He's back: Jimmy Alapag to play once more in Asian Games

Welcome back, Kapitan.

Jimmy Alapag, who has previously decided to retire from international duty, will once again lace his shoes for Team Pilipinas, as per Coach Chot Reyes' tweet

Just finished mtg w Jimmy Alamat, er @JAlapag3 . 2 words - "I'm in." pic.twitter.com/2lbRc2AEuc
— Chot Reyes (@coachot) September 11, 2014

The decision arose from numerous issues, namely, eligibility issues (Blatche, Norwood, and Dillinger), contract issues (Lee), and injuries (Lee again, Pingris, Castro).

The issue-plagued Asian Games start on September 20, though the Philippines will skip the preliminary round as a result of them placing second in the FIBA Asia Championships. They are seeded with continent rivals Iran at Group E. They play a TBA-team on September 23. (GS)

OCA rules Blatche ineligible for the Asian Games

Guess we won't see Andray live in Korea.

The Olympic Council of Asia stood firm on its decision that Blatche is ineligible to play for the Philippines, despite a letter from FIBA that states the opposite.

The OCA states that they have a rule that a naturalized player must stay in his country for 3 or more years to be considered a citizen of the country. In this case, Blatche, who was naturalized this summer only, is obviously not eligible, at least according to the rules.

It's still unsure if Coach Chot Reyes will replace Blatche with former player Marcus Douthit, or another PBA cager. However, this move adds fuel to the flaming-hot issue that South Korea is blatantly changing the rules to win the gold medal. Earlier, Quincy Davis III, a naturalized player of Chinese Taipei, was disqualified for the same reason. (GS)