Hagop on tweaking Fiba eligibility rules: ‘Does this help develop basketball worldwide?’

MANILA, Philippines — Fiba Asia executive director Hagop Khajirian said the international governing body for basketball is willing to revisit its rules on player eligibility.

But only if the changes would benefit basketball in general as a whole.

“We are open for change of rules if the proposal or logic presented can help in developing basketball worldwide,” Khajirian said Saturday on Noli Eala’s Power and Play.

Player eligibility has been a hot topic and it’s the same rule that has prevented the likes of Jordan Clarkson, Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle among others from suiting for Gilas Pilipinas in Fiba-sanctioned events.

“Even if there are proposals to study the cases and the possibility of increasing the number of naturalized players in any national team, we have to take into consideration, does this change help developing basketball worldwide? Does this change help improving the basketball on a national level? So these are our concerns. And not individual cases if we can do this or that.”

“I am sure that even in the Philippines when you are ready to make any change within your local rules, we take into consideration what is good for basketball in the Philippines. The same approach you will see in Fiba.”

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