Source : AKTV
The Lebanese official came to the country as part of the country’s bid to host the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manuel V. Pangilinan welcomed Khajirian.
“He arrived here Monday and was invited to a dinner by Mr. Pangilinan on Tuesday. But we accompanied him to the MOA Arena and for him, it’s more than acceptable as primary venue of the FIBA Asia Championship,” SBP executive director Sonny Barrios told InterAKTV in a telephone interview.
(InterAKTV is part of InterAksyon.com, the online news site of TV5, which is chaired by Pangilinan.)
Hagop told SBP officials that aside from the Philippines, Lebanon and Japan are also bidding for the hosting. He added that the awarding of the hosting rights will be decided by the FIBA Asia executive board.
“I think we were the only ones who invited him to personally inspect the venue,” said Barrios. “Seeing Hagop impressed with the venue is good news for us, but we still have to make a formal presentation next month. He wished us good luck in our presentation.”
Barrios said he and fellow SBP official Moying Martelino will fly to Tokyo for next month’s FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup to present to the FIBA Asia executive board the country’s intention to host the tournament, which serves as the qualifier 2014 FIBA World Cup. Three slots are up for grabs in the tournament.
The last time the country hosted the FIBA Asia Championship was nearly 40 years ago. Then known as the Asian Basketball Confederation Championship, the Philippines won the gold medal in the 1973 event when the Filipinos bannered by Robert Jaworski, Mon Fernandez, Bogs Adornado among others, defeated a South Korean squad led by Shin Dong-Pa in the finals.
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