Photo Credits | Inquirer Sports
By LORENZO MARCO IBANEZ | Sports Correspondent
With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging sporting events once again, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is prepping up the assessment to determine if the February window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers can break pandemic barriers.
Ryan Gregorio, the special assistant to SBP President Al Panlilio, said on Friday that they "are closely monitoring the situation and hopefully the COVID situation will stabilize, with adherence to the IATF's guidelines on international sporting events."
Originally scheduled as the November 2021 window, but was shelved due to the pandemic, the SBP was tasked to organize the Group A February Qualifiers-New Zealand, South Korea, the Philippines, and India-in a bubble set-up at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
However, that could be placed on hiatus again as Metro Manila was reverted back to Alert Level 3 until January 15, 2022, while tallying 13,643 of the Philippines' 21,819 new cases on Friday.
Regardless of the situation, the SBP hopes that as long as they "are adhering to the government's guidelines, the show must go on."
Comments