ALLAN THE MAN

The PBA on Wednesday handed out a one-game suspension and a fine of P100,000 to Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao for his actions toward league officials during the Elasto Painters’ PLDT Home DSL Philippine Cup semifinals series against the Petron Blaze Boosters.

Guiao met with PBA commissioner Chito Salud on Wednesday morning “regarding his use of a dirty finger pointed toward the commissioner’s and tech committee table.”

The fiery coach was ejected in both Game Three and Game Four of the series, each time complaining about the officiating. He continued to blast the referees after the Elasto Painters’ win over the Boosters last Monday to take a 3-1 lead.

National team coach Chot Reyes wants Gilas Pilipinas to reach at least the second round of the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Cup, despite the stiff competition.

Gilas Pilipinas is grouped with basketball powerhouses Argentina and Greece, which are ranked third and fifth in the world, respectively. Also included in their group are Croatia (16th), Puerto Rico (17th) and Senegal (41st).

However, Reyes still hopes the Philippines will pull off a miracle and survive the first round.

“We have no illusions about our group which is very tough but like I said we relish it. We are going to prepare very, very hard. For a team like the Philippines there is no easy group for us in a competition like this,” Reyes said in a Philboxing report by Ronnie Nathanielsz.

The opponents for the FIBA World Cup are no longer a mystery. The Philippines on Tuesday, February 4 (Manila time) has officially been drawn to a group for the FIBA World Cup. The national men's basketball squad was drawn to Group B and will be pitted against Senegal, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Greece and Croatia.

The draw grouped the 24 countries participating in the World Cup into 4 groups of 6, where teams bracketed in the same group will compete against each other in the Preliminary Round.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes said yesterday it was almost expected that despite its mass market clout, China wouldn’t be awarded one of four wildcard tickets to the FIBA World Cup to be played in six Spanish venues on Aug. 30-Sept. 14.

There were 15 countries that applied for wildcard slots and paid the corresponding donation, reportedly 500,000 Euros or about P30 Million, to the FIBA coffers. London Olympic third placer Russia, 2016 Olympic host Brazil, Turkey (the Turkish appliance and consumer electronics company Beko is a major sponsor) and China were early favorites to join the 20 outright qualifiers. But last Saturday, the FIBA Central Board met here and chose No. 7 Turkey, No. 10 Brazil, No. 5 Greece and No. 39 Finland to play in the World Cup. Aside from Russia and China, left out were Germany, Italy, Canada, Venezuela, Israel, Poland, Nigeria, Qatar and Bosnia-Herzogovina.