Batang Gilas takes on Chinese Taipei in crucial tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Batang Gilas seeks to inch closer to making it to the world stage again as it clashes with Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of the 23rd FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship at the Al-Gharafa Gym in Doha, Qatar.

The Filipinos, whose campaigned is bankrolled by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart, edged the Malaysians, 72-69, Monday to forge an interesting showdown with the Taiwanese late Tuesday.

A win by the Nationals, who have won three of their five games in the group stages, will send them into the semis and another knockout game against the winner of the China-Kazakhstan showdown.

It will also give Batang Gilas two chances of clinching one of the three berths in the 2015 FIBA U-18 World Championship in Greece – the first if it could win in the semis and the other if it loses in the semis and wins the battle for the bronze medal.

The other quarters pairing pit South Korea against Japan and Iran versus Malaysia, which is appearing in the quarters for the first time in the history of the event.

Under Jamike Jarin, Batang Gilas has defied the overwhelming odds by snatching a silver in the FIBA-Asia U-16 Championship in Iran last year and booking a spot in the FIBA U-17 World in Dubai, where it finished 15th of 16 nations.

Despite their unprecedented feat, the Filipinos remained the underdogs.

"Batang Gilas will come in with a lot of energy to slug it out and move everything under their control to make it to the top four," Jarin recently told fibaasia.net. "We have a lot of heart and the boys are ready to fight."

Participating teams got a much-needed one-day respite but Jarin said they used it in mapping up a strategy against Chinese Taipei.

“What rest day! It’s a day more for re-visiting our plan than merely resting," said Jarin.

Interestingly, only one of the eight quarterfinals team mentioned Batang Gilas with a chance of clinching the three slots to Greece outside powerhouse teams China, South Korea and Iran.

"I think Korea and Iran will give us a tough fight for the top spot. I would rate Chinese Taipei and Philippines as serious threats. My thinking is it will be us, Korea and Iran," said China coach Fan Bin Huaiyu.