SEVILLE, Spain—Andray Blatche got his first taste of international play Saturday and wants to play on for the Philippines.
But he knows that playing in South Korea in the Incheon Asian Games is entirely out of his hands at the moment.
“Hopefully, I am allowed to play,” Blatche told the Inquirer Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila) when asked if he was aware that there’s a kink on his eligibility to play in the quadrennial Games.
“It’s for the best (of the Philippines), if not, there’s nothing I can do. I would love to play and represent the Philippines. I am looking forward to it. But it’s out of my hands.”
Even before the World Cup started here, Blatche was already big news back home because of an eligibility issue raised by the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee.
Gilas coach Chot Reyes had said that the Filipinos will have a great chance in South Korea with Blatche around. And judging from the way the 6-foot-11 former Brooklyn Net in the NBA played against Croatia on Saturday, Reyes wasn’t exaggerating one bit.
“No one in Asia can keep up with him,” Reyes had said in a previous interview. “Kaya tinitira lang talaga tayo ng Korea (that’s why the Koreans are singling us out).”
Olympic Council of Asia rules state that naturalized players—in all sports—need to be residents for the last three years of the country the athlete will represent. Unfortunately, though, there’s no way the Philippines could prove that in the case of Blatche.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas argues that Blatche has been cleared to play in Fiba-sanctioned events, hence, he is qualified for the Games since basketball will be run using Fiba rules.
Being the host, though, Korea can apply the rules to their fullest extent in Incheon. And it knows that the Philippines is a solid threat for a medal—if not the gold itself—after the Filipinos beat them for the first time since 1986 in a memorable semifinal showdown in the World Cup Qualifying event in Manila last year.
Gilas pulled off an 81-74 victory even with Marcus Douthit, its naturalized player until last July in the Fiba Asia Cup in Wuhan, China, out with a leg injury from the first quarter.
Blatche said he now realizes that he is a hero—“The Man”—back in Manila after just that one game against the Croats.
“I can’t wait to get over there [after the World Cup] and move around Manila,” he said. “I am very thankful to be in a situation like this. The guys (his teammates) are helping me out. They took me in as one of their own.”
The way he talked with pride in playing for the Philippines, it was obvious that Blatche has also taken the country as his own.