CORDOBA, Argentina, 12 July 2003 — As a boy, Emanuel “Manu” Ginobili stood in awe of the life-size Michael Jordan poster pinned on his bedroom wall and thought his hero was from a different planet.

Now, fresh from his NBA championship victory with the San Antonio Spurs, he wants his success to convince young players in his native Argentina that they too could play with basketball’s greats with hard work and a dollop of luck.

“I don’t want kids to see (NBA) players like me as extra-terrestrials, as I did when I was young, and think that they are out of reach,” the 25-year-old Spurs guard said. He was on a visit to the central Argentine province of Cordoba this week to give a basketball workshop to schoolchildren as part of the NBA Latinos Unidos Tour 2003.

“I want this to help them feel they have possibilities, that it is feasible,” he added. “There are lots of Argentine players who could be trying out in the NBA.”

The first Argentine to play and win in an NBA championship final, Ginobili has become a national celebrity after his June triumph.

Local media have feted him as basketball’s answer to soccer ace Diego Maradona. Others treat him more like a rock star — young girls scream frantically at autograph sessions, while boy fans jump up and down chanting “Manu is the champion”.

The achievement, and all the attention that has ensued, have yet to fully sink in for Argentina’s new sporting hope, who only really started to feel a part of the Spurs team as recently as February when his coach gradually increased the time he spent on court during games. Ginobili, from Bahia Blanca on Argentina’s Atlantic coast, is still adjusting to going from big fish at Italian teams Reggio Calabria and Kinder Bologna, to being a rookie in his new star-studded team. Now the movers and shakers of Argentine basketball — where the local league has been decimated as talent flees to Europe to escape the fallout of Argentina’s worst ever economic crisis and the slashed salaries that go with it — are hoping Manu will attract more youngsters to the game.

“The exodus of young players mainly to European basketball is increasing, and the age they leave at is falling too, just as happened in soccer,” said Oscar Furlong, who played for Argentina’s world champion national team of 1950, the only time they have won the title.

“They are leaving because of the economic problems, we can’t keep players here because of the big difference in earnings,” he said. “But Ginobili’s success is proof that our coaches are getting it right, that we are doing things right in Argentine basketball.”

Now he has the NBA championship in the bag, Ginobili has set his sights on an Olympic win with Argentina. The national side won the silver medal at the 2002 World Basketball Championships, after inflicting the United States’ first ever loss when using NBA players earlier in the competition.

Asian Men’s Basketball

Championship Dates Set

In Beijing, the Asian Men’s Basketball Championships will be held in northeastern China’s Harbin city, Heilongjiang province from Sept. 23 to Oct. 3, China’s state press announced yesterday. The decision was made by the Asian Basketball Federation at a recent meeting in Doha.

Dates were also set for the Asian Women’s Basketball Championships which are to be held in the northern Japanese city of Sendai from Jan. 13 to 19 next year, the Xinhua news agency said.

The men’s tournament features 16 teams, including the top six teams from the last championship which in order were ranked as China, Lebanon, South Korea, Syria, Qatar and Japan. Other qualifiers will be Iran and Jordan from west Asia and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from the Far East as well as two teams from middle Asia, southeast Asia and east Asia, respectively.

China, led by towering NBA giants Yao Ming and Menke Bateer, is the favorite and will be seeking to avenge a loss to South Korea in last year’s Asian Games basketball final.

‘Mailman’ Malone Delivered

to Lakers — Reports

In Los Angeles, free-agent Karl ‘The Mailman’ Malone, the second-highest scorer in the history of the NBA, has agreed to join the Los Angeles Lakers, according to media reports on Thursday.

Malone’s agent, Dwight Manley, told sports news website ESPN.com that Malone had agreed to join the Lakers as he seeks to win his first NBA title. The 40-year-old Malone also told the Los Angeles Times that he would be joining the Lakers.

Malone joins nine-time All-Star Gary Payton as the second free agent to join the Lakers this week, after the point guard agreed terms with the team earlier.

Free agents cannot officially sign with their new teams until July 16, but the pair have been the subject of intense speculation this week, with numerous media outlets reporting they have agreed to take pay cuts to join the Lakers. Malone, 40, is a two-time NBA MVP who made $19.3 million last year with the Utah Jazz.