On FIBA-Asia and Manila

We got ourselves some good news the past couple days, as FIBA-Asia finally realized the folly of giving the hosting rights to a country with issues on security.

But now what? That will be the challenge that the SBP will entail in hosting this competition.

1. 800-1,000 athletes and officials from 16 countries will be descending into the NCR. It will be fascinating how logistically prepared we are going to be. I have seen how we have prepared for hosting a four-nation tournament, albeit in a different sport. Imagine four times that. Also, this comes with the additional amount of fans who intend to fly in to watch.

2. Who will be participating. As hosts, we earned a slot. The FIBA-Asia Cup champions also earn a slot, with Iran winning last year's tournament. These open up an additional slot each for Southeast Asia and West Asia in the competition.

The FIBA-Asia Cup also helps determine additional slots for FIBA-Asia, as it rewards zones that do well in that competition. In last year's case, it benefited East Asia, as thanks to Japan finishing 2nd, and China and Chinese-Taipei finishing 5th and 6th, East Asia netting themselves an additional three slots aside from their normal two slots. Qatar's third place finish meant the Gulf zone gets another slot, making it three.

Thus, the zonal breakdown of the participants are as follows:

Central Asia (a.k.a. _____-stan region) = 1 slot
South Asia = 1 slot
SouthEast Asia = Philippines and 2 more slots
West Asia = Iran and 2 more slots
East Asia = 5 slots
Gulf Asia = 3 slots

The Gulf zone already had their qualifiers via the GCC Championships. with Qatar successfully defending their title. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia finished 2nd and 3rd, earning their tickets to Manila.

All other zones have not provided details on their qualifying, save for the West Asian zone, which will have their qualifiers this February in Tehran.

3. Who are we sending? Well, we all know the rub on this one, right? Hopefully, with the competition in Manila, it would knock someone sense into certain people. It's also an interesting ploy to have the schedule cleared for the competition, as the request by MVP to the collegiate leagues. It'd also be interesting how we would deal with the SEABA qualifiers, knowing that we already secured our slot.