NLEX import KJ McDaniels. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—The PBA is going to play the waiting game when it comes to the resumption of the 2021-22 Governors’ Cup despite getting the approval from Pasig City and the Games and Amusements Board to hold its contests inside a bubble set-up.
League Commissioner Willie Marcial said they will wait “two to three weeks” and assess the COVID-19 situation to determine the feasibility of resuming the halted import conference.
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto allowed the PBA to play at Ynares Sports Arena while GAB Chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra said that the league can stage its games as long as done in a bubble set-up.
“Chairman Mitra gave us the approval to play in a bubble set-up, Mayor Vico also allowed us to play at Ynares,” said Marcial in Filipino. “We decided to postpone the games even though we got the go-signal because it’s still a dangerous time to have games.”
“I talked with the technical committee and I told them that we’re still in a risky situation so we can’t really push through with the games.”
Marcial added that he talked with Dr. Raul Canlas, the league’s medical consultant and a member of the Fiba medical commission, and concluded it’s best to wait for several weeks before deciding on anything.
The PBA Board, Marcial said, also agreed to wait and assess the COVID-19 situation in the country.
It was a disappointing development for the PBA at the turn of the year as they went from having fans inside Smart Araneta Coliseum to going back to a postponed schedule after the sharp rise in infections after the holidays.
“It’s sad because we were already drawing in crowds especially on Christmas,” said Marcial.
The PBA was supposed to resume on January 5 after the holiday break but the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases put Metro Manila under Alert Level 3 effectively putting a stop to contact sports.
The DOH logged 37,207 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, marking yet another time that the single-day total peaked.