Chot Reyes on Gilas trip to Lithuania: ‘We expect to get massacred’

The Philippine national men’s basketball team is about to embark on a journey to Lithuania, and the trip is anything but a vacation.

“We expect to get massacred,” said SMART-Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes. “Bubugbugin tayo doon, at kaya naman tayo magpupunta doon para magpabugbog.”

During the camp, the Philippine team will have the chance to play against six of the top professional teams in Lithuania and Reyes believes that the team will face a level of competition that is much higher than it’s used to.

“My belief is if you’re training, you have to train against superior competition. Better skilled, better height and you can only get that in places like Europe, in this case, Lithuania.”

Supervising the Gilas camp will be former Lithuanian national team coach Kestutis Kemzura, who led his country to a bronze medal finish in the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

Kemzura’s squad, despite only having one NBA player in Linas Kleiza, suffered only one defeat in eight games – a semifinal loss to the Kevin Durant-led USA national team dubbed the “B-Team” due to the absence of players like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant from the roster.

For Reyes, the Lithuania camp will offer a rare opportunity for the team to be together, and is expected to be a crucial part of the Gilas preparations.

“It’s our first time to be really all complete. This is really our training camp, that’s the way we’re looking at it,” said Reyes.

“It’s going to form a big part of the final decision-making process.”

With several players falling to injuries, the Gilas pool headed to Lithuania consists of just 13 players hoping to make the final cut of 12. The players are Marcus Douthit, LA Tenorio, Gary David, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Ranidel De Ocampo, Larry Fonacier, Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Marc Pingris, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter. The delegation will leave on June 2.

Not making the trip with health concerns or injuries are Sonny Thoss, Kelly Williams, Jared Dillinger and Ryan Reyes.

The trip is part of the team’s buildup for the FIBA Asia Championship to be held in Manila in August.

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Like father Benjie, rising teen star Kobe Paras brings Philippines basketball glory

Benjie Paras knows the excitement of carrying Philippine colors and winning a championship while representing the country in the international basketball scene.

That’s why the PBA’s “Tower of Power” wasn’t surprised when he was the first person his son Kobe called after helping the Philippine team win the FIBA Asia 3×3 Under-18 Championship last week.

“I experienced that before when we won the gold in the Southeast Asian games in Jakarta in 1987. It makes you feel proud being a Filipino and being a member of the champion team in an international tournament,” said Paras.

“He updated me right away when they won. Up to now, hindi sila makapaniwala beating China.”

Kobe, who plays guard for La Salle Greenhills, told his father about facing a much bigger Chinese squad.

“They were up against three players standing 6-foot-10, plus a 6-foot-1 point guard, so doon pa lang malaking disadvantage na on our part. That’s why the victory came sweeter. Bihira pa natin talunin sa basketball ang China,” said the elder Paras.

Kobe teamed up with another second-generation player Thirdy Ravena as well as Arvin Tolentino and Prince Rivero to bag the title.

The two-time PBA Most Valuable Player said winning at an early age would serve his Kobe well.

“Dati kasi, kami mga around 18 years old kami nakakapag-start representing the country. Now, sa age group, you can represent it as early as 15 and this is a good start for Kobe,” said Benjie.

“I told him to value this success and learn from this. He also has to value the school where he plays for dahil ito yung nagpapa-aral sa kanya.”

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Salud on Gilas snub in Jones Cup: ‘We control our destiny’

MANILA, Philippines — PBA Commissioner Chito Salud remained upbeat on the Gilas-Pilipinas’ chances in the coming Fiba-Asia championship this August despite its latest hurdle.

Philippine team head coach Chot Reyes last Monday night revealed that Gilas had been “un-invited” to the 2013 Jones Cup in Chinese Taipei due to the tension between the Philippines and Taiwan.

“Unfortunate as it is, we need to move forward. We need to stay strong. We need to stay focused,” Salud said in a statement.

“Nothing has changed — we control our destiny. We will not be deterred in our quest to perform well in the coming Fiba-Asia championship which our country will host.”

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Pinoy GMs go for glory in World Chess Cup

MANILA, Philippines – The road to the 2013 World Chess Cup in Tromso, Norway starts Tuesday for Filipino Grandmasters Wesley So, Mark Paragua and Oliver Barbosa.

So, Paragua and Barbosa will represent the Philippines in the prestigious tournament slated Aug. 10 to September 5 eyeing no less than eyeing to clinch one, if not both, of the two spots staked in the 2014 Candidates Matches, a tournament which determines who will fight for the World Chess Championship.

"Our training starts as soon as we go home because the World Cup is just a few months away," said Paragua in Filipino moments after finishing third in the recently concluded Asian Continental Chess Championship dubbed "Manny Pacquiao Cup" at the Midas Hotel and Casino.

It will be the 29-year-old Paragua's fourth World Cup appearance, the most number of stints by any Filipinos in the event, after making it there in the 2004 edition in Libya and 2006 and 2010 in Khanty Minsk, Russia.

This time, Paragua hopes to perform better.

"The farthest I got in the World Cup was the second round, I hope to improve on my performance," he said.

