Less than a month after it sailed, it has entered stormy seas and is now in danger of capsizing. The boat is the VisMin Cup and the turbulent seas were generated by that lamentable April 14 game.
The Mindanao leg of the tournament had been suspended by the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) in the aftermath of that controversy and is âin the process of investigation and seriously looking into the allegations of wrongdoing.â
Amen, but how can it be called the VisMin Cup if there will be no Mindanao games?
Putting into consideration the statement âseriously looking into the allegations of wrongdoingâ, GAB, in my opinion, should have suspended the Visayas leg as that was the root cause of the mess, do the necessary sanctions and remedies, then resume play.
GAB, as the only entity to grant or revoke professional status on leagues as well as pro licenses on players, has all wisdom in its decision. It is acting not only on behalf of basketball but in all sports concerned in the country, protecting the integrity of sporting competitions, stakeholders, and league corporate sponsors who invested their resources to promote sports down to the grassroots level.
Itâs still three weeks away from the scheduled May 20 opening of the Mindanao leg. Hopefully, things get settled by then and games go on as planned. Mindanao teams and players had their excitement substituted with disappointment because of the suspension. It hasnât even started, yet thereâs already a cloud of doubt placed over the conduct of the games.
What happened at the Alcantara bubble is now water under the Muelle Loney Bridge. People and teams responsible had been punished. Let the guilty suffer the consequences and spare those who did no wrong.
Dark clouds are breaking over the VisMin Cup and we expect it to survive troubled waters. If not, we can just call it a bad case of vismin cough./PN
