Gilas Pilipinas was drawn into Group A of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, Wednesday.
The Philippines will play archrival South Korea, 2016 OQT tormentor New Zealand, and upstart India. It’s the “easier” group to be in, according to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio on Power and Play.
“We only had two groups we could fall into, Group A and Group B. Napakalakas ng Group B ‘di ba?” said Panlilio.
The other bracket Panlilio was referring to was the group of death composed of Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Australia, China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei.
“I think between the two groups, I’m not saying it’s easy, but Group A is easier compared to Group B.
“In terms of FIBA rankings lamang lahat ng teams sa kabila over us except tayo over Japan,” said Panlilio, who also holds the position as Second Vice President of the FIBA Asia Central Board.
In the recent ranking released after the 2020 Olympics, Australia maintained its position as the third-ranked country while its Kiwi neighbors were 25th.
Photo from FIBA Asia Cup
China was also a spot better than South Korea at 28th. Chinese Taipei also outranked India by 10 spots at 68.
Panlilio, however, isn’t taking the group Gilas is in lightly despite it being “easier”.
“Everybody’s improving, everybody wants to do better in all these competitions so it’s a great challenge ahead and it’s exciting.”
The Philippines will kick off its campaign in the qualifiers on Nov. 25 against Korea, before playing them again in three days on home soil.
