CHINA Outshines Philippines in HOSTING the 2019 FIBA WORLD Championships

Tokyo , Japan

screen grabs from FIBA livestreaming

China edged Philippines as FIBA board members had chosen the sporting and economic powerhouse . Its presentation which showed that the country that hosted several key important events like Summer 2008 Olympic Games , 2010 Asian Games,  2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics among others .  Among its pitch are the 300 million Chinese basketball fans, over 3,000 basketball schools and at least 100,000 hotel rooms available in 8 major cities which are hosting the event. Plus over 1.3 billion Chinese . With that impressive and mammoth presentation. No country can probably match what CHINA host committee can offer.

screen grabs from presentation

The presentation projecting the success of the country in hosting major world events and how professionally it had shown to the entire world that CHINA can make it BIG TIME and it means Business.

They will also host the upcoming 2015 Fiba Asia Championships. “China never, never lets you down,” said Chinese Basketball Association President Yu Zaiging in the 20-minute presentation

China also boasted of holding the Fiba World Cup, which is held every four years, in eight keys cities which are easily connected by several forms of modern transportation.

The Philippines which banked on the Filipinos’ passion for the sports and reach on social media in its bid for the hosting, with a presentation focusing on its strength in infrastructure, hosting experience, and resources. Plus the fact that the country is becoming an economic powerhouse.

The announcement of the hosting was initially scheduled for 5:25 p.m. Manila time but was moved to 6:15 p.m.

Netizens Reaction

The hastag #PUSO2019 became a hot topic among netizens and twitter followers and the live-streaming site of FIBA was teeming with fans from all over the world.

Mr. Tonyo Cruz twitter

Majority of the Filipino netizens were quite dismayed over the FIBA decision but many say that it is like DAVID vs. Goliath scenario .  David = Philippines , Goliath = CHINA , now had the upper hand with the presentation .

Some people thinks that FIBA has already made their decision on giving CHINA hosting rights after the successful hosting of the country of FIBA Asia Championship several times. It wanted a more concrete plans and of course MONEY in hosting the event. Some netizens said that FIBA is looking for MONEY # PERA rather than # PUSO because pure heart does not translate into cold cash .

# SugatanPUSO2019  soon became a trending topic , In the social media conversations that followed, many made references to actual heartbreaking experiences like when someone gives you false hopes or hurts your feelings.  Mr. Emmanuel De Leon a twitter user said in his tweet that FIBA 2019 is

Ang pag-ibig parang #FIBA2019: di pwedeng puro puso, dapat may BUDGET ka rin. #SUGATANGPUSO2019 #PERA2019

The list goes on and on, BUT i think the country had already proved itself capable in hosting BIG time event like FIBA in 1978 and maybe in the near future. As they always say,- “Back in the Drawing Board” .  I personally think that the country must focus on regional events like SEA Games in 2019 or maybe another shot in hosting ASIAN Games before hosting FIBA or any international events. Hosting an event needed money and it does not guarantee a hefty payback .

• Note- I have watched the live-stream from FIBA and some news from Tokyo . I think based on the delays on the decision of FIBA board and its members,It must be more on getting an overwhelming majority votes .
• According to the FIBA website : The FIBA Central Board composed of 21 members voted 14-7 in favor of China Friday, August 7 in Tokyo, Japan for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup hosting, according to a press release from FIBA.
• As a third world country like the Philippines, hosting a BIG event such as FIBA requires MONEY and infrastructure , in which CHINA is capable of upstaging given to the relatively size of their country and people.