BAD DAY FOR PH SPORTS

Some member of Smart Gilas Basketball Team pose with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in this file photo taken by Abac Cordero of the Philippine Star.

Just when I felt so good because of clear skies Sunday morning, I wasn’t that happy. Smart Gilas lost an Egyptian team in the finals of a basketball tournament in Dubai and then GM Wesley So settled for a tie of fourth and seventh places in Tata Steel Chess 2011 at Week Aan Zee, the Netherlands.

            Not even shaking the hands of Pato Gregorio, the sports marketing honcho of Smart Gilas, before the opening ceremony of the PLDT Smart 10 Miler at the Cebu City Sports complex early Sunday morning could appease me. I was disheartened.

Smart Gilas, for instance, was poised to nail its first international crown but Al Ethihad Alexandria of Egypt beat them 84-75 for the crown of the 22^nd Dubai Invitational Basketball Tournament.

Smart Gilas bucked the loss of its import Marcus Douthit who was ejected in the first half after an altercation with Dareen Kelly of the Egyptian team.

Smart Gilas squandered a 44-33 halftime lead to succumb to the taller Egyptians in the second half. It’s back to the drawing board for Smart Gilas.

The latest news is that Coach Rajko Toroman wants PBA players to reinforce his squad. He wants these players to commit to a longer stint with the team so they could practice and play together for a longer period.

Next for Smart Gilas is a stint in the PBA as a regular team and then the Jones Cup in Taiwan before embarking playing in the FIBA-Asia Championship in Wuhan, China in September. The winner of this tournament gets a ticket to the London Olympics in 2012. The last time a Philippine basketball team played in the Olympics was in 1972.

Filipino super GM Wesley So.

After a string of four straight victories, many of his fans thought GM Wesley So could win the title this time. After a loss to GM Li Chao of China in the 9^th round, So could only extract a point in the last three rounds.

So went for the kill against Dutch GM Friso Nijboer in the next round but could only extract an 80-move draw. The youngster’s game against English GM Luke McShane in the penultimate round was a disaster. He blundered in the endgame and resigned in forty moves. He drew his last game against Polish GM Radek Wojtaszek (the topseed) to tally 7.5 points good for joint fourth to seventh places.

GMs Luke McShane and David Navara were joints winners with 8.5 points and will get the invitation to play in Group A next year.

So will play next in the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Russia beginning Feb. 9.