FIBA to adopt bubble format
Gilas Pilipinas would be seeing action inside a bubble when the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifying tournament resumes in November and February.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) made the announcement, saying that with the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease, the most logical way to restart the qualifiers is by holding it in isolated venues instead of the usual home-and-away format.
Gilas is in Group A with South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
The hosts will be decided at the regional level and will be announced in due course.
They fashion a 1-0 card following a 100-70 win over the Indonesians on 20 February — few weeks before the tournament was halted due to the outbreak of the deadly pulmonary disease.
The Nationals are set to see action on the road against South Korea on 27 November and against Thailand on 30 November before hosting Indonesia on 18 February and South Korea on 21 February next year.
“Each bubble will consist four or eight teams,” FIBA said in a statement.
“The hosts will be decided at the regional level and will be announced in due course.”
But putting the national dribblers inside a bubble would be easier said than done.
First, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has yet to issue the green light for the restart of amateur sports — including FIBA tournaments.
The only amateur sports that are seeking IATF permission are those where Filipinos have bright chances of clinching Olympic berths like boxing, taekwondo, fencing, athletics, swimming, golf, gymnastics and judo.
With that, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has to reach out to the IATF to explain the importance of the prestigious qualifiers.
Another roadblock is the schedule of the Philippine Basketball Association.
The country’s domestic league would also be using a bubble setup and is set to start on 9 October until mid-December.
Should the qualifiers push through in November, PBA players in the pool would not be seeing action.
Gilas program director Tab Baldwin said the news took them by surprise.
“We are yet to meet and discuss the pathway program so I don’t really have an update of which players and what is going to look like. It’s still a very fresh news,” Baldwin said, adding that they are still waiting for further updates from FIBA.
“Until everybody makes their decision and FIBA has also yet to release the specific dates, we are just waiting and obviously we need to put up contingency plan on how the team will look like.”
“We will certainly be meeting very soon.”