THE ENERGEN Pilipinas Under-16 team makes its debut in the FIBA Asia U-16 Championship today when it faces off against Indonesia at the Khanh Hoa Sports Center in Vietnam.
The Nationals battles Indonesia at 7 p.m. amidst issues that have been raised regarding the eligibility of Jordan Heading and Nic Dalafu.
The team, led by manager Joel Lopa and SBP deputy executive director Bernie Atienza, managed to show documents for the second time, similar to the initial papers they submitted about a month ago, proving that Heading and Dalafu are eligible to play as they both have at least one Filipino parent.
Heading is a 6-foot-1 Fil-Aussie who has a Filipina mom named Sally, while Dalafu is a Fil-American whose Filipino father Ephraim is also here for the tournament.
The Filipino cagers drew a bye yesterday, thus, enabling them to scout their rivals, whom they beat by 63 points during the SEABA U-16 tourney in Banting City, Malaysia. Indonesia was playing Vietnam at presstime. The two are placed in Group D. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio