INQUIRER Sports

NO WAY WILL HE allow Fiba-Asia secretary general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock to be involved in the Asian Basketball League.

This was Mikee Romero’s strong reaction when I asked him to confirm a tip from his Singapore-based friend Paul Monozca.

Paul said Dato Yeoh of Malaysia will be on top of the ABL and it will be Yeoh’s group that will run the technical aspect of the league.

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Mikee said that was the initial plan of the organizers—to install Dato Yeoh as head of the ABL’s technical committee.

“But I protested. I told them that if they push through with this plan, I would pull out the Philippine team. They reconsidered. We are giving that post instead to Michael Johnson, a former player of Australia’s NBL.”

Mikee said the ABL is a professional league and should, therefore, be independent. It’s not true, he clarified, that the ABL board is composed of Fiba-Asia officials.

“It is the team owners who will sit on the board,” Mikee said.

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Mikee reminded me of his unforgettable experience with Dato Yeoh two years ago.

“I may have forgiven him but I cannot forget the incident in Jakarta where he did not allow Sam Ekwe to play for our national team.”

Mikee recounted that the RP-Harbour Centre squad flew to Jakarta to compete in the Seaba qualifier to the Champion’s Cup.

“We didn’t think that we needed any other additional documents for Ekwe, a Nigerian, since Julius Nwosu, who is also a Nigerian, had been allowed to play the year before without any specials papers required,” Mikee said.

But Dato Yeoh did not agree, he said.

“He would not allow Ekwe to play unless we secured clearance from the Nigerian Basketball Association. At that time it was already too late to get that document. We were caught flatfooted.

“We were practically begging Dato for consideration, based on the fact that Nwosu was allowed to play in the same tournament the year before without presenting a clearance from Nigeria.”

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Mikee said this particular incident had prompted Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, then the executive director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, to resign from his post.

For three days in a row, Pato made an appointment with Dato Yeoh, Mikee said.

“For three days in a row, he did not show up at the appointed place and on the appointed hour. We never got through to him. Consequently, Ekwe never got to play,” recalled Mikee.

The Philippines was forced to play All-Filipino without Ekwe, who was entered as an import.

“We ended up in second place. We were the defending champion,” he said.

Mikee said he cannot allow things like these to happen in the ABL. That’s why Fiba-Asia will not have a part in the new league, which he said will be formally launched on Aug. 8 in Singapore.