952 Philippine Olympic basketball team, has passed away. He was 93.
Who was Rafael 'Paing' Hechanova?
Hechanova was actually the oldest living Filipino Olympian before his passing, and was chairman of the Philippine Olympians Association.
A product of University of Santo Tomas, Hechanova was a member of the Philippine team that was among the 23 teams that saw action in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. It won one game in the preliminaries against Canada to finish the competition in joint ninth along with eight countries.
Hechanova was also a member of the Philippine teams that brought home gold medals in the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi before successfully defending that crown in 1954 in Manila.
Hechanova played commercial basketball with YCO and became the president of the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (Micaa), the pre-cursor of the PBA.
During the establishment of the PBA in 1975, Hechanova was also elected as second vice president of the league.
Hechanova’s last public appearance was last June during the launch of the website of the Philippine Olympians Association, a group of Filipino athletes who competed in the Olympics he founded in 2002.
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