INQUIRER Sports

SERBIAN COACH RAJKO TOROMAN, project director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, has stirred a hornet?s nest by saying that the Smart Gilas national team, the squad he?s handling for SBP, will be more competitive than the ill-starred Powerade-Team Pilipinas quintet.

I feel that Toroman?s remarks could be construed by many as totally unfair to Powerade-RP coach Yeng Guiao and unkind to the Philippine Basketball Association and sponsor Powerade.

The Powerade-RP team finished a lowly eighth in the recent Fiba Asia tournament in Tianjin, China, and failed to qualify for next year?s World Basketball Championship in Istanbul, Turkey.

Iran won the 2009 Fiba Asia, beating host China in a lopsided final.

?The Smart Gilas team will be even more competitive than the Powerade-RP team,? boasted Toroman, who piloted the Iranians to the 2007 Fiba Asia championship and to a first-ever stint in the Olympic Games in Beijing last year where they finished 11th.

Signed to a lucrative three-year contract by the SBP, Toroman is now keen on making an impact on the local scene.

?With the right ingredients, we will be competitive next year,? he said.

Toroman will enjoy the services of a naturalized American cager in CJ Giles and he hopes to add a few Powerade-RP players to reinforce his team, composed of young collegiate players who have yet to see action in international-level tournaments. Among the PBA pros the Serbian is eyeing are Japeth Aguilar, Jared Dillinger and Gabe Norwood.

Smart Gilas is honing for the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, in November next year and the 2011 Fiba Asia, a qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics.

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To be honest about it, many basketball diehards have already expressed apprehensions about our chances in the international arena.

Said Rene Antonio of Meycauayan, Bulacan: ?I have repeatedly watched the Philippine campaign in several international tournaments, including the recent Fiba Asia tournament, and I was devastated by what I saw. Basketball is truly not the sport for Filipinos in international-level competitions.?

Dan Peñafiel, a habitue of Country Style coffee shop at SM Marilao, said sports officials should not put too much emphasis on basketball because the sport is basically a tall man?s game.

?We should know by now our limitations. The Middle East countries, particularly Iran, Jordan and Lebanon, have improved tremendously while the Philippines has remained stagnant,? said retired Col. Julian Malonso, a former president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Some quarters have even questioned the appointment of Toroman, saying that the money allotted for the Serbian coach could have been spent more wisely by hiring tall, beefy and fast naturalized players.

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Historically, Philippine basketball enjoyed one of its finest moments during the 1980s when American coach Ron Jacobs handled the RP national team that included naturalized players Chip Engelland, Dennis Still and Jeff Moore.

Jacobs, head coach of Northern Cement Consolidated owned by businessman Eduardo ?Danding? Cojuangco Jr., lifted the sport to new heights by winning international titles, such as the 1982 Asian Youth championship, which had Samboy Lim and Hector Calma in the lineup; and the 1985 Asian Basketball Confederation (now Fiba Asia) tournament with a team led by dead shot Allan Caidic and Engelland, Still and Moore.