ALTHOUGH Gilas Pilipinas failed to reach the second round and gain an outright slot to the Paris Olympics next year, the team’s 1-4 record in the last FIBA World Cup enabled the Philippines to climb two spots in the world rankings.
In the latest rankings released by the world governing body for basketball three days ago, Gilas was ranked No. 38.
The Philippines finished 24th in the 32-team field in the global basketball extravaganza it co-hosted with Japan and Indonesia.
Gilas finished its campaign with an emphatic 96-75 drubbing of regional bitter rival China.
Australia remains the highest-ranked Asia Pacific team at fourth, although it was leapfrogged by World Cup champion Germany, which climbed eight notches to third.
Japan, which gained an automatic qualification to Paris by finishing as the best Asian country in the World Cup with a 3-2 record, improved 11 spots to 26th.
Lebanon, which won two matches, went up 16 spots to 28th.
But the biggest winner in the list is South Sudan, now the highest-ranked African squad at 31st from 62nd.
South Sudan bagged the outright Olympic berth for African nations after a memorable World Cup debut led by NBA guard Carlik Jones.
The United States regained the top spot in the world rankings despite finishing fourth.
Spain, which failed to defend its crown after being ousted by Canada in the second round, dropped to second.
The Gilas women’s team also made an improvement, jumping to the 37th spot from its previous ranking of No. 42.
The Filipina cagers stayed seventh in Asia where four of the top 15 teams in the world come from.
