By Joel Orellana

ORGANIZERS of the 2009 Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Men’s Championship are at a loss and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) officials hang in the balance.

These after the Seaba organizers this week informed the PBA of a change in schedule and venue of the tournament, which could drastically affect the ongoing Fiesta Conference.

Fiba Asia secretary-general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock told the PBA early this week that the Seaba won’t push through this April. He has also asked the participating countries in the tournament to give them one week to decide on the final date and venue of the competition.

PBA operations chief Ricky Santos said the Seaba tournament, the qualifier for the Fiba Asia Championship in Tianjin, China, this August, is now tentatively set in June with still no exact date and venue.

“Hindi pa rin sure kung kailan sa June,” said Santos, pointing out that the league already blocked the April 2 to 6 dates in their calendar in anticipation of the Seaba tournament.

The event was supposed to be hosted by Indonesia but the Fiba Asia council was informed by the Indonesian basketball association that it cannot organize the competition. Yeoh reportedly offered to hold the event in his home country in Malaysia.

According to Santos, the PBA’s schedule would be greatly affected by the postponement of the Seaba as the Fiesta Conference is set to enter its semifinal stage in June. A Seaba delay also means the extension of the tournament, as well as the contracts of the imports.

But PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios reiterated the league’s commitment to the national team, saying they will definitely join the Seaba competition even if it means “making drastic changes in the schedule in the calendar of the Fiesta Conference.”

“We have to stand by our commitment to represent the country in the Seaba. Affected talaga ang PBA lalo na sa schedule but we have to make the necessary changes sa ating [PBA] schedule,” Barrios said.

The Philippine team, to be handled by head coach Yeng Guiao and bankrolled by Powerade, is expected to rule the Seaba tournament with an all-professional lineup.

The real test for the team will come in the Fiba Asia event, a qualifier for the 2010 World Championship in Turkey where Spain is the defending champion.

In the 2007 Seaba tournament in Ratchaburi, Thailand, Chot Reyes’s Nationals swept their way to the Fiba Asia qualifier in Tokushima, Japan, for the 2008 Beijing Oympics. The Filipino dribblers placed ninth in the regional qualifier.


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