Dispute Semis berth in FIBA-Asia U-18, B Gilas face Taiwanese today

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines steps up its bid in the 23rd FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship as it collides with Chinese-Taipei for a semifinal berth at the Al-Gharafa gym in Doha, Qatar late Tuesday.

The Batang Gilas outlasted the surprisingly tough Malaysians’ 72-69, last Monday to arrange a quarters duel with the Taiwanese being played at presstime. The winner will take on the victor in the other Last 8 clash between China and Kazakhstan.

A win over Taiwan will give Batang Gilas, whose campaign is sponsored by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart, two cracks at one of the three berths in the 2015 FIBA U-18 World Championship in Greece.

The other quarters pairings pit South Korea against Japan and Iran versus Malaysia.

“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,” coach Jamike Jarin told fibaasia.net. “We have a lot of heart and the boys are ready to fight.”

The tournament took a rest Monday with Jarin using the break to polish their plays and map out their strategy against Chinese-Taipei.

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

Interestingly, China has mentioned Batang Gilas as one of the two teams outside of South Korea, Iran and China with an outside chance of clinching a slot for the Greece meet.

“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.