GILAS Pilipinas’ long cherished dream and tall task of gaining a slot in the Paris Olympics next year takes a crucial turn today.
The Nationals’ foes in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament will be known when the draw is held at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland.
Twenty-four squads, counting the Philippines, will clash for the last four berths to the global basketball showpiece event in the French capital.
The OQT will be held through four tourneys to be held simultaneously from July 2 to 7.
The world governing body for basketball yesterday announced the four countries set to host the qualifiers–Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
“The FIBA Executive Committee has confirmed the hosts of the men’s FIBA Olympic qualifying tournaments 2024,” the FIBA said.
“The National Federations of Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico and Spain have been awarded the hosting rights of the four FIBA Olympic qualifying tournaments, which will be played from July 2 to 7, 2024, in the cities of Piraeus, Riga, San Juan and Valencia.
“A total of 24 teams will compete in four FIBA Olympic qualifying tournaments in 2024.
Nineteen teams qualified through the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, which was held in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. The remaining five teams to make up the competition were the winners of the FIBA Olympic pre-qualifying tournaments held in August this year.”
Gilas finished with a 1-4 slate under former coach Chot Reyes for 24th in the 32-team field in the last World Cup that the Philippines co-hosted with Japan and Indonesia.
There are only two European quintets in each group and not more than three European teams in each meet, a ruling made to ensure geographical balance across the four jousts.
The Americas, Asia and Oceania, and Africa must also have one squad in each tournament.
Teams are seeded in six different pots based on the current FIBA world ranking.
Gilas is in Pot 5 with Croatia, Ivory Coast and Angola.
Pots 1, 4 and 5 will make up the Group As while Pots 2, 3 and 6 will fill the Group Bs.
