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Thursday, April 22, 2004
Oyson: No fireworks for SEA youth champs
By Manuel N. Oyson Jr.
Counter punch
HEP, hep, hurrah! The Philippines has just won the 4th Southeast Asian Junior Basketball Championship. Recapture is the word, in fact. But why are there no fireworks? No congratulatory messages from no less than President GMA or the top officials of the POC and the PSC?
There should have been a beating of tom-toms and a boisterous and riotous motorcade down Makati City’s fabled skyline for the youngsters for recapturing the 18-under basketball crown right in its home court in Lucena City. For, to quote coach Johny Tam in The Philippine Star: “This is another big day in Philippine basketball.” But it turned out to be almost a non-event.
NO WAVES. There were no shock waves of ecstatic fervor nationwide over the event. Maybe, because all responsible officials were busy over the election campaign for May 10 elections. But whatever, I was not at all surprised that there were only pooled reports in the Manila dailies about the tournament. For one, there were only four teams that competed.
And what were these teams? Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, as host. The three Cebu dailies had no story about it, except for the brief item about it in my column last April 13. When it was first announced that Myanmar and Brunei would also be competing, I asked myself: Do these countries know how to play basketball?
‘PACKED’. Indonesia had withdrawn at the last minute, leaving only four nations to fight for the championship. There was no reason given why the Indons opted to sit it out. Probably because they did not want to get caught in the maelstrom of the warring Basketball Association of the Philippines (which organized the tournament) and the BAP Inc.
Of course the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City was “packed” according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In what was obviously a pooled news release, the Manila Standard also said it was played “before a packed crowd.” The Philippine Star said it was played before a “wildly-cheering crowd.”
A LARK. Sports columnist Dodo Catacutan of Manila Bulletin, quoting newspaper reports, also said that the Lucena event “was inexplicably playing to sellout crowds.” Seeing those teams from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, Catacutan asked: “How in the hell can an RP team lose to these squads?” At least from the wide margin of scores that the Philippines spread over their opponents, I can almost say that it was almost a lark for them. No sweat.
Consider these stats: RP 84, Malaysia 44; RP 104, Singapore 50; Malaysia 44, RP 89; RP 99, Singapore 53 (championship).
Of course, the RP youth cagers should be congratulated for they had prepared months for the tournament, even longer than the preparations undertaken by the PBA All-Stars for the Asian Games in October 2002 in Busan. Next stop: ABC youth basketball championship in India on Sept. 10-18.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m thankful to God, to my players and to their schools who lend them to us.” – RP Youth coach Johny Tam
(April 22, 2004 issue)
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