Gilas preparation criticized

THE SUCCESS of the Gilas Pilipinas during their historic run to the silver-medal finish in the 27th Fiba Asia Men’s Championship last year caught the attention of not just the country but the rest of Asia as well.

But with the Fiba World Cup in Spain looming in the horizon and no concrete training plan in place, people outside of the country are taking notice of this ghastly gaffe as well.

One of them is Fiba Asia’s head of communications S. Mageshawaran, who criticized the PBA for its handling of the situation.

In his column that was published on the Fiba website last Thursday, Mageshawaran echoed the frustrations of basketball fans in and outside the country with the Gilas being given a mere two weeks of lead time before competing in the world’s most prestigious basketball competition.

The tournament is slated to kick off on Aug. 30 but the Gilas starts full-time training just before that because of the PBA Governors’ Cup.

“The decision of the PBA to schedule their season to conclude just two weeks before the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, thus leaving Chot Reyes—the Philippines national team head coach—with an abysmally short period of time to scrounge a preparation is bizarre. There can’t be any other opinion on this,” Mageshawaran said.

He also suggested that the Governors’ Cup should be postponed in order to give the Gilas the lead time it needs in order to credibly compete against the world’s best basketball squads.

“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 colors, given a choice.”/Correspondent Jonas Panerio