Pingris pullout leaves Gilas without SMC player on national team

MANILA: For the first time since professional players were allowed to play internationally in Fiba-sanctioned events, no player belonging to the San Miguel Corp. umbrella in the PBA will be representing the country.
This became final on Saturday afternoon after Marc Pingris of Star formally begged off from joining the Gilas Pilipinas squad being prepped to gun for Asia’s lone berth in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games next year.
Pingris, who arrived last Aug. 12 from a long vacation in France with his family to be with his French father, talked to new Gilas coach Tab Baldwin to inform him that he would be putting all of his efforts in preparing for the PBA’s 41st Season that will not open until Oct. 18.
Pingris’ withdrawal from the pool of candidates officially left the powerhouse SMC conglomerate without a representation in the national team for the first time since the PBA started helping the Philippine cage program when open basketball was declared by the Fiba in 1990.
June Mar Fajardo, the reigning two-time PBA MVP, and LA Tenorio, stalwarts of San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra, respectively, earlier begged off with the 6-foot-10 center citing plantar fasciatis on both feet and Tenorio ruing poor form of late.
The trio was included in a 16-man pool released by the PBA to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas two weeks ago, and Pingris had openly said in interviews that he would join Gilas if the team was willing to wait for him to return from France.
It turned out the Nationals were not waiting for anyone.
Fajardo, Pingris and Tenorio were part of the National team that was second to Iran in the Fiba-Asia Championship in Manila in 2013.
That finish enabled the Philippines to get back to the World Cup the following year in Seville, Spain, where the Filipinos won a classification round game for the first time in 40 years after downing Senegal in overtime.
The likes of Samboy Lim, Yves Dignadice, Hector Calma and four-time PBA MVP Ramon Fernandez — who all were San Miguel Beer standouts — represented the country as pros ever since the advent of open basketball.
There was even a year when the entire core of San Miguel, which ruled the All-Filipino Cup, was sent to the Asian Games with the squad later on beefed up by Johnny Abarrientos, Alvin Patrimonio, etc., and a handful of amateurs that included Kenneth Duremdes and Marlou Aquino.
Incidentally, this batch of Nationals will be leaving on Monday for Estonia to play in a pocket, four-nation tournament before the squad comes home to be with family for a few days and leave for the Jones Cup on Aug. 27.
The Estonia event, where Iceland, Finland and the host nation will be the Filipinos’ foes, will start on Aug. 21.
Incidentally, the Philippines will be playing in the Jones Cup in Taiwan for the first time since ruling the event in 2012 under Chot Reyes and with Marcus Douthit as its naturalized player.
That squad defeated the United States in a thrilling overtime game that had Tenorio being named as the tournament MVP.
Douthit, incidentally, has formally left the team on Friday after being informed that his contract with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which expires at the end of September, will not be renewed.
This year’s Jones Cup schedule will be a tough one for the Filipinos, who will play eight straight games, including a killer stretch where they will face Iran, New Zealand and the Americans, in that order.
Team Philippines opens up against Chinese Taipei-A on Aug. 30 before playing a club team from South Korea the following day.
Russia will be represented by club team Spartak Primorye, while Iran, Japan and the Taiwanese will field in their respective national squads.