Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Lina decries expulsion of basketball association
By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
BASKETBALL Association of the Philippines president Joey Lina on Sunday condemned the decision of the Philippine Olympic Committee to expel BAP from its roster of national sports associations or NSAs.
"The expulsion, my friends, is utterly without any basis," Lina told Davao City sportswriters during a press conference at the Royal Mandaya Hotel.
Lina said he was deeply saddened by the development as it is the country that is now suffering with the decision. He said the expulsion was done without giving them due process and despite him offering methods to prevent the sad episode in Philippine basketball from happening.
POC's expulsion of BAP prompted FIBA, the world's governing basketball body, to suspend the Philippines and barred it from playing in FIBA-sanctioned meets.
Hit hardest by the suspension is the Philippine national team preparing to defend the basketball title in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
Lina said the country's preparation to defend the title got jeopardized.
"It is going to be a national debacle (if we cannot play and defend the SEAG crown)," Lina said.
POC under its president Jose "Peping" Cojuanco dealt BAP a severe blow when it suspended and eventually expelled the latter because of "continuing defiance."
Lina, who assumed the BAP presidency only last June 8, said he had time and again pleaded to Cojuangco to reconsider the decision but that all his appeals fell on deaf ears.
Instead, the POC supported the creation of the Philippine Basketball Association Federation, Inc.
The new body, however, is still seeking FIBA recognition.
Lina said unless FIBA lifts the suspension, the country cannot play in the SEA Games.
"And we have very limited time," Lina said.
The SEAG gets underway from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (August 16, 2005 issue)
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