National coach Chot Reyes, in his Twitter account@coachot, has bared that the Philippines had been given hosting rights of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) championship.
That will be from April 23-30 probably at the Mall of Asia Arena, with the champion qualifying outright to the FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon late August, according to the sports website Spin.ph.
Reyes confirmed the granting of hosting rights yesterday, a couple of days after Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Sonny Barrios bared a formal letter of intent to house the two-week long regional meet has been relayed to SEABA president Eric Tohir.
SBP said it awaits the official confirmation from SEABA.
“We’re still waiting for the SEABA confirmation to be made in writing so that it becomes official,” said Barrios. “The we can start preparing.”
The confirmation came a day after Reyes announced at the Philsports Arena during a PBA playdate 12 more additions to the Gilas training pool.