The country’s recognized governing body of basketball, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas confirmed that the Philippines is now ready to send to the FIBA general headquarters in Geneva both the hard and soft copies of its formal bid to host one of the three Olympic World Qualifiers 2016.
According to SBP executive director Sonny Barrios, the federation is determined to bring over to the Philippines one of the three qualifiers to hopefully give Gilas Pilipinas a fighting chance to make it to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin revealed earlier to the media that his new pool were assembled for the very first time at the Meralco Gym last night.
The Philippine national basketball team are composed of veterans and well-accomplished players in the PBA namely Junmar Fajardo, Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, Ian Sangalang, Marc Pingris, Ranidel de Ocampo, Troy Rosario, Marcio Lassiter, Calvin Abueva, Gabe Norwood, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Jeff Chan, Jayson Castro, Paul Lee, LA Tenorio, Ryan Reyes, and Terrence Romeo.
Last month, the SBP revealed its intention to host one of the Olympic Qualifying tournaments as they submitted a letter of intent to bid. The other countries who wants to host the event were Mexico, Italy, Turkey, Russia, Germany, Serbia and Iran.
The Philippines is confident is confident that they can convince FIBA to approve the Philippines hosting as they noted that the Olympic Qualifier only features six teams in six days which is lower compared to the previous FIBA events hosted by the Philippines particularly the FIBA Asia Championship which showcased 16 teams in 11 days of competition.