So, who skipped the Pacquiao Cup to join a tournament he topped in Calgary, Canada, have made it to the World Cup via a strong performance in the Asian Zone 3.3 Championship last year while Barbosa joined the event and finished second but he already booked a slot in an Asian event also a year back.

Barbosa, who made his Olympiad debut last year, said he will prepare hard in his first World Cup appearance.

"I hope to do well in Norway and not disappoint my countrymen," said the 26-year-old Barbosa, the second highest ranked Filipino with an ELO rating of 2566 behind only So who has 2705.

The Chess World Cup 2013 is a chess 128-player single-elimination tournament.

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SBP exec bats for Philippine hosting of FIBA Asia 3×3 tournament

Following the success of the Philippine squad in the FIBA Asia Under-18 3×3 Championship, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Sonny Barrios will propose to the stakeholders of the cage body the possibility of hosting the prestigious event in the future.

Barrios shared his thoughts to InterAKTV on Sunday.

“It’s a big possibility. In fact, mas madali nga ito kasi mas konti yung kasali. Logistics-wise, the event will be easier to manage,” Barrios said in a telephone interview.

“Kasi sa 3×3, a team is only composed of four players per team plus a team official. Hindi kinakailangang coach yung kasama ng mga players. Pwedeng manager, pwedeng physical therapist. Depende sa kanila. Parang ang ginawa ng FIBA na ruling dito, these guys can coach on their own.”

Arvin Tolentino, Prince Rivero, Kobe Paras, and Thirdy Ravena clinched the gold medal in the FIBA Asia 3×3 Under-18 Championships in Bangkok, Thailand last week.

The Philippines will be hosting of this year’s FIBA Asia Championship, an event that will be held in Manila for the first time in 40 years. Barrios said this will be a good test of how well the country can manage a major international event.

Barrios noted that three-on-three is already popular in the Philippines.

“Kung sa Brazil they play football everywhere, tayo naman dito sa Pilipinas, we have our street basketball. Even sa electric post tapos magbibilog lang ng bakal, makakapaglaro na ng basketball,” said Barrios.

“That’s how popular basketball is in the country and FIBA is aware of how passionate Filipinos are about this game.”

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FA U18 3x3: Filipino boys stop India in their tracks, win gold

BANGKOK, Thailand (1st FIBA Asia 3x3 U18 Championship for Boys and Girls): 

 Playing their second successive Final of the day, India would have hoped for their boys to make amends for the disappointment in the girls section. But as things would turn out, it was Philippines’ overall better control of the proceedings that became the highlight as the SEABA team outsmarted their opponents to win 21-19 and clinch the gold.

Things did good look for India during the day.

The team showing some excellent opportunism in offense and solid temperament in defense had overcome two tough WABA opponents in back-to-back games heading to the final.

Against Lebanon, India with Loveneet Singh at the vanguard seized the initiative early on and steadily built on it advance. And against Syria in the semifinals, it took a lot of effort on the defensive skills of Gurvinder Gill to keep the rally of their opponents at bay.

Thus when India entered the Final game, it was certainly with their expectations buoyant.

But Philippines, themselves had come into the gold medal game with their antlers up having beaten the mighty China in the semifinals.

As Rashleigh Rivero put it: “We were really scared of the Chinese, their size and height.”

But in a bruising battle that saw an unsportsmanlike foul being called on a Chinese player, Ferdinand Ravena converted two free-throws – a rare instance in 3x3 – to clinch the issue.

And the tale of close contest for Philippines, who had survived a late scare against Japan in the quarterfinals, continued in the gold medal game continued.

Ravena looked as flamboyant as ever and Rivero as steady, but the Indian quartet playing some uninhibited basketball kept nagging.

The scoreboard, as a result almost equal, till Ravena sealed the issue reaching the 21-point mark.

“Honestly, I don’t have words to describe my feelings,” Rivero said.

“We are overwhelmed. We didn’t really think we could go all the way. We had God on our side,” Ravena added.

 “We worked really hard for this,” chipped in Arvin Tolentino. “I think God helped us because we helped ourselves,” he said.

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Alaska willing to lend Calvin Abueva to Philippine national team

The Alaska Aces previously made a clear stand that it won’t release its players to the Philippine national men’s basketball team while they were still in contention for the Commissioner’s Cup.

But with the tournament over and the team fresh off capturing its 14th PBA title, Alaska is now willing to do its part for the national cause.

That means that center Sonny Thoss can begin full contact training with the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team.

The Aces are also open to lending another player to the national squad.

On Monday, InterAKTV reported exclusively that members of the Gilas coaching staff are interested in tapping Alaska star rookie Calvin Abueva to join the pool.

“For Calvin, if he will be included, I don’t see a problem,” wrote Alaska team manager Dickie Bachmann in a text message to InterAKTV.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes originally named 17 players to the pool, but several members of the squad have been felled by injuries. Kelly Williams (blood disorder) and Jared Dillinger (pelvic fracture) have been ruled out of this August’s FIBA Asia Championship, while others are recovering from various ailments.

Abueva has emerged as the leading candidate to win the season’s Most Valuable Player honors after finishing runner-up in the Best Player race in the first two conferences. The idea of him joining the national squad has drawn strong support from PBA fans. In a poll on InterAKTV, more than 77 percent of voters agreed that he should be part of Gilas.

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