PH women’s hoops team hopes for another shot at SEAG gold

Melissa Jacob, Allana May Lim, Analyn Almazan, and Merenciana Arayi of the Discovery Perlas ng Pilipinas basketball team. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Just another shot at the gold medal, which slipped through their hands on a buzzer-beater shot in the 2011 SouthEast Asian Games, is what the Philippine women’s basketball team is asking the country’s sports officials.

The bid for redemption of the PH team called Discovery Perlas Pilipinas’ bid hangs in the balance as its manager Cynthia Tiu confirmed the team’s non-inclusion in the delegation for this year’s SEA Games.

“While at practice yesterday, we found out that we weren’t included in the list. We didn’t know. They said we need an endorsement from the federation, but there hasn’t been any,” Tiu told reporters at the weekly SCOOP sa Kamayan forum.

Tiu said that they were going to file an appeal on Friday before the Philippine Sports Commission, which has been trying to diminish the size of delegation for this year’s meet in Burma, leading to other sports — which won’t guarantee medals –getting the boot.

Discovery Perlas, meanwhile, chipped in a silver medal for the Philippines in the 26th edition of the games after yielding to Thailand, 73-75, only on a triple from Thai Juthamas Jantakan with 1.8 seconds left.

And that heartbreaking memory is what lights fire under the players — even if there’s a chance they could end up without a return trip to the SEA Games after all.

“It’s obviously frustrating. In 2011, we almost won. And that’s our motivation to train these past few years,” Melissa Jacob told INQUIRER.net at the Kamayan Restaurant in Padre Faura.

The members of PH women’s team, who get allowance from the PSC but are buoyed by sponsor Discovery Suits, have been training twice a day at Rizal Memorial for the past year.

Co-skipper Ewon Arayi, a long-time national team member, is waiting for a chance to make amends for her late-game errors in 2011, where she missed a free throw and a travelling call.

“Kung hindi matutuloy, mabigat sa loob ko. Ang tagal tagal ko ng naglalaro, gusto kong makabawi. Gusto namin patunayan na hindi lang namin kaya maglaro,gusto talaga naming i-represent yung bayan (It will be a big letdown if we don’t go. I’ve been playing for a long time; I really want to avenge our loss. We also want to prove that we can play and represent our country),” said Arayi.

Joanne Grajales, another veteran who helped Discovery Perlas nab its first ever Southeast Asia Basketball Association (Seaba) title, just wants to give the country another medal before she retires.

“Gusto namin makabigay ng gold sa Pilipinas sa SEA games. Sana bigyan kami ng chance. Sigurado naman kami makakakuha ng medal (We want to give the Philippines a gold medal in the SEA Games. We’re sure we can get a medal),” Grajales confidently said.

When asked until when Tiu and the coaching staff are going to wait for PSC’s answer to their request, she said, “until they say yes.”

But the women’s team is not just going to sit around, waiting for the officials’ nod.

“We’re still training hard so when we get the go signal, we’re ready. Instead of being down, we’re still training with the mindset that we’re going to the SEA Games,” Jacob also said.