Gilas to draw 13th in FIBA-Asia tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes has confirmed that the Philippines will pick 13th in the FIBA-Asia Championships draw order and hopes to play the top favorites in the early going instead of the dangerous knockout quarterfinals in bidding for one of three qualifying tickets to represent the region at the 24-nation world tournament in Spain next year.

It will only be the third time in FIBA-Asia’s 53-year history that the Philippines is hosting the biennial competition. The Philippines struck gold in the two previous championships hosted by Manila in 1960 and 1973. The 27th FIBA-Asia Championships will be held here Aug. 1-11 with the SM Mall of Asia as the primary venue and Ninoy Aquino Stadium the secondary.

“There are drawbacks to playing at home because of the pressure to win,” said Reyes. “But the pros of hosting far outweigh the cons. I’d rather play with the pressure to win here than overseas. This is our biggest chance to qualify for the world championships because it will be harder the next time if FIBA adopts the qualifying system of the soccer World Cup. This is it. The pressure is incredible but this is what coaches live for. I had prepared a three-month program for Gilas but now, it’s down to two months. It’ll be tough to get ready for the FIBA-Asia Championships but judging from what the players showed in our first practice last Monday, we’re excited to do this.”

At the practice in PhilSports Arena, Reyes distributed a scrapbook containing news clippings detailing the Philippine team’s journey to the FIBA-Asia title in 1973. “We wanted the guys to relate to what happened 40 years ago,” he said. “The clippings showed the team started with a 38-man pool that was later trimmed to 18 before finally choosing 12. There were clippings of practice games against Yugoslavia and Australia. There were details of the games we played all the way to the finals against Korea. We also presented a contract of commitment to the Gilas program and all the players signed.”

The draw will be held in Manila. The 16 teams will be bracketed in four groups of four for the first stage of eliminations. As host, the Philippines will be allowed to choose its group and is not restricted as to when to signify its choice. Reyes said the choice will be made on the 13th turn after the four groups are filled with three teams each. Depending on which teams are in a group, the Philippines will decide its location.

After the first stage of eliminations, the last place team of each group is struck out, leaving 12 survivors. In the second stage, the 12 remaining teams will be reclassified into two groups of six, carrying over their first round win-loss records. Teams will no longer play the teams they faced in the first round so that each entry will play three games in the second. The top four of each group then advance to the eight-team knockout quarterfinals. The four quarterfinal winners move on to play in the knockout semifinals. The survivors will dispute the championship in the knockout finals while the losers will play for third place. Only the top three placers will represent Asia in the FIBA World Championships so the battle for the bronze will be highly anticipated.

For a sure ticket to Spain, a team must win at least seven straight games – that will guarantee a slot in the finals. 

The 16 teams in the FIBA-Asia Championships will come from the six continental sub-zones, Central Asia, East Asia, Gulf, South Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia. So far, the only countries confirmed to play are host Philippines, Iran for capturing the FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo last year, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. 

One slot has been allocated for Central or Middle Asia where the countries are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. One slot has also been allocated for South Asia where the countries are India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Five slots are allocated for East Asia where the countries are China, Japan, Democratic Republic of Korea, South Korea, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong and Macau. Three slots are allocated for Southeast Asia where the countries include the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The Gulf sub-zone held its qualifiers in Manama, Bahrain, last Sept. 30-Oct. 6 with Qatar topping the competition, the host country coming in second and Saudi Arabia finishing third. United Arab Emirates failed to make it. West Asia finished its qualifiers in Tehran last Feb. 7-9 with Iran sweeping, Lebanon taking second and Jordan third with Iraq missing the bus.