Cheering fans hail Gilas heroes

MANILA, Philippines - There were cheers, not tears.

Basketball fans who thronged NAIA Terminal 3 to welcome members of Gilas Pilipinas treated them like victors and heroes, their silver medal glistening like gold.

From a long, tiring 16-hour trip, including an 11-hour delay from Hong Kong, Gilas Pilipinas arrived to a heroes welcome at noontime yesterday.

Fans chanted the players’ names amid martial music from a brass brand, a fitting welcome to Gilas Pilipinas’ proud second-place finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in the Hunan Province capital city.

The loudest cheer went to Castro.

“Castro for senator! Castro for senator! Castro for senator!” hollered by some fans, appreciative of Castro’s outstanding performance that again landed him a spot in the FIBA Asia Mythical Selection.

The Talk n Text hotshot could have been the tournament MVP had Gilas Pilipinas won the championship.

In the end, Castro settled for a spot in the Mythical Five with MVP winner Yi Jianlian, two other Chinese in Zhou Qi and Guo Ailun and Iranian star Nikkhah Bahrami. He was also a member of the Mythical Team in the 2013 Manila joust.

Names of Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Sonny Thoss, Calvin Abueva, Asi Taulava, Terrence Romeo, Matt Ganuelas, Gabe Norwood, Dondon Hontiveros and JC Intal were also chanted as they passed by the crowd at the arrival area.    

“Amazing welcome. Thanks for the support and thanks for appreciating our effort,” said Abueva.

“We didn’t get what we wanted but I’m blessed to be part of Gilas,” said Hontiveros.

Coach Tab Baldwin and Andray Blatche took an earlier flight as they have another flight to catch.

Blatche was to fly to the United States later in the day for a short visit to his ailing mom. He will then return to China to attend the training camp of his team in the Chinese league.

The Nationals endured a 16-hour journey as their Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Manila was delayed by 11 hours.

They left Changsha at 7:15 p.m. Sunday, spending the night on seats or on the floor in the Hong Kong airport.