Australia should bear more responsibility

The Philippines got the short end of the Fiba ruling on the Gilas-Australia “basketbrawl.” Fiba should have considered the incident in its entirety. Even before the game started, the Australian team was out to provoke the Gilas players with the blessing, or even at the instigation, of Australian team management.

The team officials themselves should have stopped the pregame antics of some of its players and disciplined them beforehand. Australian team officials should bear more responsibility than those who were merely provoked.

NONONG T. ATAVIADO, nongataviado@outlook.com