2012 FIBA Asia Championships will be held in Manila

The Philippines gained the right to host the 27th FIBA-Asia Championship after the FIBA Asia Executive Committee decided to move the venue from Lebanon due to the tense situation in Syria and the Middle East.  The tournament will be held on August 1-11, 2013.

FIBA Asia Secretary General Hagop Khajirian explained that the on-going civil war in Syria created the doubts for a successful staging of the biennial basketball tournament in his home country Lebanon.  The FIBA Asia tournament is the main qualifying tournament for Asian countries for the 2014 FIBA World Cup that will be held in Spain. The top 3 finishers of the 27th FIBA-Asia Championship will represent the continent in the World Cup that is held once every 4 years.

The Philippines has been a very vocal in its interest to host the prestigious qualifying tournament as the event was last held in Manila in 1973 during the 7th staging of the event. The officials of the Samahan ng Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) were very disappointed when FIBA Asia initially awarded the event to Lebanon.

The Philippines has now has a chance to redeem its disappointing 4th place finish in the last staging of the event which cost a chance to play at the 2012 London Olympics.

caloycomment: We not got the hosting rights.  Will we be able to assemble our strongest team ever? Will politics in the PBA prevent as from creating a strong line-up that can reach the finals.  Hopefully Manny Pangilinan and the San Miguel will form an unlikely alliance that will at least give the country a fair chance to qualify for the World Cup.  I am drooling now just trying to imagine how Jason Castro guards Chris Paul or how Arwind Santos stop Lebron James. It could happen… 😉

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Big League Softball World Series Finals: Grand Rapids beat Philippines anew

District 9 captures Big League Softball Title

Grand Rapids captured its third title in 4 years in the Big League Softball World Series after defeating Manila 9-2 in the finals. It was the third time that the 2 teams meet in the finals and the result has been the same. It was a tough loss for the Asia-Pacific Champions Manila as they won against the District 9 Champs in the elimination round.

Pitcher Morgan Groom completed the game for Grand Rapids and limited Manila to just 6 hits. The 2011 Champions had 10 hits and was helped by the 5 errors by the Manila girls.

Related articles

• Big League Softball World Series: Manila faces Grand Rapids in the finals (caloysports.wordpress.com)
• Big League Softball World Series website
• Grand Rapids repeat over Manila (mlive)