It took 61 years for us to regain that most elusive gold.
The Philippine basketball team's win of the gold in the Asian Games is all over the news, but little has been told about how we won that loop battle in Jakarta in 1962 in that tournament lasted from August 25 to September 3, 1962. I was barely seven months old then. (Shhh.)
Led by the legendary Carlos "Caloy" Loyzaga, who was born in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, according to some sports historians, the Philippine team was composed of Engracio Arazas, Kurt Bachmann, Narciso Bernardo, Geronimo Cruz, Manuel Jocson, Alfonso Marquez, Roel Nadurata, Eduardo Pacheco, Cristobal Ramas, Alberto Reynoso, and, Edgardo Roque. There were no naturalized player then. Though Loyzaga and Bachmann are meztisos, there were no naturalized players then. But basketball evolved a lot since then.
In the championship game held on September 3 of that year, our team, the defending champion, massacred the Japanese dribblers via a 101-67 tally. We need help finding in the net how we won that medal that year.
But before the Jakarta event in '62, basketball was first introduced in the Asian Games in New Delhi, India, in 1951, where we first got our gold against Japan in the finals. In 1954, we defeated China as we hosted the games, and in 1958, we again defeated China in Tokyo, Japan. From 1951 to 1962, we were consistent basketball "gold diggers" in Asia. Until China came into the picture and defeated us by various off-court and on-court elbowing tales that are saddening and make us angry.
Indeed, while it's Jordan that we edged this time, China is our closest rival regarding the number of gold gathered. From 1951 to the present, China won 8 golds while we have 5. Slowly, we must move closer.
That is why, aside from that political territorial underpinning, Coach Tim Cone and his boys' 77-76 victory over China speaks a lot. We could regain or claim what was ours if only our foreign policy actors and national leaders were as decisive, witty, and courageous as the Gilas Pilipinas champion team.
I look forward to the Nagoya Asian Games come 2026.
I hope that by then, our government's maritime policies and territorial principles are already forcefully riveted on Sovereignty as firm as our "Never Say Die" (Ginebra) attitude in a basketball match.
In basketball, as in political leadership, there is objective certainty to greatness: fighting and defending your court. This is the lesson some authorities in our midst have neglected.
That win is GILAS from all angles: Gold In a Lasting, Activated Spirit.
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(Photo: https://olympics.com/en/news/asian-games-2023-basketball-final-gilas-pilipinas )
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