Friday, January 10, 2014
FIBA Asia official urges PBA to move Governors' Cup for Gilas
FIBA Asia communications head S. Mageshwaran said the PBA should move the Governors’ Cup to give the national team more time to prepare and allow its best players to join Gilas Pilipinas for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
“The third and final conference of the PBA, the Governor’s Cup, can be – and in my opinion should be – put off in support of the national team,” he wrote in a column on the FIBA Asia website.
“No league can survive or retain its credibility by denying the national team the time and space to prepare for an event as big as the World Cup. And any fan — including all those who steadfastly follow the PBA proceedings — would want their favorite players to don the national colours, given a choice.”
The league’s schedule currently has the Governors’ Cup slated to end in mid-August, some two weeks before the start of the World Cup in Spain on August 30.
Last season, the PBA altered its schedule by moving the Governors’ Cup to give way to the FIBA Asia Championship in Manila. That resulted in a silver medal run for the country, earning it a ticket to return to the world basketball stage for the first time in four decades.
“There are many interests — most of them vested — which are aiming to ruin the show. But the PBA, as a collective unit which does believe in the development of basketball, should resist and win against these interests,” added Mageshwaran.
“The interest that was gained additionally in the 2013 PBA Governor’s Cup — which was put off till the end of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship — should be proof enough of the value the national team players can add when they carry the international reputations with them.”
According the Ramon Segismundo, the chairman of the PBA Board of Governors, the league is discussing plans to once again alter the schedule of the season to once again allow Gilas coach Chot Reyes time to prepare for the World Cup.
source
“The third and final conference of the PBA, the Governor’s Cup, can be – and in my opinion should be – put off in support of the national team,” he wrote in a column on the FIBA Asia website.
“No league can survive or retain its credibility by denying the national team the time and space to prepare for an event as big as the World Cup. And any fan — including all those who steadfastly follow the PBA proceedings — would want their favorite players to don the national colours, given a choice.”
The league’s schedule currently has the Governors’ Cup slated to end in mid-August, some two weeks before the start of the World Cup in Spain on August 30.
Last season, the PBA altered its schedule by moving the Governors’ Cup to give way to the FIBA Asia Championship in Manila. That resulted in a silver medal run for the country, earning it a ticket to return to the world basketball stage for the first time in four decades.
“There are many interests — most of them vested — which are aiming to ruin the show. But the PBA, as a collective unit which does believe in the development of basketball, should resist and win against these interests,” added Mageshwaran.
“The interest that was gained additionally in the 2013 PBA Governor’s Cup — which was put off till the end of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship — should be proof enough of the value the national team players can add when they carry the international reputations with them.”
According the Ramon Segismundo, the chairman of the PBA Board of Governors, the league is discussing plans to once again alter the schedule of the season to once again allow Gilas coach Chot Reyes time to prepare for the World Cup.
source
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