Thailand in Fiba freezer

You must be wondering why Malaysia’s Westport Dragons are representing the Asean Basketball League (ABL) in the ongoing Fiba Asia Champions Cup, instead of the champion Thailand Slammers, who beat the defending titlist Philippine Patriots in the ABL finals last February.
An ABL insider explained that, like the Philippines some years back, Thailand was suspended by the Fiba and consequently banned from participating in any Fiba-sanctioned tournament. I was not informed how long Thailand’s suspension is.
Being the runner-up, the Patriots should have replaced the Slammers in the tournament being played at the PhilSports Arena until June 5, but Fiba Asia rules do not allow a country to be represented by more than one team.
“That’s the reason why second runner-up Malaysia represented the ABL,” said my source.
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The Dragons are mentored by former Barako Bull assistant coach Ariel Vanguardia, who has metamorphosed into a fiery, theatrical head coach in the likes of Alaska’s Tim Cone and  Talk ‘N Text’s Chot Reyes.
According to the ABL insider, Thailand’s case is very similar to ours, when we were suspended. There were feuding factions in the national sports association, as well as leadership problems.
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Is he just being modest or does Fiba Asia president Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Al-Thani of Qatar really believe that East Asian countries like China and South Korea are still the basketball powers in this part of the world, and not the Middle East nations like Iran and Jordan?
Sheikh Saud said China continues to dominate Asian basketball although the Middle East nations have been winning one prestigious title after another.
Why the East Asians are not competing in the Champions Cup, the Sheikh would not disclose. Japan planned to join this year but had to beg off because of the earthquake and the tsunami that hit the country  some months ago.
“We expect the East Asians to participate in the immediate future,” he said.
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The dinner forum with Ricky Vargas last Monday at Gerry’s Grill on Tomas Morato was perfectly timed. The PBA’s television franchise was awarded to TV-5 that day; the other bidder—ABS-CBN—withdrew for still undisclosed reasons.
ABS-CBN actually did not submit a bid since it did not stipulate a price. It only submitted a letter of intent to the PBA.
Among other important posts within the Manny V. Pangilinan group of companies, Ricky heads Media Quest, a holding company of all media-related interests owned by the businessman-sportsman.
Ricky said TV-5 made a bid for the PBA franchise “because MVP wanted it. He believes in the PBA, that’s why we’re there.”
The live coverage of the Fiba-Asia tournament could very well be a dress rehearsal for the coverage of the PBA games in October.
“It is also a good venue to test the state-of-the-art equipment we recently purchased like an OB van,” Ricky said.
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HOOPVINE Reaction from a reader on my last column: “Sorry to disagree with you, Ms Beth, but the PBA coach you were referring to in last Sunday’s Huddle has never been a good sport. I was there during the incident you related. You forgot to mention that he kicked the ball before he ordered that the practice game with another PBA team be stopped, with a minute to go and with the opponent leading by 19 points.