Team Belize faces Mexico in COCABA final

Friday, August 14th., 2009
The road to gold for Team Belizean Heritage has meant defeating Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica. Tonight, in a little more than an hour, the focus will switch to Team Mexico which besides having home-court-advantage has also been dubbed as the best Mexican National Team yet. For our own dream team, it will be an uphill battle as they enter as the underdogs. But the battle over the past week has not been restricted to the court as questions of eligibility, of some of our players, has been the biggest battle in Cancun. While it has fueled the players to rise above the fray, the battle with Mexico tonight doesn’t mean the end of the war. Belize has been removed from FIBA website, and our status remains in question despite an appeal launched by the Belize Basketball Federation (B.B.F.). Today, News Five caught up with the federation’s President Paul Thompson in Cancun and its Secretary General Julian Murrillo at the Phillip Goldson International Airport (P.G.I.A)before boarding a Cancun flight for the latest.

Paul Thompson, President, B.B.F.
“We are scheduled to play the championship game versus Mexico for the last game. So we haven’t received anything officially from FIBA yet if this game will be official or not. But one issue is that we are playing and we’re playing against Mexico and if everything were in order and we were here, we would have been playing for the gold medal. This is what we want to show to the rest of the world, that we are capable of competing at this level in this region. What we want to do is to go ahead in the tournament and whatever decision is made is left up to the tribunal that will be held, I guess, in the next coming days or coming weeks; however long that will take. The only update that we had gotten yesterday is that we would be getting soon the order of how the appeal process will work.”

Julian Murrillo, Secretary General, Belize Basketball Federation
“I think this has galvanized not just the team but also the nation, but for the guys they are taking it really personal with all the challenges and hurdles that we’ve been through with this eligibility issues.”

Duane Moody
“Mr. Murrillo, the problem or the issue still remains that is Belize going to be stripped of this title when they do win it? I’m not going to say if because we know they are. When they do win it? What are your comments on that and what will you guys do should in case that happens?”

Julian Murrillo
“At this moment it is still a fifty-fifty thing. As a matter of fact, I got an email this morning from Patrick Baumann, the head of FIBA, basically saying that our request for an expeditious process for the appeal, they will ask us to give them a little bit of time. Considering that they have provisionally agreed for us to complete this particular tournament. So that’s good news that they are acknowledging that we are gonna finish this tournament and win this tournament. But we will follow very closely over the next week or so. Typically it takes about fourteen days for the appeal process to run through its course. So we will be right on top of it—taking it to the last breath. We are locked into the process now and we are certainly not going to give up with all the support that we have been getting from Belize and indeed from the wider Caribbean as well.”

Paul Thompson
“They are very hype, prepared, focused, especially our veteran guys. I think they find this a very challenging match and I think they want to prove to the rest of the world and to the rest of the region that we can compete at this level. I know that in 2006, when Mexico came to play Belize, they beat us handily and some of the guys that didn’t play in those games, watched those games and they are looking forward to this challenge today. It would be wonderful for us to beat Mexico and to prove to everyone out there that in basketball we can be number one and that is going to make, I believe, Belize proud and it will show the rest of he world that three hundred thousand strong is—well it’s not much but when we come we come hard.”

As late as yesterday, COCABA officials unsuccessfully agitated for Costa Rica to face Panama instead of Team Belize. Fortunately for Belize, Panama took a stand and COCABA officials were forced to continue with the semi-final round of the tournament based on present team standings. If Belize defeats Mexico tonight or not, our medal standing of gold or silver will hinge on the appeal and Belize could very well walk away empty handed in the end. If Belize wins the appeal, we are guaranteed a spot in next year’s Centro Basket Tournament on the way to the 2012 London Olympics. We encourage you to stay tuned once again to Channel Five for live, play by play action, after the newscast with James Adderley and Leonard Ysaguirre.