{"id":177176,"date":"2018-08-17T01:46:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T05:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=177176"},"modified":"2018-08-17T04:57:11","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T08:57:11","slug":"sap-go-elated-phs-1st-win-asian-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/17\/sap-go-elated-phs-1st-win-asian-games\/","title":{"rendered":"SAP Go elated by PH\u2019s 1st win in Asian Games"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Go, a basketball enthusiast, was one of those who appealed to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP). (PCOO PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0— Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher “Bong” Go on Thursday was delighted by Gilas Pilipinas\u2019 victory despite the country\u2019s last-minute decision to field a basketball team in the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.<\/p>\n

Go, a basketball enthusiast, was one of those who appealed to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to send a basketball team in the quadrennial multi-sports meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cMasaya ako dahil isa ako sa mga<\/em>\u00a0Filipino fans\u00a0na umapela na magpadala ng team kahit hindi manalo<\/em>\u00a0(I\u2019m happy because I was one of the Filipino fans who appealed to send team even if will not win),\u201d Go said in a media interview during the 6th Competiveness Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center.<\/p>\n

The SBP, the country\u2019s basketball governing body, initally decided not to join the Asian Games amid the decision of International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to suspend 10 Gilas players involved in a free-for-all brawl that marred the World Cup qualifying match between Philippines and Australia.<\/p>\n

This prompted Go to intervene, resulting in the decision of the PBA to send one of its teams, Rain or Shine, to the Asian Games.<\/p>\n

Mentored by veteran coach Yeng Guiao, the Philippines opened its campaign on a high note with an 96-59 domination over Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Go said the victory is expected to boost the morale of the Gilas Pilipinas that is going into their next game against powerhouse China.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we won in the first game and most likely we can enter the quarterfinals, this gave our team high morale,\u201d Go said.<\/p>\n

Go admitted \u201cit\u2019s a tall order\u201d for the Filipino dribblers but they will give the Chinese a good fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlam ko takot din ang<\/em>\u00a0China\u00a0dahil kahit maliliit tayo and dehado<\/em>\u00a0(I know China is also afraid despite our lack of height and at a disadvantage), we can pull some surprises when it comes to basketball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavalliers\u2019 Fil-Am guard Jordan Clarkson is expected to play for Gilas after missing the game against Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Go asked the Filipino people to pray for Gilas Pilipinas\u2019 successful campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our team will have a good chance. They will give China a good fight. Let\u2019s pray for them,\u201d Go said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher “Bong” Go on Thursday was delighted by Gilas Pilipinas\u2019 victory despite the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":162875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-jelly-musico","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}