It’s already final, the Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team will not feature naturalized center Andray Blatche in the official list of line up of the Philippines in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Not even the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the world governing body in basketball, could salvage the stint of Brooklyn Nets player Andray Blatche for the Philippines in the 17th Asian Games in South Korea.
According to the latest decision of the Olympic Council of Asia, they rejected the plea of FIBA to have Andray Blatche included in the Gilas Pilipinas roster which is set to play in hte continental meet later this month. The Asian Games, also considered as the Olympics in Asia will he hedl this coming September 19 to October 4, 2014.
Meanwhile according to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Vice Chair Ricky Vargas, they may skip participation in the Asian Games. He even noted that the officials of the Asian Games could probably saw how Gilas Pilipinas played with Andray Blatche during the World Cup in Spain.
SBP Vice Chair Ricky Vargas also said that the SBP will make a last-ditch appeal during the delegation registration meeting in Incheon on Thursday and Friday.
The SBP announced earlier that they received an e-mail from Olympic Council of Asia member Haider Farman stating that Andray Blatche, who gained Filipino citizenship through naturalization, was ineligible to play becase he lacked the required three-year residency in the Philippines.
Aside from Andray Blatche, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) also barred naturalized center Quincy Davis of Chinese Taipei and South Korea’s Aaron Haynes from playing in the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea.
The Philippines also noted that if their last appeal to include Andray Blatche in the Gilas Pilipinas line-up, will be turned down, they wold ask the OCA to allow Marcus Douthit to suit up instead. The former Gilas naturalized player was not included in the official line-up of the Philippines in the 2014 Asian Games.