Cagers start bid vs Singapore

NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar—Always a cinch for the gold medal, the Philippines men’s basketball team has another mission aside from winning the crown.

Marcus Douthit, the PH five’s  towering naturalized center, has offered to donate P500 for every point and rebound he collects in the 27th Southeast Asian Games for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and his teammates are backing him up in the good deed.

The donations will start trickling in by 2 p.m. today when they begin their campaign against little-known Singapore at the Zayar Thiri Indoor Stadium here.

Perlas Pilipinas is also set to achieve something special following a silver-medal finish last time as the title-hungry women’s squad faces Malaysia at 10 a.m.

“The team is doing great and 100 percent ready,” said men’s skipper and Gilas cadet mainstay Kevin Alas. “So far, coaches say Singapore is the biggest threat because of their shooters.”

“We’ve scouted every team, except for the Singaporeans,” said assistant coach Josh Reyes. “They came into the competitions at the last minute.”

Joining the 6-foot-10 Douthit and Alas are collegiate stars Kiefer Ravena, Mac Belo, Kevin Ferrer, Bobby Ray Parks, Jericho Cruz, Roi Sumang and Gilas cadet players Matthew Ganuelas, Garvo Lanete, Ronald Pascual and Elvin Jake Pascual.

Except for a silver in 1989 Kuala Lumpur, the Filipino dribblers have dominated the meet since 1977.

As for the cagebelles, they have yet to see the glitter of gold but came close to bagging it two years ago after placing second in Indonesia and 1995 in Chiang Mai.