The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) will meet for the final time on Monday to lay down what would be the passable safety standards that each team would need to adhere to and get pro basketball in this country restarted.
“We’re going to clarify details regarding protocols,” PBA commissioner Willie Marcial told the Inquirer. “We’re going to make sure that everything is up to everyone’s standards.”
The meeting should finalize everything with regards to the national government’s go-signal for the PBA to conduct practices in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and Modified GCQ, and allow teams to get on with practices by May 18 at the earliest.
“The health and safety of our athletes are of paramount importance, so, on our part, we will ensure compliance with the directives of the [Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases],” GAB chair Baham Mitra said in a short statement sent to media outlets.
“I think that the players and population as a whole are now more educated and aware of the hardship of COVID-positive individuals,” Mitra told the Inquirer. “With this in mind, I think we’ll not have a hard time reminding them to follow protocols strictly.” Marcial, for his part, said the PBA has taken the initiative of laying down improved measures for the resumption of scrimmages, which will employ a closed-circuit setup, meaning players are encouraged to keep their stops exclusive to their homes and designated training venues only.
The league will also require players, coaches and staff to undergo two reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests within seven days before they can actually begin training.
“They’ll be required to take one on the first day before they train and then another on the fifth day,” Marcial noted. INQ