Yes, the Philippines is bent on claiming basketball gold for the umpteenth time in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Over the past few months, the country's basketball officials have been up in arms over who should manage the national squad, who should mentor it and who should play for it.

And yet, for a while, no one was sure if a single shot, pass or dribble would even be made.

The basketball-mad nation breathed a sigh of relief after organizers of the 2009 Laos SEA Games brought basketball—the sport in which the Philippines has trumped its regional rivals over the decades—back to the program of the biennial meet.

Laos officials had earlier excluded basketball from the list of sports at the 2009 tournament because the host country could not provide a suitable playing court. Thailand offered a venue near the Thailand-Laos border and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) chief Manny V. Pangilinan suggested that basketball be played in Manila with the SBP shouldering expenses, but both proposals were turned down as officials were adamant about holding matches in Laos or not at all, reported inquirer.net. Also rejected was the Philippines' offer to bring the flooring of the PhilSports Arena to Laos for the games in December 2009.

“It's bad news for the Filipinos, pero wala tayong magagawa (but we can't do anything about it)” Joey Romasanta, spokesperson for the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), was quoted as saying by manilastandardtoday.com. “We have to face the reality and instead na panghinayangan natin ito, pilitin nating mag-concentrate sa ibang sports (instead of thinking wishfully of basketball, we should concentrate on other sports).”

Not having a basketball tournament to compete in would indeed have dealt a huge blow to the country's medal hopes, as the Philippines has only failed to emerge champions in the men's basketball event twice since 1997, according to philstar.com. The national squad bowed to Malaysia in 1989 and did not play in 2005—the year the Philippines won the overall championship—as the country was serving a suspension by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Philippine officials lobbied extensively for the inclusion of the sport during a four-day meeting of the SEA Games Federation Council, and, once other SEAG member-countries endorsed the bid, organizers on November 13 agreed to put basketball on the calendar of events, reported gmanews.tv. The host nation relented only after member-countries “insisted that they shoulder the expenses for the staging of the sport”, said businessmirror.com. By that time, Laos officials had already found a gym that met FIBA standards, but were still concerned over operational costs.

“It's not the best basketball court there is but with a little improvement it will do,” Go Teng Kok, the POC representative to the council, was quoted as saying by philstar.com. “This is certainly good news not only for the Philippines but to all SEAG countries as well. We all know basketball is among the popular spectator sports in any Games.”

The Philippines, through Go, has since forwarded a memorandum of agreement to Laos organizers detailing how the sport will be played in 2009 and stressing that 2007 champion Thailand, the SBP and FIBA-ASIA “are committed in funding and running the sports”, noted gmanews.tv. Laos is expected to reply to the MOA by December 7, the deadline for the official list of tournament events.

“We can look forward to having basketball in the SEA Games,” said Go.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is still hoping that the dragon boat and canoe kayak events will also be reinserted into the Laos SEAG program, added philstar.com. Philippine rowers lorded over the dragonboat contests four years ago. To date, RP officials have also managed to convince organizers into including cycling, archery and weightlifting in the 2009 tournament.

Photo: “Booty” by Freedom Goliath's Impermanence, taken from Flickr.com. Licensed under Creative Commons license number BY-NC-ND-2.0-DEED.EN.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."