A few weeks back, I wrote that the present iteration of the Gilas cannot beat China, Iran and South Korea. I choke on some of my words. We did win over Iran in a big way starring probably the smallest guys on the tournament. Courtesy of Qatar, we avoided South Korea in the round of eight. If we continue with our winning ways, chances are we encounter the Chinese in the finals who had been bullying everyone thrown their way.
As I write this, the quarterfinal pairings of China vs India, Qatar vs Japan, Iran vs South Korea still have to be played, with the Gilas battling a dangerous Lebanon squad in the last scheduled game of the day. China is expected to breeze past India unless the Indians do the impossible. The winner of this match will then face the winner of the Iran-SoKor game. Iran and SoKor are highly capable of beating the Chinese.
The Gilas is joined by Qatar and Japan on their bracket and if we get by the Lebanese, we face the winner of the Qatar-Japan match. Three more games and they are all must-wins to automatically qualify to the August 2016 Rio Olympics. The tournament is getting tougher and we are matched against an equally skilled team, much better and more fluid than either Japan or Qatar.
Tab Baldwin’s hyperactive squad must win over Lebanon before entertaining any Olympic ideas. In doing so, the Gilas will be assured of one of three slots for another Olympic qualifier scheduled in July of next year where they will join 17 other national teams for the remaining three Olympic slots.They had convincingly beaten Asia’s number one team and I suppose they can do the same to the rest. Again I choke on my words.
Already qualified to Rio are the national teams of the USA, Venezuela, Argentina, Nigeria, Lithuania, Spain and Australia. Brazil is automatically in as host of the Olympics.
Last night’s games have ended already and as you read this, the games of Jason Castro, Ranidel de Ocampo, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo and Andray Blatche had spelled for us either win or lose. Or maybe perhaps Dondon Hontiveros finally regained his shooting touch and annihilated the opposition with those long range bombs.
I had mixed feelings on this team from the start but no matter the outcome, they represented the country well. I’m man enough to admit on my partial belief on the Gilas 3.0 and yes, they deserved and belong to be with the best in Asian basketball. Laban they did, Puso they had and it swelled with courage under fire. No matter the outcome on the FIBA Asia Championships, from Batanes to Tawi-tawi, they made the whole Filipino nation proud.