CHRIS NEWSOME was informed over the weekend by his mother team Meralco that he’s been called to show up for practice on Monday at the PhilSports Arena.
Call time is 11 a.m. and, boy, Newsome is fired up—the call is for flag and country.
If healthy and available, I will be there,” Newsome, who was cut for the final 12 to the FIBA World Cup that wrapped up Sunday night, told BusinessMirror Sunday. “Right now, we need players and I want to make sure I am available—that’s my promise to the program.”
Newsome will be one of at least 12 players who will cram in practice for the Asian Games that starts with the opening ceremony in Hangzhou on September 23. Basketball action starts three days later with the Philippines facing Bahrain in Group C action.
The former Ateneo Blue Eagles ace is a two-time Southeast Asian Games champion—3×3 in Philippines 2019 and 5×5 in Cambodia 2022.
Newsome was born in San Jose, California, to Filipina mother Carmelita Duque from Paranaque City and African-American Eric Newsome, and played college ball with NCAA Division II team New Mexico Highlands University before being recruited by Meralco head coach Norman Black. Josef Ramos
He’s eligible to play as a Filipino for having acquired his Philippine passport before he was 16—a FIBA rule that actually doesn’t apply to the SEA Games and Asian Games where a mere passport makes an athlete eligible to play for his country of choice.
Newsome was the 13th man in former Gilas Pilipinas head coach’s final 12 but with Japan B.League guards Kiefer Ravena and Dwight Ramos and Korean league star Rhenz Abando resuming their commitments to their pro teams abroad, Newsome has gotten the call.
“This is my first Asian Games but being able to don the flag for the past years was so amazing, going into the qualifier window was great,” said Newsome, who played for Gilas in the August 2022 FIBA World Cup qualifiers against Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
“I just have to be kept going with Gilas,” he said. “I wasn’t in the final roster for the World Cup, but I’m always committed to the program and here we are at the Asian Games again.”
Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner Willie Marcial, meanwhile, told BusinessMirror via chat message that the league wrote the Korean Basketball League and Japanese B.League requesting that key Filipino players be released for the Asian Games campaign.
Also expected to show up at the PhilSports Arena are June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Roger Pogoy, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Oftana and naturalized players Ange Kouame and Justin Brownlee.
