Draw sends Gilas in tough group

MANILA, Philippines - Barring an upset in the SEABA Championship, Gilas Pilipinas is tapped to face Oceania giant Australia and old Asian rivals Japan and Chinese Taipei in the first round of the new home-and-away qualifying phase for the next FIBA World Cup set in China in 2019.

The Nationals need to make the top three in their group (Group B) to advance to the second round where they will tangle with the top three from Group D among Iran, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Iraq.

China, New Zealand, South Korea and Hong Kong compose Group A while Syria, Lebanon, India and Jordan have found themselves bunched in Group C after the drawing of lots held in Guangzhou, China Sunday night.

Actually, only Australia, New Zealand, Jordan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Qatar have officially booked berths in the 16-team Asian “WC” qualifying event.

Gilas Pilipinas and the rest were selected based on their positions in the current FIBA world ranking. Should they not make it from their respective FIBA sub-zone qualifiers, they are to be replaced by the qualified teams.

The Philippines is set to compete in the SEABA Championship on May 12-18 where it holds the highest world ranking at No. 27. Indonesia is a far second at No. 72, followed by Thailand at No. 81, Singapore No. 82, and Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam which are all out of the top 90.

Gilas is expected to easily sweep its SEABA rivals then will target to make the top seven in the Asian competition to reach the 2019 World Cup.

The top seven from the 16-team qualifying group in Asia join host China, 12 qualifiers from Europe, seven from the Americas and five from Africa to compose the expanded list of 32 participants in the World Cup.

Schedule of games was also made during the Guangzhou FIBA event attended by FIBA president Horacio Muratore, secretary general Patrick Bauhmann and the members of the FIBA Central Board.

Again barring disaster in SEABA, Gilas’ first assignment in the Asian WC qualifier is Japan on Nov. 24, then Chinese-Taipei on No. 27, Australia on Feb. 22, Japan on Feb. 25, Chinese-Taipei on June 29 and Australia on July 2.

The Asian qualifying event will run through February 2019 with six window periods. Competing teams play two games in each window.

At home, Gilas’ biggest issue is the availability of players since most of the FIBA tournament windows run in conflict with the PBA schedule.

The Philippines competed with the best and finest in the last World Cup in Spain in 2014 after placing second to Iran in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.

Gilas repeated a runner-up finish in the 2015 Asian joust in Changsha – the last edition of the FIBA Asia tourney under its old format of competition.

In the old Asian competition, China dominated with 16 championships followed by the Philippines with five, Iran three and China and Japan with two apiece.

A journey to the top is now tougher with the merger of the Oceania zone with the old Asian group.