Bully moves? MVP furious as Gilas bus delayed, coaches denied tickets

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas chief patron Manny V. Pangilinan aired his frustration over a series of bad lucks the Philippine national men’s basketball team experienced ahead of their 2015 FIBA Asia Championship finals match against China.

In a series of tweets Saturday night, October 3, only a couple of hours before the finals, Pangilinan bared Gilas arrived late at the playing venue due to the delayed electric bus that “failed to charge,” leaving the team with less time to warm-up.

He then claimed that some coaches were not given any tickets to enter the venue. Later on he tweeted they might end up having a fight in Changsha.

Now it has begun. Our Gilas electric bus delayed. Failed to charge daw. Gilas arrival at stadium delayed. Less time for warm up.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

And some of our coaches no tickets!!!!! Wow.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Plus no tickets for some of our assistant coaches. Gggrrrr. And for us hard to get tix!!! Ggggrrrr.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Mapapaaway kami dito. Sh*t.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Coach Tab warned us about these cheap tactics last night after the game vs Japan.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

Chinese team staying w/ us at Kempinski Hotel. All other teams inc. Gilas in another, official hotel. That’s not following the Fiba rules.

— Manny V. Pangilinan (@iamMVP) October 3, 2015

This was not the first instance Gilas had to deal with funny business as their semifinals schedule versus Japan was moved at the last minute from 9:30 pm to 10 pm on Friday, October 2.

The change in schedule resulted in Gilas’ game finishing near midnight, while the first semifinal match-up between Iran and China, which was won by host China, ended earlier in the evening. It also left Gilas with lesser time for recuperation compared to their finals foe China. – Rappler.com