MANILA, Philippines -- A Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas official said the Senegal national squad could possibly be the third and last team to play in the four-national MVP Cup set this Sept. 11-13 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
SBP deputy director for international affairs Butch Antonio said the national basketball body already sent an invitation to the Senegal national squad, the same team Gilas defeated, 81-79 in overtime in last year’s Fiba World Cup in Seville, Spain.
It was the lone victory for Gilas in the preliminaries, but one that had a historical significance, being the first victory of the Philippines in the world championships since the 1974 edition in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Kinausap din namin sila (Senegal basketball officials) and we told them that we’ll give them till the end of the month. We’ve been in touch with them naman through email,” Antonio told Philstar.com.
Antonio said Senegal is already preparing for the 2015 Fiba Africa to to start on Aug. 20.
Senegal actually surprised everyone after beating basketball powerhouse squads Puerto Rico (82-75) and Croatia (77-75) to advance to the round of 16.
The Western Africans eventually fell to Spain, 89-56 in the following round to put an end to their surprise run in the world championships.
So far, the national team of Lebanon and the 2015 Australian National Basketball League (NBL) New Zealand Breakers have already confirmed their participation in the four-nation tourney.
"The MVP Cup is the only time our kababayans will see Gilas play in Manila before the Fiba-Asia (in China)," he added.
Tournament format calls for a single round robin, where the team with the best record bagging the championship plus a $25,000 (Php 1.1million) pot money.
Antonio said the SBP has also sent invitations to the Chinese and Korean national squads, but so far, they have yet to confirm.
Source: Richard Dy of Philippine Star
