Hard road to Rio

MANILA, Philippines - Only three slots remain to complete the 12-team lineup for basketball at the Rio Olympics in August and 18 countries are in contention to catch the last bus to Brazil. It won’t be easy joining reigning World Cup champion US, host Brazil, Oceania ruler Australia, Africa titlist Nigeria, EuroBasket finalists Spain and Lithuania, Americas finalists Venezuela and Argentina and Asia gold medalist China.

The 18 hopefuls were split into six to play in three different tournaments of which only the winners will advance to Rio. Serbia, Angola, Puerto Rico, Japan, Czech Republic and Latvia will slug it out at the 25,000-seat Kombank Arena in Belgrade on July 4-9. Greece, Mexico, Iran, Tunisia, Croatia and Italy will vie for a ticket at the 16,000-seat Pala Alpitour in Turin on July 4-9. The Philippines, France, New Zealand, Turkey, Canada and Senegal will battle at the 16,000-seat Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on July 5-10.

For the Philippines, hosting the qualifier was a feat in itself after losing previous bids to stage the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships and the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Manila, however, took over as host of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships when winning bidder Lebanon withdrew. From an initial list of 15 interested bidders for the three Olympic qualifying tournaments, the candidates were trimmed to 10 and finally, six. The Philippines, Iran and Japan were in the initial list. The last six were Turkey, Serbia, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany and the Philippines.

After the FIBA Executive Committee selected the three hosts, it was determined that Manila would be the leg to conduct the final Olympic draw – another honor for the country. It’s for this reason that the two other qualifying tournaments will end July 9 and the Manila edition July 10. At the end of the championship game in Manila on July 10, FIBA sport and competitions director Predrag Bogosavljev will preside in the final Olympic draw for the 12 qualified teams.

In the preliminary Olympic draw held at the FIBA House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland, last March with SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan attending, two qualifying tournament winners were picked to join the US, Venezuela, China and Australia in Group A. Another qualifying tournament winner was chosen to compete with Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Lithuania and Nigeria in Group B. The final Manila draw will place the three qualifying winners in the missing slots.

Pangilinan said with France and New Zealand facing the Philippines in the preliminary round starting today, “we’ll have our hands full… this is going to be one hell of a ride for Gilas and our country.” FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann described the Manila leg a “killer” tournament. “I think teams that take the Philippines lightly may be in for a surprise,” said Baumann. “We at FIBA, know what ‘puso’ means. Filipino fans are among the most passionate in the world. To make it to the Olympics, the Philippines has to beat the best to be on top of the qualifying tournament. In the Olympics, 12 teams are playing and only the best will be in Rio. So the three teams that win the three qualifying tournaments will be among the 12 best in the world.”

The format for this year’s Olympic qualifiers is unprecedented. For the first time in Olympic basketball history, the qualifiers will involve three tournaments of six teams each. Moving forward, the plan is to gather 24 teams in four events to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics aside from the countries advancing from the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

“It will be a challenge for us to get through but with our Sixth Man, the world’s Most Valuable Fans, anything can happen,” said SBP executive director Sonny Barrios. “We’re in for a tough challenge. This is a world-class competition, not an exhibition, not a pocket tournament, not a tune-up. At stake is a ticket to Rio and we all know how important it is for us to make it back to the Olympics after 44 years.”

Barrios said the qualifier is a rare opportunity for Filipino fans to witness Gilas against some of the world’s best national teams. “My view is this is as important to us as when we hosted the FIBA World Cup in 1978,” said Barrios. “This is our chance to show the world our organizational skills and our Filipino hospitality. We will give our visitors an unforgettable experience. We are grateful to FIBA for this chance to host a world tournament where the winner will advance to Rio.”

The Olympic qualifying system was institutionalized by FIBA in 2008 with 12 teams vying for the last three tickets. Before 2008, FIBA held six Olympic qualifying tournaments – in Bologna in 1960 with 18 teams, in Yokohama in 1964 with 10, in Monterrey in 1968 with five, in Augsburg in 1972 with 13, in Hamilton in 1976 with six and in five Spanish cities in 1992 with 25. Different formats were employed in the qualifiers. The Philippines has participated in only one Olympic qualifier in 1964. There were 10 teams that played for three tickets to the Tokyo Olympics and the survivors were Mexico, Australia and Canada.