PHI - We won't go down without a fight: Altamirano

JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship) - Frederick Altamirano's boys ended a 22-year-old top-four drought for Philippines in FIBA Asia official competitions, when they beat Jordan 60-45 to enter the semifinals of the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship on Tuesday.

"We were expecting this. It certainly is not a surprise as far we are concerned," the 42-year-old told this correspondent in the course of an interview after their progress.

Excerpts

FIBA Asia: Can you talk us through your performance in the Championship?

Altamirano: Well, we had a tough draw in the preliminary round in what can be called as the Group of Death.

Our opening win against Japan was crucial. Japan were very familiar with us, since we had just played them in Cebu (Philippines). And then they had a new guy coming in for this tournament, whom we had not seen in Cebu. That made our job tougher and therefore winning against Japan set the tone.

The next two games were a surprise for us. We didn't expect it to be that easy against Kazakhstan, but the way we stopped Alexander Zhigulin helped us. We didn't expect Bahrain to play that well. In the end, the boys showed a lot of character.

So, looking at the way we entered the Quarterfinal Round, it looked like we had a breeze, which it was not. We were 3-0, but we ran into the WABA big guns.

Against Syria, the breaks didn't go our way except in the last few minutes. We had beaten Iran twice in Cebu, but I guess Law of Averages caught up with us. Also their consultant coach (Veselin Matic) gave them good inputs. And against Jordan, we played hard early and that helped us.

Going into the semifinals we are all very excited, because it is after a long gap that we are making the last four grade in official competitions. So we want to make the best of it.

I know it's going to be tough against China, but we won't go down without our best effort. One thing is that these boys have played China before in Beijing last year. So we are familiar with them, but they are very mature both physically as well as in their game sense.

FIBA Asia: What were your preparations for this Championship?

Altamirano: We started the tryouts last December and we formed the team in January. We practiced together till our summer. From June to October the boys were with their schools. And from October we have been in training.

These boys were spotted by the National Basketball Training Centre (a nation-wide development program in Philippines).

FIBA Asia: Can you comment on the future of these boys?

Altamirano: This team is linked up with coach (Toroman) Rajkov's team.

Definitely there will be a transition stage when some of these boys will be going up to Rajkov's team.

This is a feeder program for Philippines National Team.

As far as Rajkov and I are concerned, we are synchronized in our philosophy.

Hopefully, we can find some taller players.

FIBA Asia: What according to you is the greatest attribute of this team?

Altamirano: One thing is there are no superstars in this team. Nor is anybody to become a superstar.

All the boys realize that it is important to play together as a team. Everybody is doing his share and everybody knows to play to our strengths well and hide our weakness.

One thing I admire in this team is their courage and character. They are not afraid of playing against bigger players

They don't buck down even if you are a seven-footer. And that is a very pleasant sign at this age.

I have seen these boys from January and I am not really surprised by their performance here.

They are very disciplined and with a very high basketball IQ.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia