PSC chief wants Gilas-Pilipinas five in SEA Games

AFTER declaring he is averse to funding team sports where several players bring home just one gold, Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia now wants the country to compete in the Myanmar Southeast Asian Games basketball event with no less than the Gilas-Pilipinas national squad seeing action.

Garcia yesterday said he would encourage Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas officials to have the team of PBA stars compete in the regional meet which the country has ruled since 1989 even with teams of amateur cagers.

“I don’t mind if we beat the opponent by 40 or 50 points; the point is we have to send the best team in the SEA Games,” said Garcia.

The Gilas five is preparing in Lithuania for the Fiba Asia Championship on Aug. 1 to 11 at Mall of Asia Arena. The top three finishers in this year’s 16-country Asian championship qualify for the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Spain.

Though fielding the PBA players in the biennial meet is an obvious overkill, Garcia said he just wants to secure the basketball gold.

“There might be seven-footers or players with foreign lineage in other teams,” he said. “We don’t want to take that risk.”

The Gilas program also has top collegiate players as part of its cadet team.