PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino admitted the brouhaha surrounding the Final 12 of Gilas Pilipinas in the Asian Games may be attributed to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ failure to comply with the deadlines in the submission of entries to the organizing committee.
Bambol on SBP failing to comply to Asiad deadlines
Tolentino on Saturday said the POC wasn’t remiss in reminding the SBP - and all national sports associations for that matter - to submit their "long list" of athletes that was being asked by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee.
Tolentino speculated that the SBP might have been busy with the country’s hosting of the Fiba Basketball World Cup, and might have overlooked this requirement from the Hagoc that it wasn’t able to discuss among the concerned parties who should be on the "long list" or the pool of players of Gilas Pilipinas for the Asian Games.
“I’ll be frank na siguro na-busy sila sa Fiba World Cup,” said Tolentino in an interview with Noli Eala during his Power and Play program. “Noon ko pa sinasabi sa lahat, not only basketball, na the Asian Games is the Olympics of Asia. Don’t belittle the Asian Games. Send the best.”
“Nagkaroon ng notices and deadline [of the] long list, repeatedly. Lagi naming pinapaalala ‘yan. Hanggang sa, alam mo naman ang Pinoy, laging last minute. Pero kahit nag-last minute, hindi pa rin naasikaso ‘yung iba. ‘Yung mga personnel decisions nila, hindi nalagay sa long list ito… What if na-injure or meron palang mas magaling after sarado na ‘yung qualifying. Paano natin mailalagay ‘yun kung hindi niyo nailagay sa long list. [Baka] masyadong nagkumpiyansa or nakalimutan, or whatever reasons,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino said the POC only submits to the organizing committee what the NSAs transmit.
“Of course, it will be from the NSAs. Tinatanggap lang namin ‘yung listahan nila. Hindi ko na rin puwedeng pakialaman ‘yun unless it’s a controversial issue,” said Tolentino.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone initially wanted to include Terrence Romeo, Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins, and Mo Tautuaa in the line-up, but the four were not part of the 37-man list that was passed to the organizing committee.
Cone selected Chris Ross, Kevin Alas, Arvin Tolentino, and CJ Perez to replace the four, and the head coach said on Saturday after their final practice in Manila that they will stick with those players.
Tolentino confirmed that the inclusion of Romeo, Abueva, Perkins, and Tautuaa has been denied by the organizing committee, but said that he is still appealing the case until the men’s basketball tournament begins on Tuesday.
But Tolentino also admitted he can only appeal at a certain point since he is also working on similar pleas in other sports.
“China is China,” Tolentino said. “Iba ‘yan. Kapag sinabi nyan na eto ang deadline, eto. Kapag sinabi nila na eto lang ang puwedeng pumunta, eto. Hindi naman ‘yan like some Asean countries na pipilitin natin.”
“I’m monitoring and supervising not only basketball but we have 40 plus sports to deal with as POC president. Nagkataon lang na Filipinos love basketball, the most popular sports in our country, kailangan tutukan. Pero hindi natin puwedeng pabayaan ‘yung ibang sports. Kinakain din ‘yung schedule ko especially with some meetings, pinapatawag tayo ng other departments ng IOC,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino advised all NSAs to follow the deadlines to avoid such incidents.
“’Yung talagang kailangan mag-submit ng long list, mind us, mind the rules, mind the playbook. Sumunod lang… Bakit ilan lang ang may problema sa long list. Bakit majority complied? 95 percent complied. Babalik ako doon sa please mind us,” said Tolentino.
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