Asiad gives nod to cagers Lutz, Mercado

MANILA—Chris Lutz and Solomon Mercado will be playing for the Smart Gilas Pilipinas five in the coming Asian Games set Nov. 12-17 in Guangzhou, China, after all. Philippine delegation team official Moying Martelino said the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee  promised yesterday to fix the prevalid identification cards that will allow Mercado and Lutz to suit up for the RP five. “We called up the organizers and they confirmed that the documents of both players are now being processed,” said Martelino. Still, he advised the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to secure Chinese visas for both players. “The organizers can no longer send their IDs so we have to fix it first thing when we get to Guangzhou,” said Martelino, who will leave on Nov. 7 with 10 other administrative officials. Smart Gilas will leave on Nov. 9 to play a couple of tuneup games with  Chinese Basketball Association teams Guangdong Tigers and Dongguan Century Leopards before the tournament proper on Nov. 13.
    
Martelino said the case of Lutz and Mercado, who were not on the original 18-man lineup submitted by the SBP to the POC, will be on top of the agenda when he represents the RP contingent in the delegation registration meeting in Guangzhou on Nov. 8.
    
Lutz, a 6-foot-2 Filipino-foreign shooting guard, secured his Philippine passport only last month while the 6-foot Mercado, loaned by the PBA and his mother ballclub Rain Or Shine, was a late replacement for reigning PBA MVP James Yap.