Gilas Pilipinas Women have had a tough campaign so far in the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup.
In their first two games, the Philippine Women’s National Basketball Team, who had limited training and recruitment time due to quarantine measures in the country, were routed by world no. 7 China and no. 3 Australia by an average margin of 77.5 points.
The two losses gave Gilas Women a tough predicament as it needs to win either their last group stage game against Chinese-Taipei later tonight or if they lose that game, the battle for seventh tilt to remain in Division A.
But Camille Clarin and the rest of the team received a pleasant surprise from the stands during their game against the Opals early Wednesday. Yes, there were fans cheering from the stands of the Prince Hamza Hall in Amman, Jordan – and it was Clarin’s family.
“So my family came all the way from Canada just to support me and I really appreciate that,” expressed the 20-year-old Fil-Canadian. “I think for all of us, just having people in the stands to cheer us on after not playing for so long, that really makes what we are doing so important.
“I appreciate all the support we have been receiving.”
Clarin earlier admitted that she definitely missed her family. She was only able to spend two months with them after getting stuck in Manila for the majority of the pandemic.
“There were definitely second thoughts about saying ‘yes’ because the situation in the Philippines was awful, to be brutally honest. Whereas in Canada, I had a gym to myself every day with zero COVID restrictions. Plus, I had only been home with my family for less than two months, a lot shorter than I hoped,” Clarin told Tiebreaker Times.
“Regardless, I knew in my heart I couldn’t say no to the opportunity.”
Besides the added morale support they received, Clarin also looks to use the experience they gained in facing China and Australia in their next games in the Asia Cup.
“It’s a great experience to face her but when to be honest, we don’t focus on the accolades on the ones we are facing — we just focus on the goal and what we are doing as a team,” she said.
“But the experience is definitely great and hopefully, we can bring the experience that we got today and go all out tomorrow.”
