Philippines - Filipino coach to handle Olympic five
Should the Philippines makes it back to the 2012 Olympic basketball competition, it will still be home cooking that will get us there, even if the one picking and dicing up the ingredients now looks far from being the typical Juan dela Cruz. Manny V. Pangilinan, the business tycoon who has become the godfather of modern Philippine basketball, declared that a Filipino coach will call the shots if the country gets a shot at qualifying for the London Games.
From sports.inquirer.net
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Should the Philippines makes it back to the 2012 Olympic basketball competition, it will still be home cooking that will get us there, even if the one picking and dicing up the ingredients now looks far from being the typical Juan dela Cruz.
Manny V. Pangilinan, the business tycoon who has become the godfather of modern Philippine basketball, declared that a Filipino coach will call the shots if the country gets a shot at qualifying for the London Games.
“We don’t know yet who that coach would be, but he definitely has to be Filipino,” Pangilinan told scribes Saturday during a small gathering at the posh Mandarin Hotel here.
“Certainly, damdamin ko (it is my wish that) if ever makabalik tayo ng (we can make it back to the) Olympics, gusto ko makitang mukha ng (I want to see a) head coach (who is) ay Pilipino (Filipino),” added Pangilinan, who is in this island paradise to root for his Talk ‘N Text who played against San Miguel in an official PBA Philippine Cup elimination round game on Sunday.
“Para sa akin, pagdating ng (For me, when it comes to an) important tournament, give it to a Filipino (coach),” he added.
Pangilinan, through the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas which he heads, has tapped the services of Rajko Toroman, a Serbian drillmaster who guided Iran to the Beijing Games, to put together an RP squad that will also make it to the next Olympics.
Toroman had already formed a 25-man team made up of mostly of young collegiate stars, with the help of Chot Reyes, Eric Altamirano and Norman Black, with their sights trained on qualifying for the London Games.
Pangilinan added that the country has sounded off its bid to the Southeast Asian Basketball Association to host the Seaba championship in May, a tournament which the Philippines needs to win to earn a slot in the FIBA-Asia qualifying in China sometime in August or September.
The billionaire businessman added that he has dropped the idea of sending a basketball floor to Laos for the Southeast Asian Games next year, opting instead, to spend the amount—some P3.5 million—to the various sports he now heads.
Toroman will name the members of his 25-man pool, where La Salle’s Rico Maierhofer belongs, on Monday.
Pangilinan also said that efforts to find more Filipino-foreign talents are in place with former Letran College coach Larry Albano, Jim Kelly and Joy Allado having specific territories for their hunt.
A separate team has been formed by the professional PBA, to be handled by the fiery Yeng Guiao, whose aim is to make the World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, next year.