Gilas assured of partying with biggies in Olympic world qualifiers

CHANGSHA – Gilas Pilipinas is guaranteed of a stint in a grand stage, slugging it out with world powers even if they miss automatic Olympics entry in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship here.

With their sure Top Four finish here, the Filipinos are also assured of at least a spot in the Olympic World Qualifier set July 4-10 next year.

Same is the case for China, Iran and Japan.

Others punching tickets to the Olympic World Qualifier are France, Serbia, Greece, Italy and Czech Republic from FIBA Europe, New Zealand from Oceania, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico from America and Angola, Tunisia and Senegal from Africa.

These 18 teams will be divided into three groups, competing in three separate qualifying tourneys where the champions complete the 12-team cast for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Gaining automatic passage into the Olympics from the regional qualifiers are Australia, Spain, Lithuania, Venezuela, Argentina and Nigeria.

Brazil is qualified as a host country while the United States made it as winner of the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

All 18 world qualifiers are eligible to host one of the three Olympic qualifying tourneys.

If a qualifier is tapped as tournament host, the best non-qualified team from the particular FIBA zone will be invited to participate.

The qualifiers are among the best in the world.

France is the team with the highest world ranking at No. 5, followed by Serbia at No. 7, Greece at No. 10, Puerto Rico at No. 15, Angola at No. 16, Iran at No. 17, Mexico at No. 19, New Zealand at No. 21, Tunisia at No. 23, Canada at No. 25, and Senegal at No. 30.

The only teams below the Philippines’ No. 31 ranking are Italy (36th) and Czech Republic (49th).