MANILA – Los Angeles Clippers’ Danilo Gallinari, San Antonio Spurs’ Marco Bellinelli and Philadelphia 76ers center Boban Marjanovic were among the key players Gilas Pilipinas will face in the 2019 FIBA World Cup this August in China.
The national men’s basketball team has been bracketed with Olympic silver medalist Serbia, European contender Italy and Afrobasket champion Angola in Group D during the World Cup draw on Saturday night in Shenzen, China.
Marjanovic and the Serbia were ranked fourth overall in world basketball, while Gallinari, Bellinelli and the Italy are world no. 13th squad while Angola was eight spots behind the 31st ranked Gilas at No. 39.
Philippines needed at least two victories to advance to the next round, which have an extra incentive as the top-ranked Asian team will automatically earned a ticket in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Among the Philippine squad’s competitors for the automatic Asian slot in Olympics were China, South Korea, Iran, and Jordan. Australia and New Zealand are not included as they are reclassified to the Oceania group in Olympics.
“Still a tough group,” Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio said in a statement on Saturday. “But all groups are hard as this is the top-32 of the World. Pero laban lang.”
During Gilas Pilipinas’ last appearance in the FIBA World Cup five years ago in Spain, they failed to reach the next round of the competition after finishing with 1-4 win-loss record./PN
