SBP gears up for hosting important tilt

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) wants to host two major regional tournaments next year to convince Fiba, the world governing body for basketball, to allow the country to stage a more important tournament in 2011.

SBP deputy executive director Bernie Atienza told the BusinessMirror on Thursday that the federation will bid for the hosting of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Women’s Championship and the Fiba-Asia Under-18 Men’s Championship.

Hosting the two tournaments, Atienza said, is part of the SBP’s grand plan to convince Fiba-Asia officials to award the hosting of the 2011 Fiba-Asia Men’s qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics.

“These are the major tournaments that the SBP is hoping to host and MVP [Manny V. Pangilinan] pointed out that we have to show the Fiba-Asia officials that we are capable of hosting these events,” said Atienza.

The Seaba Women’s Championship will be in June 2010 and according to Atienza, the country has a good chance of bringing the tournament here because no other country has offered a bid.

Hosting the Fiba-Asia U-18 tournament, however, is more tasking because Lebanon, Syria and Yemen have expressed interest in staging the tournament where a team under Eric Altamirano will take part in.

Atienza said the SBP will submit its bid for the 2011 Fiba-Asia tournament to the Fiba central board even before the December 30 (2009) deadline.

“We’re just preparing our presentation and we are also just waiting for the invitation of the executive board of the Fiba-Asia for the presentation,” he said.

The country hosted the Fiba-Asia Men’s Tournament in 1978. It was known then as the Asian Basketball Confederation Championship.

Atienza said Iran and Lebanon are also interested in hosting the tournament that will select the continent’s representatives to the 2012 London Games.

Iran is the reigning Asian champion after it beat a Yao Ming-less China in Tianjin. Iran and Lebanon are going to the World Championship next year in Turkey. The Lebanese were given a wild-card entry for finishing fourth in Tianjin.

The country previously targeted the hosting of the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup but the tournament’s schedule (May 7 to 14) will coincide with the 2010 national elections.

RP moves up 10 spots on FIBA ranking

Slowly, the Philippines is inching closer to the top 50 in world basketball. The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) announced on Wednesday that the country has moved up 10 places to 53rd in the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) rankings this month.

SBP executive director Noli Eala said the country is now ranked first in the Southeast Asia (SEA) subzone and 13th overall in Asia, curiously still behind India, Syria and Kuwait. India is in joint 49th with Syria, while Kuwait is 52nd.

“We are grateful to Fiba that they continue to acknowledge the hard work of Filipino basketball players,” said Eala in a statement on Wednesday.

“It was hard inheriting a very low ranking from the previous national basketball association but the SBP has persevered and we’re glad the Philippines has regained the respect of Fiba and the basketball community,” he added.

In the women’s side, the Philippines improved to 50th from 53rd.

The women’s team is ranked ninth in the Asian and third in the SEA subzone behind Thailand (38th) and Malaysia (42).

In the combined rankings, the Philippines is in 57th place.

The country has registered the second-biggest gain in ranking points (2.7) among Asian countries behind Korea, which moved up to three ranking points.

Since taking over from the now-defunct Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) two years ago, SBP has put vigor in Philippine basketball by sending quality teams in international competitions.

The men’s basketball competition in the Southeast Asian Games is practically the Filipinos’ playground and the country, as expected, captured the 2007 title in Nakhon Ratchasima. The women’s team took the bronze medal.

The Chot Reyes-coached national team finished ninth overall in the 2007 Fiba-Asia Men’s Championship and the country improved a notch higher in the same competition when Yeng Guiao piloted the Nationals to a quarterfinals stint this year in Tianjin, China.

The youth programs are also in place as the U-18 of Franz Pumaren finished ninth in the Fiba-Asia Junior Men’s Championship in Tehran, Iran, in 2008 while the U-16 of mentor Eric Altamirano reached the semifinals of the Fiba-Asia U-16 cagefest on November in Malaysia.

The country’s men’s team also bagged the silver medal in the three-on-three event of the first Asian Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia, last year.

Even the young Smart Gilas team of SBP had a significant accomplishment this year when the squad, beefed up by American CJ Giles, finished fifth in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup in June in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Draw Results for the 2010 FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Today's draw has begun the countdown to the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. The 24 participating teams were drawn into four groups of 6 teams each.

Here are draw results for the groups for the First Round:

Group A (Kayseri): Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
Group B (Istanbul): Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
Group C (Ankara): China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
Group D (Izmir): Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand

note: Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania and Russia awarded wild cards for 2010 FIBA World Championship

The draw was held at the the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, on Tuesday, 15th December 2009 at 11:30AM local time (10:30AM CET). It was jointly conducted by FIBA and the LOC in the presence of participating team delegations, National Federation members, prominent public figures and members of the international media.

Stars present at the draw included 1996 Olympic gold medallist Hakeem Olajuwon, Daniel "El Gigante" Santiago from Puerto Rico, Germany team record holder Patrick Femerling and Turkish monument Efe Aydan.

The tournament will be played in Turkey in the cities of Ankara, Kayseri, Istanbul and Izmir between 28th August and 12th September 2010.

Competition Format

The First Round will see a total of 60 games, in which each team faces the other 5 teams in its respective group. The four top placed teams from each group will advance to the Eighth Final Round, at which point the Championship continues in a standard knock-out format.

For more information visit turkey2010.fiba.com.

Quick Facts about the FIBA World Championship

Held every 4 years, the FIBA World Championship determines the world's top nation in men's basketball. The tournament was first held in 1950 in Argentina and the sixteenth edition will be played next year Turkey.

Seven different teams have been crowned World Champions. Leading the medal table are the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the USA, all having won the Championship three times. Spain are defending the title they won in Japan in 2006, while Argentina are currently the world's best ranked basketball nation. The 2010 FIBA World Champion will automatically qualify for the 2012 Olympic Basketball Tournament in London.

Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania and Russia awarded wild cards for 2010 FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL, Turkey (FIBA World Championship) - During Dec. 12 meeting of the FIBA Central Board - the highest executive body of the International Basketball Federation - the following teams were awarded wild card entries to next year's FIBA World Championship in Turkey:


* Germany
* Lebanon
* Lithuania
* Russia

The decisions were made in accordance with the criteria outlined by the FIBA Central Board. The wild card system was first introduced for the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, following the decision to increase the number of teams from 16 to 24.

The 2010 FIBA World Championship will be played in Turkey in the cities of Ankara, Kayseri, Istanbul and Izmir between 28th August and 12th September 2010.

Draw Results for the 2010 FIBA World Championship (results for the groups for the First Round)

Group A (Kayseri): Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
Group B (Istanbul): Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
Group C (Ankara): China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
Group D (Izmir): Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand