Busloads of ‘Spain-noys’ cheer for PH

SEVILLE, Spain—Gilas Pilipinas can expect to play on a virtual home floor every game in Group B action at the Fiba World Cup here.

Overseas Filipino workers are coming here—some of them traveling by bus for as long as seven hours—from cities all over this country to cheer for their gallant countrymen.

And for those who work odd jobs just to be able to support their families back home, theirs, really, is a labor of love: A ticket to the game costs at least 50 euros (about P3,000).

“Basta para sa basketball team natin, kahit gaano pa kalayo ‘yan, bibiyahe kami (for our team, we will be there, no matter how far),” said Arcadio Sotto, a Novo Ecijano, who organized a group of Filipinos that came in four buses to watch the game against Croatia.

“In my estimate, there were about 2,000 of us here against Croatia,” Sotto said.

A total of 13 buses came from Madrid alone to see Gilas play.

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JASON Castro has certainly come a long way.

From a hero of Guagua in Pampanga’s big intertown basketball tournament in 2004, the speedy Castro is now regarded as one of the finest—if not the best—point guards in Asia.

Castro showcased his talent internationally when he helped the Philippines finish second in the Fiba Asia qualifying last year.

He made the Mythical Five as the point guard, getting the nod over Iran’s Mahdi Kamhrani and Asia’s other crack sentinels.

“I was one of the youngest then (in 2004),” Castro said in Filipino, recounting his experience in the league that produced the likes of Ato Agustin, Rey Cuenco, Calvin Abueva and Ian Sangalang. “My experience there helped me a lot. Playing street ball is tough.”