MACAU—The end result of the ugly brawl between the Philippines and Australia during the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers may not have been as shocking as the fight itself.
Almost the entire of the Gilas squad and three Boomers were suspended for a varying number of games, a punishment which NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao believes was fairly given.
“Actually, that is fair for me,” said Guiao, a former national team mentor, said in Filipino Thursday after the Road Warriors’ 88-78 win over Xinjiang Guangui in the Asia League Super 8 here.
“I’ve been suspended a few games. I thought they will be suspended for a few more games than what they got. For me, that’s actually okay. We just have to push through this and move on.”
Japeth Aguilar and Matthew Wright are suspended for one game each with Terrence Romeo, Jayson Castro, Andray Blatche, and Troy Rosario given three-game suspensions.
Roger Pogoy, Carl Bryan Cruz, and Jio Jalalon are suspended for five games while Calvin Abueva got the hardest hit with a six-game suspension.
Of the Gilas players who were present at Philippine Arena only Allein Maliksi, Gabe Norwood, Baser Amer, and June Mar Fajardo were spared.
“I guess that’s just my attitude because that’s already over,” said Guiao, whose team will be in the semifinals of the Super 8. “Let’s serve our penalties and move on and learn our lessons from that.”