7 News Belize

No Playing With Panama
posted (August 13, 2009)

The Belize National Basketball Team is in the fight of its young life tonight facing a formidable Panamanian opponent.

They are currently in the waning minutes of the third quarter and the score is 54 for Panama, and 52 for Belize.

Keith Swift is in the Benito Juarez Poliforum at this hour and here’s the report he had for us at halftime.

Keith Swift, From Cancun
“In the game between Belize and Panama here at the Benito Juarez Poliforum in Cancun. The score right now is 40 Panama, 41 Belize. Top Scorer for the first half for Belize was Milton Palacio with 11. There are about 400 Belizean Fans fight now in the stadium but it sounds like about 2,000 because a lot of them have flags, you have some Garifuna drummers, really hyped right now in the Benito Juarez Poliforum. Unlike the previous games, this one is tight.”

Jules Vasquez
“How did the body language of the team seem when they went into the locker room for the half? Did they seem not so confident or did they still have that swagger?”

Keith Swift, From Cancun
“The team realizes that this is the real competition. I tried to talk to Coach Seroki and and he was like we have to go and redraw our game plan. Both teams are playing very intensely, Panama is a very physical team, Belize is trying to match that. They have height, that wasn’t really a factor before but it is now against Panama.”

Jules Vasquez
“And the game behind the game, FIBA Americas Secretary General was supposed to arrive in Cancun today and make some decision. Has any decision been made on the status of the team?”

Keith Swift,
“This is the thing, nobody really knows I tried to talk to the President of the Federation earlier, but he still doesn’t know, it’s still up in the air in fact right now Belize has enough points to qualify for the medal round, but we don’t know if we will.”

As we told you last night the Panama team is considered one of the most formidable in the tournament.

Of course, it shouldn’t matter whether Belize wins or loses because with the previous two wins our team has already earned enough points to qualify for the next round.

But, that’s the tricky part. Officially Belize still hasn’t been awarded any points for its two wins and even at this hour it is unclear whether we will advance.

A formal protest was duly filed with FIBA Headquarters in Geneva Switzerland today – and the receipt of it was acknowledged. But beyond that there’s no telling what will be the outcome of the protest or even what will happen next with the Belize team.

We do know that even with the arrival of FIBA bigwig Roberto Garcia in Mexico no decision has been made on Belize’s status and that’s why tonight’s game is being played. In the meantime all the Belize Team can now do is continue to play hard.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize