Is Andray Blatche eligible to play for the Philippines in the Asian Games?
The answer is left hanging at the moment as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has yet to receive a written and concrete approval from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) giving Blatche the green light to play as a Filipino in the quadrennial event.
Set in Incheon, South Korea on Sept. 19 to Oct. 4, the Asian Games has its own set of rules regarding the fielding of naturalized players and Blatche, according to a source who requested anonymity, might not be able to satisfy the OCA’s requirements.
The Philippine Olympic Committee source told the Inquirer yesterday that the OCA states that a naturalized player should have established residence for at least three years in the country he will represent.
Tapped as replacement for Marcus Douthit, Blatche, a former mainstay of the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, was naturalized as a Filipino more than two months ago.
“Our position is that he is eligible because he has been declared [eligible to play] by Fiba [in its events], hence he should be eligible to play in any tournament under the auspices of Fiba,” said SBP official Moying Martelino.
“In the Asian Games, the technical delegate [of the basketball event] is from Fiba,” Martelino added. “As far as we are concerned, we don’t have a problem. We have our own interpretation [of the rule] but we are not the decision-makers.”
According to Martelino, the SBP thinks that Blatche is eligible because he is not affected by the residency rule since the 6-foot-11 American has not played for the United States—or any other country for that matter—before he was naturalized by the Philippines.
The same source said the POC had learned that a naturalized player for host Korea, a main rival of the Philippines for the basketball medal, will not be able to suit up its naturalized player because of the rule.
For the Philippines to win the gold, it is safe to say that it would have to go through the Koreans again, at least in the Final Four or in the title match.
Blatche will suit up for Gilas Pilipinas in the World Cup that starts in eight days in four cities in Spain, the reason why SBP says that Blatche would be eligible for any other tournament.
But the Asian Games, the Olympics and even the Southeast Asian Games are being governed by different sets of rules, hence, the worry that Blatche might encounter trouble competing in the Incheon Games.