THE decision on whatever sanctions and its duration that may be imposed on Philippine men’s basketball team and Gilas Pilipinas hero Justin Brownlee may be out by next week.
In an interview on CNN Philippines last Friday, Gilas Pilipinas interim coach and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel mentor Tim Cone said they are still waiting for the decision to be made by world basketball governing body FIBA on whether to mete out a suspension, its duration, or may be none at all.
Cone said they are not sure yet on whatever possible sanctions may be imposed on the Gin Kings’ resident import and three-time Best Import awardee Brownlee, whether it will be a suspension, or even non-suspension.
But one thing for sure, Brownlee, who was the hero during the team’s quarterfinal and semifinal run where they beat Iran and China, respectively, is getting all the legal support he needs from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and the San Miguel Group.
Brownlee, 35 years old and a naturalized Filipino, tested positive for carboxy-THC, a substance linked to cannabis, during testing conducted by the International Testing Agency (ITA) a day after Gilas’ historic gold medal win in the finals of the men’s basketball competition in the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China.