Batang Gilas gets lucky draw, jumps to next round in U-18 tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Thanks to a favorable draw, the Batang Gilas, or the Phl national youth team, has made it to the second round of the FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship set from Aug. 19-28 in Doha, Qatar without even breaking a sweat.

The Filipinos made it to Group B alongside the sharp-shooting South Koreans and Jordanians, and since their bracket is the only one among the four with only three teams while the rest have four countries, they have automatically advanced to the 12-team second round along with their group mates.

China, India, Malaysia and host Qatar is bracketed in Group A, Bahrain, Iran, Kazakhstan and Kuwait in Group C and Hong Kong, Iraq, Japan and Chinese Taipei in Group D.

Coach Jamike Jarin along with Jose Go IV of Ateneo and Andres Paul Desiderio of State U have recently joined the team in Doha just a few days after finishing 15th out of 16 teams in the FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Dubai.

The other members of the squad are Norman Aaron Black of Ateneo, Dave Wilson Yu, Manuel Isidro Mosqueda III and Mark Anthony Dyke of National U, Richard Escoto and Brandrey Bienes of Far Eastern U, Joshua Andrei Caracut  and Ranbill Tongco of San Beda, Leonard Santillan of University of Visayas and Kobe Paras of LA Cathedral.

The 10-day tournament is staking three slots for the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Greece.

The Filipinos, who made it to the FIBA U17 World Championship in Dubai last week after finishing a surprise second in the FIBA-Asia U-16 Championship in Iran last year, hope to defy the odds again as they will plunge into action being the one of the smallest teams.

Batang Gilas' biggest player is the 6-7 Paras, son of former PBA rookie MVP Benjie Paras, who is in the United Sates trying his luck to play in a US NCAA Division I school, followed by the 6-5 Santillan, who is a prize find from Cebu's UV.

Batang Gilas draws an opening game bye Tuesday and will open its campaign against Jordan tomorrow scheduled at 2 p.m. (Phl time).

The Filipinos will then battle the Koreans Wednesday also at 2 p.m.

The top three teams after the first round will advance to the second round composed of two brackets with six teams each.

The four best squads after the second round will advance to the knockout quarterfinal round, all set at the Al Gharafa stadium.