RELEVANT officials from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), the national federation for the sport, had a look-see on how the recent Eurobasket 2022 was organized by host Germany in Berlin.
The SBP delegates were there primarily to get the feel of how close the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) 2023 World Cup could be when the country would be the primary host of the prestigious event set from August 25 to October 9 next year. Japan and Indonesia are the other co-host nations.
Thirty-two teams from four confederations are coming for the World Cup. They are six for Asia, seven from the Americas, five from Africa, 12 from Europe and two from hosts Philippines and Japan.
As primary host, the Philippines would cater to 40 games highlighted by the post group matches and the finals. Venues will be the Smart Araneta Coliseum, MOA Arena and the Philippine Arena.
The 2023 World Cup marks the first time that the country is hosting the event since 1978, when the competition was then called the World Basketball Championship. Then and now, the championship is held every four years.
Back then, 12 nations played on Philippine soil at the already air-conditioned Araneta Coliseum in Cubao and the oven-hot Rizal Memorial Coliseum, that facility inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila, where Philippine basketball history traces its roots.
Yugosliavia was champion that year but not without facing tough challenges from powerhouse Soviet Union, Brazil, Italy and USA. As host, the Philippines played in that championship and was privileged to finish eighth place.
The Rizal hoop house may not have the first class amenities offered by its Quezon City counterpart, but after a major renovation for the worlds, it emerge a vast improvement from an ancient court encased in a wire cage from the old Luna Park Stadium, site of the world championship’s first edition in Buenos Aires in Argentina in 1950.
Or the open-air venue in a football field in Santiago where Chile hosted the games in 1959 and the famous “Frigidaire” cage house in an old building swept by biting winds in the southern hemisphere in Montevideo in Uruguay in 1967.
After the smoke of battle cleared, the 1978 Philippine championship set the tone on how a world sporting conclave that big should be organized as proven by the next editions from 1982 in Colombia, 1986 in Spain, 1990, again in Argentina, 1994 in Canada, 1998 in Greece, 2002 in Indianapolis in the US, 2006 in Hiroshima and 2010 in Istanbul.
For two weeks from October 1 to 14, the world was treated to first class basketball by the 12 teams, led by then defending champion Soviet Union. That 1978 Manila worlds was worth remembering.
Count, too, the expert handling of the hosts and the world-famous Filipino hospitality and that tournament was truly the best organized in those times.
It was the first time that the championship was held in Asia, where it was originally destined 16 years prior after it had nurtured to become a truly world sporting event in four South American countries—Argentina (1950), Brazil (1954 and 1963), Chile (1959) and Uruguay (1967). One European nation—Yugoslavia in 1970—and a Central American Commonwealth State—Puerto Rico in 1974—also hosted the event.
The 1978 championship was the second world-magnitude that the country hosted, the other being the World Chess Championship Match between title holder Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union and Swiss challenger Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio City. Both championships overlapped.
Karpov, who retained his title, even called off one of the games to go down to Manila and root for the Soviet team in its championship duel with Yugoslavia.
He and his bus-load of supporters, including media men, were to go back to the Pine City downhearted though after the Soviets lost by a hair, 82-81, in the gold medal play.
The championship could have been the second the country was to host after earning, too, the right 16 years back in 1962, but got the opposite instead.
Then President Diosdado Macapagal refused to grant visas to players and officials from socialist countries, thus forcing FIBA to withdraw recognition and relegated the meet to a mere invitational despite strong appeals from SBP’s forerunner, the Basketball Association of the Philippines, led then by Senator Ambrosio Padilla and Asian Basketball Confederation co-founding father Dionisio “Chito” Calvo.
The Philippines, as a result, was suspended by the FIBA but was reinstated 12 years later in 1974 during the stint of Filipino Gonzalo “Lito” Puyat II as the international federatIon president, a position he held for two terms.
It was also through Puyat’s efforts that the country earned the right to host the championship for the second time.