THE Philippines has gained momentum–and more especially rekindled trust and confidence–in men’s basketball action in the Hangzhou 19th Asian Games set to start in 19 days.
“That was one big victory over China,” Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said yesterday, two days after Gilas Pilipinas closed out its FIBA World Cup campaign with a convincing 96-75 rout of China Sunday night.
“The win was confidence-building and brought back the belief that yes, Filipino athletes can,” added Tolentino, who also expressed the same trust on the Filipinas, the women’s national football team who made history by qualifying for the Women’s World Cup and nailed a 1-0 victory over tournament co-host New Zealand last July.
“Those are momentum going for us in the Asian Games,” he said.
Men’s basketball action in the Asian Games will start three days after the opening ceremony on Sept. 26 in three venues, with the Philippines taking on Bahrain as its first opponent in Group C where Thailand and Jordan–which went 0-5 to finish seven rungs below No. 24 Philippines in the World Cup–are also bracketed.
Gilas Pilipinas plays Thailand on Sept. 28 and Jordan on Sept. 29.
Japan, the best-finishing Asian team at 3-2 in the World Cup for an automatic Paris Olympics berth, is in Group D with Indonesia, Qatar and medal contender but non-World Cup team South Korea.
Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are in Group A while China, Lebanon, Chinese Taipei and Mongolia make up Group B.
“But of course, we should be expecting a big fightback from the Asian teams which were in the World Cup and didn’t fare well, much more nail a victory,” Tolentino said.
China (1-4) finished No. 29, No. 31 Iran (0-5) and No. 32 Jordan (0-5). Lebanon (2-3) was the second-best Asian finisher at No. 23.
