Reyes seeks fans help as PH makes final pitch for Fiba World hosting

There’s no denying that Filipinos are one of the most passionate basketball fans in the world.

And there’s not a better time to show that great love for the game than now as the Philippines makes its final push to win the hosting rights for the 2019 Fiba World Cup.

Former PH national basketball team head coach Chot Reyes said basketball-crazy Filipinos will play a big role in helping the country’s bid through the #PUSO2019 campaign.

READ: Fans come out to support PH’s bid to host Basketball World Cup

“#PUSO2019 is really our fan engagement campaign that is meant to show the world especially the Fiba Central Board how big a deal it’s going to be for the country if we do get the chance to host the Fiba World Championships in 2019,” Reyes, who has also been named head of DIGITAL5, told a select group of reporters during a press conference Tuesday.

Reyes said the objective is to make the campaign trend on Twitter worldwide on the day the final presentation will be made.

“Our plan is to generate a lot of talkability, a lot of sharing online so that by the time August 7 comes, when we make that final pitch, puso has grown into a very big campaign and hopefully we’re able to trend it globally and we’re able to show the Central Board that this is what I mean when we make that pitch there in Japan in Tokyo,” Reyes explained. “We should be able to say and to be able to give an example how big hosting is going to be for the country, we want to show them a live Twitter feed or whatever that it is actually trending globally on August 7.”

“As if we’re saying that when we talk about the Filipinos passion for basketball, it’s not lip service, here’s the proof. What better way to show it than that. Hopefully we can make that impression to the Fiba Central Board to show them how big it is in the Philippines and give them a reason to award it to us,” Reyes added.

The Philippines and China are the last two countries left in the running before Fiba makes its announcement next month.

“As you all know we’re up against China and we don’t have our resources, we don’t have their infrastructure but ang panlaban natin diyan (our best weapon) is our passion for the game that is best embodied by puso (heart). That is why we’re asking all our kababayans to continue pushing it. We’re going to have a lot more announcements and campaigns in the sunup as we buildup towards August 7,” he said.

The #PUSO2019 was launched last month in a fan rally which saw Filipinos come together in a show of support for the country’s bid. And that support will be needed anew.

The campaign will be part of the final presentation before the Fiba Central Board. Reyes and former Gilas Pilipinas captain Jimmy Alapag will be part of the group that will make the pitch.

Reyes said both countries will be given about 20 minutes to present before a closed-door Q&A. An hour-long deliberation follows and then the long-awaited announcement, which will be broadcasted live on Sports5.

“We are after all the social media capital of the world and we are the No.1 basketball nation in the world we won the most valuable fan award in the last World Cup and we’re leveraging those two strengths – our basketball passion and our social media presence.”